PLC Public Sector reports:
Make sure that you have not missed a key development in your area of the law by reviewing our latest list of recommended actions. Continue reading
Nick Maltby, Head of Projects (Commercial), Bircham Dyson Bell:
It seems we are all (still) looking for new models for PPP. HM Treasury in “Infrastructure Procurement: delivering long term value” (March 2008) stated that it wished to encourage a dialogue around alternative models. Before the General Election in 2010 the Conservatives stated repeatedly that “Labour’s PFI model is flawed and must be replaced,” (George Osborne, Observer, November 2009).
After what seems to have been an interminable wait we finally (1 December 2011) have HM Treasury’s “Reform of the Private Finance Initiative“, which sets out 44 questions as part of a consultation on what the new model should look like.
In this post, I look at what the government is seeking to do and what models exist that may enable it to achieve its goals.
PLC Public Sector reports:
Make sure that you have not missed a key development in your area of the law by reviewing our latest list of recommended actions. Continue reading
06/12/2011
Is time for solar PV running out?
Jackie Gray, Director, Dickinson Dees LLP:
Assuming the government pushes through its proposed cut to the Feed in Tariff (FIT) rates for solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, we are now only a matter of days away from the 12 December deadline for installing solar PV before the rate drops from 43.3p/kWh to 21p/kWh for the average domestic PV installation. As a result, and together with other changes proposed to the FIT scheme from April 2012, many public sector organisations are currently re-assessing the future viability of solar PV as part of their energy efficiency plans.
PLC Public Sector reports:
Make sure that you have not missed a key development in your area of the law by reviewing our latest list of recommended actions. Continue reading
Following the decisions in R (Sefton Care Association and others) v Sefton Council [2011] EWHC 2676 (Admin) and Forest Care Home Ltd and Others v Pembrokeshire County Council [2010] EWHC 3514 (Admin), local authorities are likely to be facing the prospect of more challenges by care home providers to cuts in fees as they struggle to reconcile the spiralling cost of home care with a finite budget.
PLC Public Sector reports:
Make sure that you have not missed a key development in your area of the law by reviewing our latest list of recommended actions. Continue reading
PLC Public Sector reports:
What may be the most litigated series of procurements ever, the Legal Services Commission’s (LSC) replacement of legal aid contracts, took a further blow this week with an adverse decision notice issued by the Information Commissioner. The Commissioner held that repeated requests for information from a tenderer for details of the LSC’s tender process for immigration services were not vexatious repeat requests under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and that the LSC must respond to the request substantively.
As the worlds of transparency and public procurement increasingly blur, the decision notice makes it clear that repeated requests relating to one procurement process will not easily be avoided.
PLC Public Sector reports:
Make sure that you have not missed a key development in your area of the law by reviewing our latest list of recommended actions. Continue reading
PLC Public Sector reports:
With the formation of the first peacetime coalition government since the 1930s, fluctuating opinion polls, town hall control being passed to and fro and the worst economic prognosis since the World War II (or the Great Depression if some commentators are to be believed), it is clear that we are currently living in interesting political times.
A key theme of such times is the willingness of a party in opposition to be seen as a complete alternative, promising to undo the “wrong” that is occurring under the current party if they are given power. A recent Employment Tribunal relating to a Parish Council highlights that, once in power, this is not always as easy as it may sound.