Public matters - December 2022

Welcome to our December edition of Public Matters, our monthly round-up of legal updates, news and insights for the public sector. We’d like to take this opportunity to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a healthy, prosperous 2023.

Many of our team are now taking a well-deserved break for the festive period, however, our offices continue to be open until 5pm on 23 December. We are also open on 29 and 30 December before fully re-opening on the 3 January 2023. Emergency support is available out of hours and so if you need any urgent legal advice or assistance please do not hesitate to contact us.

Protecting children and their data in the online environment

Following the tragic death of Molly Russell in 2017 and related recommendations made by the Coroner in her case, it is likely that the Information Commissioner’s Office 2020 Children’s Code will be reviewed to further the lack of privacy for children online.

Is over centralisation hindering economic growth?

A new report from the Resolution Foundation and Centre for Cities has found that if the national economy is to escape stagnation by 2030, the current system of subnational government will need to change.

In this article, we analyse some of their findings.

Updated Greening Government Commitments 2021 – 2025 published

Updated greening government targets and reporting requirements were published on 15 December under the UK Government’s Greening Government Commitments framework for 2021 to 2025. The new commitments replace the previous (2016 – 2020) commitments and set out the actions that the Government and their partner organisations will take in the short term to reduce their environmental impact.

LPS consultation and ‘go live’ planning

The Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019 eventually made its way through Parliament after much debate and controversy, practitioners have finally had sight of the draft Code of Practice and Regulations, though the date for implementation of the LPS remains unclear. In this article, we outline the key points of the draft Code – and share our top tips for preparing for the go live date.

Children's commissioner recommendations for SEND reform

The Children’s Commissioner, Rachel De Souza, has recently published a report “Beyond the labels: a SEND system which works for every child, every time”. It is intended to sit alongside the Department for Education’s SEND Review and SEND Green Paper to put children’s voices at the heart of the review into the SEND system.

Rising Employment Tribunal backlog

Employment tribunal statistics have been published showing a further increase in the number of tribunal claims which remain outstanding.

The annual statistics also show the amount of compensation awarded in successful unfair dismissal claims is on the rise