PLC Public Sector reports:
This week’s actions are:
Care costs: local authorities should be aware that, following the Court of Appeal decision in Nottinghamshire County Council v Bottomley, they may apply to be joined as a party in negligence proceedings against health authorities, even at a late stage of the process, to establish whether and how any damages awarded can be recoverable by the local authority as a contribution to the cost of the claimant’s social care provision.
Education: as part of its priority to improve behaviour in schools, the government has published the following guidance documents which local authorities and schools should familiarise themselves with:
- Internal exclusions.
- School discipline and pupil behaviour policies.
- 2006 Pupil Registration Regulations which explains the circumstances when pupils can be deleted from the school register.
Local authority officers responsible for pupil referral units (PRUs) and those clerking and chairing PRU management committees may also find the DfE guidance on management committees helpful in explaining the requirements in the 2007 Regulations for PRU management committees.
FOIA: public authorities should be aware that a recent decision of the First-tier Tribunal (Information Rights) found that they have the right to raise exemptions under FOIA for the first time before the Tribunal and that the Tribunal is bound to consider them. However, public authorities should also note that this conflicts with existing case law and that clarification of the position is needed from the Upper Tribunal.
Housing: in view of the principles set out by the Court of Appeal in Ravichandran and another v London Borough of Lewisham, local housing authority officers may wish to revise their housing allocations policy to reflect the fact that, when making an offer of permanent accommodation, officers should ensure:
- If the offer is a final one, that not only is the accommodation offered to the applicant suitable but that the offer is one which it is reasonable for the applicant to accept.
- A review of the suitability and reasonableness requirements of the offer under section 202 of the Housing Act 1996 should take place at the same time as the authority reviews whether it has discharged its housing duties towards the applicant. If that is not possible, and these two elements of the review take place at different times, the reviewing officer should ensure that any relevant matters which existed before the applicant refused the final offer, but which had not been taken into account, are considered.
Local authority landlords: given the decision of the Upper Tribunal in London Borough of Camden v Kennistoun House, that a local authority landlord is entitled to charge long leaseholders for the cost of replacing a communal central heating system, local authority property lawyers should ensure that leases, and particularly the services charge provisions in those leases, are carefully drafted and that there is a clear demarcation in the lease between the respective repairing obligations of the tenant and the landlord.
Planning: as Regional Strategies have been revoked, the DCLG has published useful guidance for local planning officers in a letter to Chief Planning Officers which will help them deliver local development frameworks and make decisions on applications.
Planning enforcement: planning enforcement officers should be aware that in Tile Wise Ltd v South Somerset District Council, the High Court held that a company which displayed an advertisement on its parked vehicles could only rely on the exemption in the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (England) Regulations 2007 if the parked vehicle was usually employed in its main function of transporting goods and personnel.
Public procurement: given the decision of the High Court in Morrison Facilities Services Limited v Norwich City Council, public authorities:
- Should be aware that they may owe an express duty to all bidders to investigate tenders which are abnormally low to check that they are sustainable.
- Must ensure that they use appropriate award criteria, which are disclosed to bidders, when assessing bids.
Procurement lawyers and officers should also familiarise themselves with the guidance published by the Officer for Government Commerce, which provides revised and updated guidance on the application of the public procurement rules to development agreements and planning agreements, including new guidance on section 106 agreements.
EU law: local authorities may find the guide published by the Local Government Association on how councils implement EU laws useful.