PLC Public Sector reports:
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Commercial: public authorities should be aware of the fact that the Late Payment of Commercial Debts Regulations 2013 have been made and will come into force on 16 March 2013.
Education and social services: education lawyers should be aware that:
- The Welsh Government has published a consultation on draft statutory guidance for local authorities on schools causing concern.
- The European Commission has adopted a Social Investment Package.
Employment and pensions: employment lawyers will be interested in the following recent developments:
- The Court of Appeal has held that an employment tribunal was not required to look behind a previously issued final warning, that is, whether it was issued in good faith (Davies v Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council).
- The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has held that the Equality Act 2010 does not protect against post-employment victimisation (Rowstock Ltd and another v Jessemey).
- The EAT has held that using assessment centre competency tests as part of a redundancy selection process was unreasonable (Mental Health Care (UK) Ltd v Biluan and another).
- The government has announced that new codes of practice for skilled migrant workers from outside the EEC will apply from 6 April 2013.
- The House of Lords have agreed an amendment to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill 2012-13, which would make caste discrimination unlawful under the Equality Act 2010.
- Draft regulations dealing with pension protection provisions following a TUPE transfer have been published for consultation.
- The government is currently consulting on how shared parental leave and pay should be administered.
Pensions lawyers tracking the Public Service Pensions Bill should also be aware that it has received its third reading in the House of Lords.
Environment: environmental lawyers should note that:
- The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2013 have been made and largely came into force on 27 February 2013.
- The government has cut FITS for solar PV installations over 50 kilowatts from May 2013.
- A guide to the energy from waste debate and several waste technical briefs have been published.
- The European Commission has published a consultation on how environmental authorities use inspections to check compliance.
Health: healthcare lawyers will be interested in the following documents published by the Department of Health:
- A response to its consultation on objecting to pricing methodology for NHS services.
- A consultation on direct payments for healthcare.
Local government: local government lawyers should be aware that:
- The Non-Domestic Rating (Rates Retention) Regulations 2013 and three other sets of regulations dealing with business rates retention have been passed.
- The Local Authorities (Conduct of Referendums) (Council Tax Increases) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2013 have been made revising the council tax referendums procedure.
- The High Court has held that a local authority did not owe a private law duty of care to those affected by an E.coli outbreak at a petting farm (Furnell v Flaherty t/a Godstone Farm).
- The government has published advice on delivering savings by scaling back the cost of trade union time.
Public procurement: procurement lawyers are likely to find the following developments of interest:
- The government has stated that it will be amending the National Health Service (Procurement, Patient Choice and Competition) Regulations 2013.
- The Advocate General has given an opinion on whether Directive 2004/18 precludes national legislation limiting the number of auxiliary operators.
- The National Audit Office has published a report on improving government procurement.
Regulation and enforcement: enforcement lawyers should note that the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 has received Royal Assent.