Updates include UK Shared Prosperity Fund, contracts, Subsidy Control Bill, data controller liability, Government Covid-19 procurement and Highway Code revisions.
Welcome to our Public Matters Newsletter.
This month we have:
In July, the long-awaited statutory guidance on the Subsidy Control Act 2022 (Act) was published in draft form. A consultation on the draft guidance has recently ended and the results have not yet been published – it may therefore change before the final version is published.
Three months on from the commencement of the new statutory Integrated Care Systems, in this article, first published in the Local Government Lawyer Anja Beriro and Gerard Hanratty reflect on the main themes and issues that have come from the new relationship between local government and health.
Any school wanting to change their admissions arrangements for entry from 2024, whether it be in Reception, Year 7 or Year 12, will need to consult for at least six weeks between 1 October 2022 and 31 January 2023, with at least the bodies set out in the Admissions Code consulted (broadly other schools, local authorities, parents, and relevant religious bodies). A full draft of the proposed arrangements must be published and details of where comments can be sent, provided.
Investment zones have been introduced by the Conservative party to get the UK ‘working, building and growing’. Many councils have submitted applications, but the Government has not yet released details as to how many.
Retained EU Law is a category of domestic law created at the end of the transition period of Brexit. It consists of EU-derived legislation that was retained in our domestic legal framework by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. This was never intended to be a permanent arrangement, as such, clients should ensure they’re aware of which pieces of retained EU law are crucial to the operation of their business.
In this article, fraud specialist Paul Wainright seeks to navigate through the latest Government cybercrime policy reviews and offers insight into the way public sector organisations should be thinking when seeking to address these issues.
Practice Direction 57AC (or PD57AC for short) relates to witness evidence in trials and explicitly applies only to the Business and Property Courts. As demonstrated in a recent case, compliance with PD57AC is crucial, to avoid unnecessary risk or losses or in court.
On 17 October 2022, the new Chancellor announced a major u-turn concerning most of the tax measures previously announced in the mini budget - including the plans to scrap the off-payroll working rules from April 2023.
Law firm Browne Jacobson has collaborated with Wiltshire Council and Christ Church Business School on the launch event of The Council Company Best Practice and Innovation Network, a platform which brings together academic experts and senior local authority leaders, allowing them to share best practice in relation to council companies.
In the Autumn Statement delivered on 17 November, rises to the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage rates were announced, to take effect from 1 April 2023.
Announced in September but scrapped on 17 November the investment zone proposals were very short lived. The proposal has now morphed into the proposal for a smaller number of clustered zones earmarked for investment.
Settlement agreements are commonplace in an employment context and are ordinarily used to provide the parties to the agreement with certainty following the conclusion of an employment relationship.
On 2 November 2022, the Supreme Court handed down its judgment in the much awaiting case of Hillside Parks Ltd v Snowdonia National Park Authority [2022] UKSC 30. The Court’s judgment suggests that the long established practice of using drop-in applications is in fact much more restricted than previously thought. This judgment therefore has significant implications for both the developers and local planning authorities.
In ‘failure to remove’ claims, the claimant alleges abuse in the family home and asserts that the local authority should have known about the abuse and/or that they should have removed the claimant from the family home and into care earlier.
Across the UK, homelessness is an urgent crisis, and one that is set to grow amid the rising cost of living. Local authorities are at the forefront of responding to this crisis, but with a lack of properties that are suitable for social housing across the UK, vulnerable individuals and families are often housed in temporary accommodation.
Settlement agreements in an employment context are ordinarily used to provide both parties with certainty following the conclusion of an employment relationship – but what happens when there is alleged discrimination after entering into a settlement agreement?
Updates include UK Shared Prosperity Fund, contracts, Subsidy Control Bill, data controller liability, Government Covid-19 procurement and Highway Code revisions.
The complex and rather nebulous transitional subsidy control regime set out in the UK-EU Trade and Co-operation Agreement and the UK’s wider international commitments has made it difficult for public authorities and those working with them to proceed with certainty where subsidies are involved.
