REUTERS | Fabrizio Bensch
22/05/2013

Public procurement policy review: February – May 2013

PLC Public Sector reports:

Our second post on key developments in public procurement policy that lawyers advising in this area need to be aware of covers the period from February – May 2013.  It does not consider case law, which is covered in our monthly public procurement case digest, for a summary of the latest cases, see Public procurement case digest (April 2013).

Subscribers to Practical Law can keep up to date with latest public procurement developments by signing up to the PLC Public Sector e-mail update (available weekly) or the PLC Competition e-mail updates (available daily).  All updates are also tweeted on the @PLCProcurement Twitter feed

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15/05/2013

The government’s response to proposals for codifying the relationship between central and local government

PLC Public Sector reports:

On 29 January 2013, the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee published its report on the prospects for codifying the relationship between central and local government. The report proposed the introduction of a code that would give local government greater control over its own affairs and clarify which responsibilities should rest with central government and which with local government. For information on the report, see Legal update, Political and Constitutional Reform Committee publishes report on codifying relationship between local and central government.

Given the support in local government circles for a code governing the relationship between central and local government, the government’s response to the report’s recommendations for a new constitutional settlement for local authorities in England that might achieve greater autonomy for local government has been eagerly awaited. That government response has just been published (see Government Response to the House of Commons Political and Constitutional Reform Committee Report (May 2013)).

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07/05/2013

Commissioning for outcomes and social impact bonds: new models for delivering public services

David Hunter, consultant, Bates Wells & Braithwaite LLP:

The financial challenges facing the public sector are huge, but they are not straightforward. Not only is there pressure to reduce expenditure immediately, but the combination of demographics and the economic outlook means there is a need also to procure more longer term solutions, if the picture is not to get steadily worse.

This post looks at the role that commissioning for outcomes can play in meeting these challenges and how social impact bonds may be used to finance new approaches to the delivery of public services, without the public sector bearing the risk attached to such innovation.

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REUTERS | Ina Fassbender
01/05/2013

Public procurement case digest (April 2013)

 

PLC Public Sector reports:

Our April 2013 case digest includes cases on the structure of evaluation processes, disclosure in procurement disputes and the application of the procurement regime to development agreements.

Please feel free to submit a comment below or contact us at: feedback@practicallaw.com 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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REUTERS | Alex Domanski
24/04/2013

“Tax avoiders” to lose out on government contracts

Katherine Calder, Senior Associate, Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP:

In the 2012 Autumn Statement, the Chancellor of the Exchequer confirmed plans (first announced in September 2012) to use of the public procurement process to deter tax avoidance and evasion. A discussion document and draft guidance for consultation followed in February 2013 and on 20 March 2013, in the 2013 Budget report, the government confirmed that the new policy would be introduced from 1 April 2013.

This post outlines the scope of the new policy ultimately implemented by the government, looks at the issues that remain with it and considers what services providers need to be doing. Continue reading →