PLC Public Sector reports:
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Commercial: public authorities engaged in economic activity may be interested to know that the Office of Fair Trading:
- Has published new guidance for UK public bodies on competition law, explaining the circumstances in which their activities will be considered economic activities, and subject to the UK and EU competition law.
- Has accepted an assurance from school suppliers to address competition concerns about the way that they compete for business from schools in England.
Employment: local authority employment lawyers will be interested in the following decisions:
- The finding of the Court of Appeal in Birmingham City Council v Abdullah that equal pay claims can be brought in the High Court more than six months after the end of the individual’s employment, even though such claims would have been out of time in a tribunal. The decision is likely to impact on local authorities given the likelihood that the number of claims will increase, unless Birmingham City Council successfully appeals the decision in the Supreme Court. However, claimants may be deterred from bringing a High Court claim given the significant costs implications if they are unsuccessful.
- Of the EAT in Dundee City Council v Sharp, setting aside the employment tribunal’s decision that a local authority employer failed to carry out a reasonable investigation and therefore unfairly dismissed the employee. It did so on the basis that the tribunal had set the bar too high in requiring the employer to investigate beyond the employee’s assertion that he was not well enough to return to work.
Education: education lawyers should be aware that the Department for Education has published an updated complaints procedure toolkit, which covers the legislation governing complaints in schools and provides best practice guidance for drawing up a complaints procedure.
Environment: environmental officers should be aware that the government has published guidance to assist public bodies in making decisions on how to deal with hazardous waste.
Health: the following developments this week are likely to be of interest to healthcare and local government lawyers:
- Health and social care providers considering engaging in partnership working arrangements as part of the Health and Social Care Bill 2011-12 reforms should note that the Audit Commission has published a briefing on joined-up working and improving value for money.
- The Department of Health has published an explanation of joint strategic needs assessments, and joint health and well-being strategies.
Housing: local government housing officers will be interested to know that, in a housing possession claim brought by the London Borough of Islington, the Court of Appeal has allowed the council’s appeal and set aside the county court’s decision refusing the council’s claim for a possession order. The case, which concerned whether the tenant remained a secure tenant even though she was living elsewhere, contains some useful principles on what constitutes occupation of a sole or principal home. Officers should note however that the case has been remitted back to the county court for a re-trial.
Local government: the following developments are likely to be of interest to local government lawyers:
- Those tracking the implementation of the Localism Act 2011 should note that a commencement order has been published for the limited purposes of enabling the Secretary of State to make certain subordinate legislation in relation to the general power of competence for eligible parish councils; the transfer of local public functions to permitted authorities; the governance of English local authorities; and discretionary relief for non-domestic rates in England.
- The DCLG has set a date of 3 May 2012 for the public to vote for directly elected mayors in England’s largest cities.
LGPS: local government employees in the LGPS will no doubt be disappointed over the High Court’s finding that the government’s decision to alter the basis on which public service pensions are adjusted to take account of inflation (using the Consumer Prices Index instead of the Retail Prices Index) was lawful and within the Secretary of State’s statutory authority. However, the claimants have been given leave to appeal the issue of whether the statutory language does in fact permit the use of the CPI.
Property: property lawyers will be interested in the following decisions which:
- Confirm that where a deposit is paid under a void or illegal contract it is not automatically refundable.
- Rescission is not an available remedy where a seller fails to comply with their contractual obligations to lay services within six months after completion.
Procurement: procurement officers should be aware that:
- The Cabinet Office has taken a decision to withdraw procurement policy practice note 3/11 on the use of open standards when specifying information and communication technologies requirements and launch a formal public consultation in due course to gather evidence and further develop the policy.
- New UK public procurement thresholds that will take effect from 1 January 2012 have been published.
Consultations: this week consultations have been published on:
- Updating the regulations governing teacher qualification in Wales.
- Procedural changes for advertising road traffic regulation orders in Wales.
- Revising the Welsh national planning policy on supporting the economy in Wales.
- Reforming the private finance initiative (PFI) in order to provide better value for money to the public sector.
BIS has also stated that publication of the government’s response to its consultation on modern workplaces will be delayed and is expected to be published in early 2012.