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.
Business rates: local authorities should be aware that:
- Amending Regulations have been issued which means that the collection and enforcement of business rates can be deferred until after 1 April 2012 if the billing authority and the ratepayer agree.
- The Upper Tribunal has held that car parking spaces granted on residential car parking licences are subject to business rates.
Charging for residential care: local authorities should be aware that a local authority circular has been published by the Department of Health setting out various changes relating to how financial assessments for residential charging should be calculated.
Education Bill: local education authorities should familiarise themselves with the Education Bill which has received its first reading. In particular, they should be aware that the Bill, if passed, will require them to seek proposals for establishing an Academy if they consider a new school is required in their area.
Employment: the decision of the EAT in Bullock is a useful reminder that a foster carer is not a “worker” within the meaning of the Employment Relations Act 1999 and therefore would not be entitled to trade union representation when attending a local authority meeting on ending the fostering arrangement.
Although the employment tribunal decided in Tapere that a change of location alone was not an economic, technical or organisational reason entailing changes in the workforce, the decision turned on its facts so that the critical issue for a Tribunal will be whether it considers a change of location to be a substantial change to the employee’s contract and if it is, whether the employee’s refusal was unreasonable.
FOIA: information officers should be aware that, when estimating whether the cost of complying with a request for information would exceed the appropriate limit for the purposes of claiming exemption from the obligation to comply with section 12 of FOIA, a public authority is not permitted by regulation 4 of the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 to take account of the time it expects to spend in redacting exempt information, see Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police v Information Commissioner.
Housing: housing officers should be aware that the meaning of “domestic violence “ in section 177 of the Housing Act 1996 has been extendedby the Supreme Court in Yemshaw v London Borough of Hounslow to mean more than physical contact. Therefore any individual, who has been subjected to threatening or intimidating behaviour or any other form of abuse, which directly or indirectly, gives rise to the risk of harm will not be expected to remain in local authority housing with their abuser.
Local authority finance: local authority finance officers should be aware that the DCLG will be publishing guidance in February 2011 on the 2011-2012 capitalisation policy and application criteria to assist local authorities wanting to deliver efficiency savings through organisational restructuring.
Planning: planning officers should be aware that the Court of Appeal has upheld Herefordshire Council’s decision that an environmental impact assessment was not required in relation to an application for a polytunnel development since it was not a development within Schedule 2 to the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 1999.
Public procurement: public procurement lawyers will be interested in:
- The guidance published by the European Commission for public authorities on services of general interest and taking account of social considerations in public procurement.
- The decision of the High Court to lift the suspension of a contract award decision by the Department for International Development.
RIPA: local authorities wishing to make applications to use the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) should be aware that the government has published its counter-terrorism and security review. Proposals in the review include:
- Requiring magistrate approval when applying to use directed surveillance, covert human intelligence sources or less intrusive forms of communications data (such as telephone billing information).
- Only using RIPA to authorise directed surveillance where the offence under investigation carries a maximum custodial sentence of six months or more (except in cases of direct surveillance involving the underage sales of alcohol and tobacco).
- Streamlining the existing non-RIPA legislative frameworks for obtaining communications data.
Self-financing model for council housing: local authorities looking to adopt the self-financing model for council housing should be aware that the government has published various documents setting out how this will work in practice. The main document sets out how the system will work in practice and the financial parameters for the proposed reforms, including an implementation timetable.
Schools Admission Appeals Code 2009: the Local Government Ombudsman has written to the Department for Education seeking clarification on what should happen if an appeals panel had concluded that some, but not all, of the children making appeals could be admitted to the school without prejudicing the efficient education of the other pupils or the efficient use of resources, as was the case in its investigation into Poole High School. By following the Schools Admission Appeals Code 2009, the appeals panel may have unintentionally limited parental preferences and caused M confusion about why her daughter was not offered a place.
Consultations: this week there have been consultations launched on:
- A draft code of practice for schools in England and Wales explaining the provisions in Chapter 1 of Part 6 of the Equality Act 2010.
- Employment tribunal reforms.
- The European Commission Green Paper on the modernisation of EU public procurement policy.
The Department of Health has also invitedlocal authorities to become early implementers of health and wellbeing boards.