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.
Education: education lawyers should be aware of the following developments:
- A checklist has been published to assist admission authorities to meet the mandatory provisions of the School Admissions Code 2012.
- Guidance has been published to help schools set performance-related pay for teachers.
- The Welsh Government is consulting on changes to the regulations governing information to be included in school governors’ reports.
Employment: employment lawyers are likely to be interested in:
- An EAT decision in which it held that an employment tribunal could strike out a disability discrimination claim where there was no evidence that the employer was aware of the claimant’s disability (Patel v Lloyds Pharmacy Ltd UKEAT/0418/12).
- The increase in the national minimum wage rates from 1 October 2013.
- A guide published by Acas on collective redundancy consultation.
Environment: environmental lawyers should be aware that:
- The ECJ has clarified the meaning of the requirement in the Aarhus Convention that access to environmental justice should not be “prohibitively expensive” (David Edwards v Environment Agency [2013] EUECJ C-260/11).
- The Law Commission has published a consultation on conservation covenants.
- The European Commission has published guidance on including climate change and biodiversity issues in environmental impact assessments.
FOI: information lawyers should be aware of a First-tier Tribunal (Information Rights) decision in which the tribunal held that a local authority was not required to disclose case notes of a deceased woman to members of her family as the exemption under section 41 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 applied (Trott and another v ICO (EA/2012/0195)).
Health: healthcare lawyers should note that:
- The Department of Health has published updated guidance on ordinary residence.
- The Competition Commission has extended the period of the Dorset hospital merger inquiry.
Housing: housing lawyers dealing with homelessness should note the Court of Appeal decision on the suitability of an offer of temporary accommodation to a claimant despite their belief that they should have been made an offer of permanent accommodation (Obiorah v London Borough of Lewisham [2013] EWCA Civ 325).
Litigation: civil litigation lawyers should note that the Bar Council has published new public access guidance.
Pensions: pensions lawyers should be aware that:
- The Local Authority Pension Fund Forum has published guidelines on its expectations for executive pay.
- The DCLG has published a consultation on ending local councillors’ LGPS membership.
Property: planning lawyers are likely to be interested in the following developments:
- The High Court decision ruling that Milton Keynes was required to review its wind turbine policy after a judicial review action by RWE Npower Renewables Ltd (R (RWE Npower Renewables Ltd) v Milton Keynes Council [2013] EWHC 751 (Admin)).
- A decision by the First-tier Tribunal (Tax) that a property subject to an agreement for lease can constitute a business capable of transfer as a transfer of a going concern (The Royal College of Paediatricians and Child Health and Coleridge (Theobalds Road) Ltd v HMRC [2013] UKFTT 202 (TC)).
- The Land Registry has updated its guidance on registration of security under the new security registration regime.
- The DCLG is consulting on further reforms to the Community Infrastructure Levy regime.
- Defra is consulting on updating the general water duties to reflect resilience priorities.
Public procurement and state aid: procurement lawyers and procurement officers should be aware that:
- The Advocate General has handed down an opinion on the application of the procurement rules to land development agreements and the extent of the exemption from the procurement rules for disposals of land.
- The European Commission has published an issues paper on the role of evaluation in the field of state aid.
Regulation and enforcement: enforcement lawyers should note that:
- The government has published its response to the Home Affair Committee’s report as part of the pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Anti-social Behaviour Bill.
- The Public Bodies (The Office of Fair Trading Transfer of Consumer Advice Scheme Function and Modification of Enforcement Functions) Order 2012 came into force on 28 March 2013, removing the OFT’s duty as primary enforcer of consumer protection legislation.