PLC Public Sector reports:
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Central government: those in central government may be interested in the government’s legal opinion on the consequences of establishing an independent Scottish state.
Construction: construction lawyers may be interested that:
- An unusual and “badly-worded” guaranteed maximum price (GMP) clause has been reviewed by the Technology and Construction Court, which highlighted that when negotiating high value and complex contract provisions it is best practice to provide for the unexpected (AMEC Group Ltd v Secretary of State for Defence).
- The Technology and Construction Court has refused relief under the compensation event provisions of a contract based on the NEC3 Engineering and Construction Contract (Atkins Ltd v Secretary of State for Transport).
Employment: employment lawyers should be aware of the following judgments:
- The Supreme Court has held that recorders are in an employment relationship for the purposes of the Part-Time Workers Directive (O’Brien v Ministry of Justice).
- The Employment Appeals Tribunal has held direct age discrimination to be objectively justified by a strong social policy objective (Lockwood v Department of Work and Pensions).
- The Employment Tribunal ruled that the requirement for a law degree was age discrimination that was not objectively justified (Homer v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police).
Environment: environmental lawyers should note:
- That a sewerage undertaker does not have a right to discharge water, without the canal owners’ consent, through outfalls that were constructed before 1 September 1989 (The Manchester Ship Canal Co Ltd and another v United Utilities Water plc).
- The DCLG’s guidance to local planning authorities on how to implement the EU Waste Framework Directive.
- The detailed guide on bring site recycling issued by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP).
FOI and data protection: information lawyers should be aware that the:
- Upper Tribunal has ruled definitively on the definitions of vexatious and manifestly unreasonable under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (Commissioner v Dransfield; Craven v Information Commissioner; Ainslie v Information Commissioner).
- Information Tribunal has held that a university could withhold details of attendees of a leadership training course under the personal data exemption (Patricia Cialfi v Information Commissioner).
Health: health officials may wish to read the full text of the OFT’s decision to refer the anticipated merger between two Foundation Trusts to the Competition Commission.
Housing: registered providers of social housing will be interested in the rules published for the Housing Guarantee Scheme.
Local government: local government lawyers should note:
- That the Local Authority (Public Health, Health and Wellbeing Boards and Health Scrutiny) Regulations 2013 have been made and most will come into force on 1 April 2013.
- The High Court’s decision in R (Redcar and Cleveland Independent Providers Association and others) v Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, ruling that care home fee rates must take account of actual costs and not just be benchmarked.
- That the inheritance tax nil rate band will be frozen at £325,000 for a further three years from 2015-16, to help the costs of changes to the funding of social care.
Property and planning: property lawyers may be interested:
- That the Town and Country Planning (Modification and Discharge of Planning Obligations) Regulations 1992 governing modification of section 106 obligations have been amended.
- In English Heritage’s revised toolkit for heritage-led regeneration.
Public procurement: procurement officers should note:
- The government’s success in agreeing a potential new public procurement exclusion for staff mutuals as part of the ongoing negotiations over the reform of the public procurement regime.
- The criticism of the government’s decision to outsource the courts’ interpreter services despite warnings during the consultation process that the quality of court language services would be reduced.
Social services: social security officers will be interested to note that the:
- Court of Appeal has quashed the Jobseeker’s Allowance (Employment, Skills and Enterprise Scheme) Regulations 2011 (R (Reilly and Wilson) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions).
- Social Security (Information-sharing in relation to Welfare Services etc.) (Amendment) Regulations 2013 came into force on Monday 11 February 2013.
Consultations: this week, consultations were published on: