PLC Public Sector reports:
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Education: education lawyers should note that:
- The Department for Education has published guidance on behaviour in schools, this includes guidance on dealing with allegations of abuse, bullying and screening, searching and confiscation.
- The DfE has published guidance on school organisation decision-making processes, which includes details of who can take the decision and who has a right of appeal.
School PFI programme: details of the DfE’s priority school building programme has been published by Partnerships for Schools and that early registration is recommended. The submission window for applications is a small one and runs from 3 to 14 October 2011.
FOIA: information officers should be aware that the Upper Tribunal (Administrative Appeals Chamber) in Information Commissioner v Gaskell has confirmed that the Information Commissioner (IC) can take account of events that have happened since a request should have been responded to and accordingly require an authority to take no further steps, even if it should have originally disclosed the information. This means that public authorities should not hesitate to submit details of the latest position when liaising with the IC about a complaint made in respect of a request for information.
Local authorities: should be aware that the government has published guidance on equal pay capitalisation in which it is stated that the deadline for applications is 16 September 2011.
Health: NHS bodies in Wales should be aware that the regulations published in April 2011 dealing with new arrangements for the notification of and response to concerns or complaints about services have had their implementation date delayed. The provisions dealing with how redress should be provided (Part 7) will now come into force on 1 April 2012 instead of 1 October 2011 as originally intended.
Housing: housing practitioners will be interested in the Court of Appeal decision in Barnsley Metropolitan Council v Norton, where the Court held that despite Barnsley’s failure to consider the appellant’s daughter’s disability under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, this did not mean that the possession order against the appellant should be overturned.
Human rights: the Court of Appeal has confirmed in R (Condliff) v North Staffordshire Primary Care Trust [2011] EWCA Civ 910 existing case law, that Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights is not engaged when a public body (such as a Primary Care Trust) decides how to allocate its resources, since the body has a wide area of discretionary judgement.
Judicial review: local authority litigators defending judicial review proceedings should note the Court of Appeal’s decision in R (Bhata) v Secretary of State for the Home Department and others and ensure that they properly address the issues set out in the claimant’s letter before claim. If they fail do so, and the claimant issues judicial review proceedings, the court is likely to award the claimant (assuming they are successful) their costs against the defendant authority.
TUPE: local authorities involved in outsourcing their public service to the private or third sectors will be interested in an EAT decision which suggests that, when the ethos for the new service is fundamentally different from the old one, there will be no relevant transfer for the purposes of TUPE.
Working beyond retirement: in view of the EAT’s decision in Compass Group plc v Ayodele, local authority managers dealing with a request from an employee to work beyond retirement should ensure that they do not conduct the process with a closed mind but genuinely consider the request. If the authority’s policy is to refuse all such requests, the authority should be genuinely open to the possibility of making an exception to the policy and considering each request on its merits. It is essential that a proper record of the decision, and the basis upon which that decision is reached, in case an aggrieved employee subsequently issues an employment tribunal claim.
Consultations: this week consultations have been published on:
- Personal, social, health and economic education in schools.
- Changes to the teachers’ discipline and induction regulations following the abolition of the GTCE.
- A strategy for the secure estate for children and young people.
- Arrangements for local authority children’s services inspections.
- Funding allocation options for Local HealthWatch and PCT deprivation of liberty safeguards.
- Local planning regulations.
- A Draft National Planning Policy Framework.