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.
Central government: those in central government may be interested in the:
- Welsh Government’s response to its consultation on a separate jurisdiction for Wales.
- New Jobseeker’s Allowance regulations, passed to replace those quashed last week by the Court of Appeal.
Civil litigation: litigation lawyers should read the Statutory Instrument containing the Civil Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2013. In particular, lawyers specialising in judicial review should note that, from 1 April 2013, rule 54.6(1) of the Civil Procedure Rules will require a claimant to specify the grounds on which it is alleged they have an Aarhus Convention claim.
Education: education lawyers will be interested to note that the consultation on the draft Inter-authority Recoupment (England) Regulations 2013 closes on Monday 25 February 2013.
Employment: employment lawyers should be aware of the:
- Tabled amendments on political affiliations, whistleblowing and financial penalties in the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill.
- Consultation by Acas on a draft statutory code of practice on settlement agreements.
- Decision in Tayeh v Barchester Healthcare Ltd, in which the Court of Appeal found that the Employment Tribunal was not entitled to substitute its own view of the seriousness of an employee’s misconduct for that of the employer.
- EAT decision that a disclosure of information after employment ends can be a protected disclosure under the whistleblowing provisions of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (Onyango v Berkeley (t/a Berkeley Solicitors)).
- ET decision that a council failed to provide adequate information about its agency workers during collective redundancy and TUPE consultation (Unison v London Borough of Barnet and another).
Environment: environmental lawyers should note that:
- The new Civil Procedure Rules 45.41 to 45.55 provide for a new regime for protective costs orders in environmental judicial review claims under the Aarhus Convention.
- Defra has published a summary of the responses to its call for evidence on banning waste wood from landfill.
FOI and data protection: information lawyers should be aware of the:
- Decision of the First-tier Tribunal (Information Rights) that it may be possible to aggregate public interest factors under separate qualified FOIA exemptions, in order to refuse disclosure of information under FOIA (Helstrip v Information Commissioner and High Speed Two).
- Analyses of the draft Data Protection Regulation published by the European Council and the Information Commissioner’s Office.
- Decision of the ECJ on access to public documents that it holds.
Health: health officials may wish to read:
- The three new statutory instruments under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 relating to implementation of various aspects of the Act on 1 April 2013.
- Regulations transferring public health staff to Public Health England and protecting transferees’ employment rights.
- The new NHS provider licence published by Monitor.
Human Rights: human rights lawyers should note the decisions in:
- R (Infinis plc and others) v The Gas and Electricity Markets Authority, in which the Court of Appeal upheld an award of damages to a company for the breach of its right to protection of property under the ECHR.
- M (A Child), where the Court of Appeal held that a failure to provide a vulnerable respondent with a registered intermediary, or a screen to assist him with giving oral evidence, was a breach of his right under the ECHR to a fair trial.
- Pharmacists’ Defence Association Union v Boots Management Services Ltd, where the Central Arbitration Committee ruled that a trade union’s application for recognition could proceed under Article 11 of the ECHR.
Local government: local government lawyers should note that the High Court rejected a challenge to Northumberland County Council’s decision to fix care home rates for the period from 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2015 (R (Care North East Northumberland) v Northumberland County Council).
Pensions: pensions lawyers for public authorities may be interested that:
- The Public Service Pensions Bill has reached its report stage in the House of Lords.
- The Government Actuary’s Department has confirmed that contractors may apply for an addendum to their existing certificates of broad comparability to reflect the new contribution rates for the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme and the Teachers’ Pension Schemes.
Property and planning: property lawyers may be interested that the:
- Court of Appeal held that the British Waterways Board had no right to demand the removal of vessels moored to the canal bank adjacent to a riparian owner’s land (Moore v British Waterways Board).
- Law Commission has published a consultation on rights to light.
- Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has confirmed its approach to enforcement of regulations 10 and 11 of the Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012, as part of the new regime for energy performance certificates (EPCs).
Public procurement: procurement officers should note the publication of:
- A new Procurement Policy Note by the Cabinet Office, which provides guidance for contracting authorities on the assessment of a potential supplier’s financial standing and the financial risk connected with a supplier.
- An announcement by the government of the details of its plans to use the public procurement process to deter tax avoidance and evasion.
- An updated version of the European Commission’s guidance for public authorities on the application of the EU state aid, public procurement and internal market rules to services of general economic interest.
- The National Health Service (Procurement, Patient Choice and Competition) Regulations 2013.
Regulation and enforcement: enforcement lawyers may wish to read:
- The newly-revised Code for Crown Prosecutors.
- The government’s newly-published health and safety progress reports.