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.
This week’s actions are:
Adoption agencies: children’s services lawyers advising officers that work with adoption agencies will be interested in the decision of the High Court in Charity Commission v Catholic Care.
Care planning and proceedings: children’s services lawyers should also note:
- The publication of new regulations that set out local authority obligations for care planning for looked after children, which will come into force on 1 April 2011.
- The adoption of a new case management practice direction, which will apply to care and supervision proceedings and came into force on 6 April 2010.
LGO complaint service in schools: education lawyers should note that regulations have been made that will allow the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) to investigate complaints about schools. The regulations set out the types of matters that the LGO will be able to investigate.
Minimum wage: employment lawyers should note the increase in the national minimum wage announced by the Government, which will come into force on 1 October 2010.
FOIA: information lawyers should note:
- The decision of the Information Tribunal in Crown Prosecution Service v Information Commissioner, which made it clear that public authorities do not have an automatic right to claim new exemptions when a matter comes before the Information Commissioner (IC) or the Information Tribunal.
- The IC’s guidance on redacting documents.
- The IC’s report on the adoption of the model publication scheme by police bodies.
Data security: St Albans City and District Council are the latest public authority to give undertakings to the IC following the loss of personal information. On this occasion, voters’ information was needlessly stored on an unencrypted laptop. Authorities should review and enforce data protection policies and, in the light of this enforcement action, pay particular attention to making sure that information is deleted when no longer required.
Local authority petitioning: local government lawyers should be aware that an Order has been published bringing into force chapter 2 of Part 1 of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009. This means that, from 15 June 2010, local authorities will be obliged to have a scheme in place to respond to petitions from members of the public.
EIAs and retrospective planning permission: planning lawyers should note the decision of the Court of Appeal in Ardagh Glass v Chester City Council, which found that retrospective planning permission could be granted where the scheme should have been subject to an environmental impact assessment.
Planning: planning lawyers should also note:
- The amendments made to planning use classes with effect from April 2010.
- The final Community Infrastructure Levy regulations that have been published.
- The guidance published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for National Parks and the Broads.
Public procurement: the most important developments to note in a busy week for public procurement lawyers are:
- The ECJ’s decision in Müller, which provides some guidance for local authorities looking to move land development schemes forward.
- The High Court’s decision in Sita v GMWDA, which showed that the ECJ decision in Uniplex will not be seen as a reason to extend public procurement limitation periods indefinitely.
- The Office for Government Commerce’s publication of a procurement policy note requiring all central government departments and agencies to include a requirement that sub-contractors are paid within 30 days in their contracts and a guide to implementing e-tendering.
Consultations: this week consultations were launched on: