Practical Law

Care home fees: local authority lawyers will be interested in the High Court decision in R(Care North East Newcastle) v Newcastle City Council in which it quashed the Council’s care home fee-setting policy on numerous grounds.

Education: education lawyers:

• In Wales should be aware that the Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010 (Commencement No. 5 Order) 2012 has been made and will come into force on 1 November 2012. The Order brings section 11 of the Measure into force requiring local authorities to ensure that there are sufficient play opportunities for children in their area.
• Dealing with admissions should note a recent Local Government Ombudsman decision in which Latymer School was found guilty of maladministration causing injustice after it withdrew an offer of a sixth form place to a student who had been involved in an incident of poor behaviour the previous year.

Health: competition lawyers and those advising hospitals generally will be interested in the Office of Fair Trading announcement that it is reviewing the proposed merger between Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Housing: housing lawyers should be aware of the following statutory instruments that have been published this week:

• The Localism Act 2011 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional Provisions) (England) Order 2012 which brings sections 148 and 149 of the Localism Act 2011 into force allowing local authorities to make private rented sector offers to homeless applicants as a way of discharging their duties under the Housing Act 1996. The Homelessness (Suitability of Accommodation) (England) Order 2012 sets out when private rented sector offers will be considered “suitable” and when it will be deemed to be unsuitable.
• The Allocation of Housing and Homelessness (Eligibility) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2012 will come into force on 8 November 2012 and will add another category of persons to the list of those who are ineligible for housing accommodation or assistance under the Housing Act 1996.
• The Housing (Empty Dwelling Management Orders) (Prescribed Period of Time and Additional Prescribed Requirements) (England) (Amendment) Order 2012 which come into force on 15 November 2012 and amend the procedure for applying for an interim empty dwelling management order. The main change is that a dwelling must have been wholly unoccupied for at least two years before the interim order is applied for (previously it only need to have been unoccupied for six months).

Information law: information lawyers will be interested in the decision of the First-tier Tribunal in Cabinet Office v Information Commissioner holding that the public interest in disclosing information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 about cabinet discussions concerning the takeover of Rowntree Mackintosh by Nestlé outweighed the interest in maintaining the convention of cabinet collective responsibility.

Library cuts: those working for local authorities intending to make cuts to library services should note a recent Local Government Ombudsman decision in which Suffolk County Council was found guilty of maladministration causing injustice after it cancelled subscriptions to the RNIB talking books service without considering the impact associated with doing so under the Equality Act 2010.

Planning: planning lawyers should note that to the local development planning regulations have been amended to expand the categories of persons with whom planning authorities and county councils must co-operate in achieving sustainable development to achieve sustainable development to include “local nature partnerships”.

Public procurement: public procurement lawyers will be interested in:

• The latest ECJ decision on how contracting authorities can establish the minimum economic and financial capacity of tenderers.
• The latest consolidated text of the proposed new public procurement directive.
• The announcement that the UK Green Investment Bank will launch at the end of November 2012.

Consultations: this week consultations have been published on:

• Employee-owner status.
• The Housing Ombudsman Scheme.
• Overhead power lines.
• E-invoicing in public procurement.

The government has published a summary of responses to its consultation on possible reforms to the mobile homes regime in England.

BIS and the Cabinet Office have launched an independent review of public sector information.