REUTERS | Sharif Karim
16/08/2017

Adult Social Care Quarterly Digest (May – July 2017)

This is the latest in our series of quarterly adult social care update blogs giving readers a snapshot of the most important cases, issues or developments in adult social care. This post looks at developments from May 2017 to July 2017. Please feel free to submit a comment below or send us an Ask query if you have any views on the cases, issues, or legal developments that are covered or if you think we have missed something that should be brought to the attention of adult social care practitioners.

In this post we look at:

  • Recent case law.
  • Guidance and policy statements.
  • House of Commons Library briefing papers.

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REUTERS | Gary Hershorn
26/07/2017

Public Procurement in a Post Brexit World – Should the Rules Change to Support UK Jobs?

Whether we like it or not Brexit is a reality we must all prepare for. While there are many who are unhappy with the outcome of the referendum and subsequent actions such as the Article 50 notice, the facts are that the notice to exit the EU has been served and negotiations around the terms of the exit have commenced. The Queen’s speech contained eight proposed Brexit ‘enabling’ Acts. Further, the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill has now been published. Against this background we need to understand what this means for business at a practical level which is a key area for consideration.

The focus of this article is public procurement. According to “Government at a Glance (2015 edition) OECD Statistics”, more than 31% of public procurement in the UK is outsourced and public procurement accounts for more than 14% of GDP. That means circa 4.5% of GDP could be used differently as a valid policy tool by a combination of the UK government and its public bodies, devolved government and local authorities.

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REUTERS | David Bebber
17/07/2017

European Union (Withdrawal) Bill: complexity without clarity?

For what is inevitably a framework document, to be followed by a promised tranche of sectoral Bills and a wide and long-term run of statutory instruments, the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill is at first sight surprisingly lengthy. Its complexity and specificity will have given immediate reassurance to some in industry and elsewhere who voiced pre-publication concerns that the Bill would simply grant the Executive open and wide-ranging powers and would provide very little of the detail itself.

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REUTERS | Dani Cardona
12/07/2017

Public procurement case digest (June 2017)

June’s case digest includes an ECJ ruling that a procurement of medicinal products in Slovenia was unlawful, despite being in accordance with national law, and two General Court decisions dismissing applications for interim measures in procurement disputes.

Please feel free to submit a comment below or send us an Ask query if you have any views on the cases covered, or think that we have missed a case that should be brought to the attention of public procurement practitioners.

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