PLC Public Sector reports:
Edward Davey, Minister for Employment Relations, Consumer and Postal Affairs, has confirmed that, following Francis Maude’s statement that the government is minded to abolish the Code of Practice on Workforce Matters in public sector service contracts, the government has sought the views of interested parties with a view to taking such a step.
What does this mean for public authorities? Can they take action now?
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.
As if the Government did not have enough to cope with in House of Lords management as a result of the debate over the constitutional propriety of the Public Bodies Bill (see Opinion, Public Bodies Bill sparks constitutional debate) they have now run into more trouble of a similar kind. Having whipped and guillotined the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill through the Commons, they might have hoped that it would have picked up sufficient momentum to make relatively trouble-free progress through the Lords as well. Any hopes of that will by now have been thoroughly dashed.
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.
Daniel Greenberg, PLC consultant:
The coalition government undertook early on to make a major cull of non-departmental public bodies, with a view both to saving money and simplifying public administration. The first serious step towards achieving that aim was the introduction into the House of Lords of the Public Bodies Bill on 28 October 2010.
In advance of the Second Reading of the Bill on 9 November the House of Lords’ Constitution Committee published its report on the Bill on 4 November. The report is short but sharp, and promises to be only the first shot in what the Committee clearly intends to make something of a constitutional battle (“The Committee will closely monitor the progress of the Bill and may report again to the House.” (para.15)).
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.
PLC Public Sector reports:
A new standard pre-qualification questionnaire that must be used by all central government departments by December 2010 (with a promise of roll-out to the whole of the public sector), a review solving all of the causes of delay in the procurement process (also to report in December 2010) and a new contract finder system to be launched in March 2011. All this in addition to creating a new type of framework agreement that does not lock suppliers out of the supply chain (sensibly no delivery date offered for this goal). All of these steps have been proposed by the government to improve SME access to public procurement opportunities.
Is this a new dawn for public procurement where smaller suppliers prosper and the government also buys more for less?
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.
Although the full implications for local authorities of the Spending Review 2010 (SR 2010) will not be known until later in 2010 when the Department for Communities and Local Government releases details of grant settlements, what is apparent from the SR 2010 is that even with the increased freedoms and flexibilities which the government has promised, such as removing ringfencing on local authority grant funding or giving local authorities a general power of competence, local authorities are facing a significant challenge. For more information on the implications for local government of the SR 2010, see Legal update Spending Review 2010: local government implications. Continue reading
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.