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.
This week’s actions are:
Children’s Trust Boards: lawyers advising Children’s Trust Boards on their obligations should make them aware of new regulations setting out a requirement for Boards to prepare, consult on, publish and review a children and young people’s plan.
Special educational needs: those advising children’s services departments should be aware that, following the Court of Appeal’s decision in N v North Tyneside Borough Council, local authorities must arrange the provision specified in a child’s statement of special educational needs, section 324(5) of the Education Act 1996 makes this mandatory and there is no discretion to decide that a particular part of the provision, such as additional therapy or equipment, is not suitable or necessary.
Environmental permitting: anyone advising local authorities in respect of waste management or pollution prevention and control should note that new Regulations will come into force on 6 April 2010.
FOIA: freedom of information officers should be informed of the High Court’s decision in Kennedy v the Information Commissioner, which held that a reference in the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) to the word “document” included information recorded on an electronic medium and not just hard copies of documents. The case also provides useful guidance on the exemption contained in section 32 of FOIA (court records, inquiries and so on).
Decision-making: the High Court’s decision to overturn a licence variation for the Royal Albert Hall should be drawn to the attention of all local authority decision-makers and also those responsible for determining who should be consulted about a proposal. It will not be acceptable to rely on a computer program to decide who should be consulted, when proper consideration of the results would show that an error had been made and that the authority’s own notification procedure was not being complied with.
Concessionary travel: anyone advising a local authority on its obligations to provide concessionary travel should note the Department for Transport guidance for local authorities on the change in the age of eligibility for concessionary travel, which will see the age of eligibility for concessionary travel linked to the pensionable age for women and rise to 65 by 2020.
Housing: anyone advising a local housing authority that refers those making homelessness applications under Part VII of the Housing Act 1996 to an agency to assist the applicant in finding privately rented accommodation should note the observations made by the court in Raw v Lambeth, which suggest that such a referral is not a reason to cease making inquiries under section 184 of the Act.
Planning: planning lawyers should be aware that:
- A commencement order has been made that will bring further provisions of the Planning Act into force on 6 April 2010.
- The Department for Communities and Local Government has published a new supplement, Planning Policy Statement 25 Supplement: Development and Coastal change and a practice guide, both of which deal with managing coastal change.
Public procurement: procurement officers should be notified of the latest procurement guidance:
- Those in central government should note the Office of Government Commerce procurement policy notes on the collection of supplier management information (including precedent clauses), publishing contract award notices and blocking child sexual-abuse web pages.
- Those in local government will be interested in the IDeA guidance on commissioning adult social care services.
Ordinary residence: anyone advising local authorities on identifying the ordinary residence of people in need of community care service should note the new guidance published by the Department of Health, which will come into force on 19 April 2010.
Consultations: this week there were three consultations on:
- Draft statutory guidance on Multi-Area Agreements with duties.
- How to tackle climate change through planning policy.
- Pilot operations of civil sanctions in consumer cases.