At Browne Jacobson, we have a nationally leading team of administrative and constitutional law experts who really understand Devolution, how it has shaped the administration of the UK and its continuing influence.
Drawing on a wealth of experience advising both central and local government, we offer a team of lawyers who have first-hand in-house experience. We deliver unrivalled insight into the complex area of the devolution of powers from central government. We also advise devolved administrations, including the Welsh Government, on the scope and use of their powers.
Our clients call on us to assist them with the development, creation and implementation of nationally significant policies. These include major organisational restructuring to drive efficiency and facilitate change.
We are specialists in the provision of advice to devolved administrations on high profile, complex matters involving assessments of public and administrative law risk, based on the use of devolved powers. We establish close working relationships with our clients and operate regularly as an extension to in-house legal teams.
An example of our standing, at the forefront of this area of law, is our work as trusted advisors to the Welsh Government, on the devolution settlement, scope and use of their devolved powers in relation to the biggest issues facing Welsh society; from Education reform to Environmental and Planning decisions to Primary Care Health reform and the Covid-19 pandemic.
We are at the forefront of the UK Levelling Up agenda, having advised the Constituent Councils on the creation of the first Combined County Authority in England under the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, as well as advising Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire County Councils on the development of Freeport East Midlands, the only inland freeport in the UK.
We've been instructed to act for the Welsh Government in their Covid-19 inquiry. The inquiry will run parallel to the UK-led inquiry and focus on the joint responsibilities shared by the Welsh and UK Governments throughout the pandemic, and their related responses.
Creation of EMCCA, the first CCA devolution deal under the Levelling Up Bill worth £1.14bn
Working with Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire County Councils on the development of the UK’s only inland Freeport that will drive economic regeneration across the East Midlands.
"I’ve worked on a number of projects with Browne Jacobson, notably managing the legal work to create Natural Resources Wales. They have always been professional, flexible where necessary, and focused on delivering our outcomes."
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.
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.
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.
Investment zones have been introduced by the Conservative party to get the United Kingdom (UK) ‘working, building and growing’. They are to be designated sites which provide time-limited tax incentives, streamlined planning rules and wider support for local growth to encourage investment and accelerate the development of housing and infrastructure that the UK needs to drive economic growth. Processes and requirements that slow down development will be stripped back with the intention of attracting new investment.
Created at the end of the Brexit transition period, Retained EU Law is a category of domestic law that consists of EU-derived legislation retained in our domestic legal framework by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. This was never intended to be a permanent arrangement as parliament promised to deal with retained EU law through the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill (the “Bill”).
It is clear that the digital landscape, often termed cyberspace, is a man-made environment, in which human behaviour dominates and where technology both influences and aids our role in it — through the internet, telecoms and networked computer systems, which are often interdependent. The extent to which any organisation is potentially vulnerable to cyber-attack depends on how well these elements are aligned.
Three months on from the commencement of the new statutory Integrated Care Systems (ICS) Anja Beriro and Gerrard Hanratty reflect on the main themes and issues that have come from the new relationship between local government and health.
The Procurement Bill (the Bill) has now been with us for about four months, during which time there have been a huge number of amendments proposed in the House of Lords (circa 320). Lately, there has been less mention of it — unsurprising, really, given everything else going on in politics recently — but here’s a summary of some of the key issues and themes so far.
Browne Jacobson has been named as a supplier on Crown Commercial Service’s (CCS) Public Sector Legal Services Framework on Lot 1a – full-service provision (England and Wales) and Lot 2a – general service provision (England and Wales).
Welcome to our September edition of Public Matters, our monthly round-up of legal updates, news and insights for the public sector.
Since the UK left the EU and are now able to move away from the EU data protection regime, the UK government have implemented a national data strategy with the aim of reducing the burden on organisations but maintaining a high data protection standard.
The Chancellor’s recent mini-budget provided a significant announcement for business as it was confirmed that the off-payroll working rules (known as “IR35”) put in place for public and private sector businesses from 2017 and 2021 will be scrapped from April 2023.
