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.
Queen’s Speech: all public sector lawyers should note the provisions in the Queen’s Speech 2013, which include the introduction of a Local Audit and Accountability Bill.
Central government: those in central government may be interested in the:
- Government’s response to the BIS report on the operation of the Insolvency Service.
- Completion of the transition of government websites to the new single GOV.UK domain.
Civil litigation: civil litigation lawyers may be interested that the:
- Court of Appeal has warned against unnecessarily long skeleton arguments (Standard Bank plc v Via Mat International Ltd and another).
- High Court has ruled that the purported acceptance at trial of a Part 36 offer was invalid (Sutton Jigsaw Transport Ltd v Croydon London Borough Council).
- High Court has struck out parts of a witness statement, including opinion evidence, as those parts were an abuse (JD Wetherspoon plc v Harris and others).
- Law Society has issued an update on civil justice reforms.
- Judiciary of England and Wales has published a guide to judicial conduct.
Education and social services: education lawyers and those working in the Court of Protection will be interested to note that:
- The DfE has updated its advice on standards for school premises.
- Thirty Nine Essex Street has published its Court of Protection newsletter for May 2013.
Employment: employment lawyers should be aware of the:
- Employment implications of the Crime and Courts Act 2013, which will merge county courts and allow some court proceedings to be filmed.
- Employment implications of the Justice and Security Act 2013, including the proposal to allow “intercept evidence”.
- Consultation published by DEFRA, on the proposed changes to the Gangmasters Licensing Authority.
- EAT rulings holding that:
- post-employment victimisation is unlawful under the Equality Act 2010 (Onu v Akwiwu and another);
- an employer did not breach its TUPE obligations by failing to inform and consult employees who worked in the part of its undertaking that did not transfer, as those employees were not “affected employees” (I Lab Facilities Ltd v Metcalfe and others); and
- pension contributions are not “wages” in unlawful deductions claims (Somerset County Council v Chambers).
Environment: environmental lawyers should note the following judgments:
- The Supreme Court’s decision to refer ClientEarth’s judicial review challenge to the UK government’s failure to comply with nitrogen dioxide limits under the Air Quality Directive 2008 to the ECJ (R (ClientEarth) v Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs).
- In the judicial review challenges to the government’s decision on the proposed High Speed Two rail network, the High Court dismissed the environmental grounds, but the challenge to the consultation on compensation for blight was successful (R (Buckinghamshire County Council and Others) v Secretary of State for Transport).
FOI and data protection: information lawyers should be aware that the:
- Council Presidency proposals for EU data protection reform were leaked and published on a civil liberties website.
- First-tier Tribunal (Information Rights) has ruled that the form of original documents can be disclosable “information”, which must not be withheld by providing the data in a different format (Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority v Information Commissioner and another).
- ICO has updated its definition documents for the publication schemes of principal local authorities, government departments and higher education institutions.
Housing: housing officers may wish to be aware that regulations covering the selling and gifting of mobile homes come into force on 26 May 2013.
Local government: local government lawyers should note that the:
- Public Audit Wales Bill (which reforms audit arrangements in Wales and provides for the Auditor General for Wales to audit local government bodies in Wales) has received Royal Assent.
- High Court has rejected a judicial review challenge to Barnet Council’s outsourcing decisions (Nash v Barnet London Borough Council).
- DCLG has published guidance for billing authorities on the council tax empty homes premium.
- DCMS and DCLG have issued a joint technical consultation on mobile connectivity in England.
Property and planning: property lawyers may be interested that the:
- Technology and Construction Court has held a property developer landlord liable for breach of sale agreements and repairing covenants (Hunt and others v Optima (Cambridge) Ltd and others).
- Welsh Government has published a consultation on amending the regulations governing approved building inspectors in Wales.
- Law Commission is encouraging developers to respond to its proposals on problems with rights to light.
Public procurement: procurement lawyers and officers should note that the General Court has dismissed an appeal by an unsuccessful tenderer against a decision of the European Commission.