REUTERS | Jim Young
07/09/2011

The public procurement and competition implications of the government’s health reforms: who should we believe?

Simon Taylor, Antitrust Partner, Wragge & Co LLP:

38 degrees is campaigning hard this week with e-mails to members of the public urging them to persuade their MPs to vote against the Health and Social Care Bill  (the Bill).

Not surprisingly, 38 degrees have gone to lawyers to bolster their campaign and a counsel’s opinion was published on 30 August 2011, highlighting one of the controversial aspects of the Bill – competition in the NHS.  Counsel was asked to comment on the potential impact of procurement and competition law for the NHS arising from the Bill.

Counsel confirmed that, in his view, the impact would be considerable. The Department of Health (DoH) responded formally on 6 September disputing many of the legal and factual points made. These are a few observations on the debate, which is an important one given its potential for derailing a major piece of legislation and its implications for the future of healthcare in the United Kingdom.

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31/08/2011

Impending procurement chaos: Is the King dead? Will a new King live long?

PLC Public Sector reports:

The new Remedies Directive came into force at the end of 2009.  According to many commentators and practitioners it was going to cause chaos in public procurement with process after process being stopped in its tracks.  Has this been the case?  Is it too early to say? Is there another new piece of legislation (the Health and Social Care Bill 2011) slipping under the public procurement radar with the potential to cause far more problems?

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24/08/2011

Cutting disruption on the roads

PLC Public Sector reports:

This week the Department for Transport (DfT) has issued a consultation and draft guidance to local highway authorities in England on how they could implement lane rental schemes to cut disruption on roads.  Views are invited on the proposals that would entitle authorities to charge a daily fee for the duration of roadworks carried out on roads, in order to reduce the adverse impact that such works inevitably have on local traffic. One estimate puts the loss to the economy of such works at £4.3 billion a year.

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17/08/2011

Evicting rioters from social housing

PLC Public Sector reports:

In the days following the riots that took place across England between 6 and 9 August 2011, the government has announced various measures to assist those affected and many discussions have taken place about the reasons for the trouble and what could be done to prevent it happening again.  However, possibly the most popular subject for discussion has been how those convicted may be punished in ways other than through the criminal justice system. 

With government support, many local authorities and housing assosications have pledged that one way this may be done is through evicting those convicted of offences from social housing.  In this post we look at the legal position facing those promising to do so and how this position may change. Continue reading →

10/08/2011

A fair COP?

Amid press reports that a judge has ruled that a Court of Protection (COP) case may be reported by the media in real time and has allowed “fairly generous access to material” produced by the parties in evidence, we consider what this is likely to mean for future COP hearings involving allegations of deprivation of liberty.

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