May 24th, 2013
The DfE has announced a further 102 free schools will open from 2014, offering 50,000 further places.
Interestingly 70 of the 102 are supported by teachers, schools or education organisations when the DfE considered parents would be the main supporters. Is the programme being used to meet demand or are teachers becoming more involved with the free school programme than previously thought?
The answer’s unclear but teachers may become enthused due to the greater autonomy for teaching in free schools. One of the 102 will offer ‘cross-subject projects’ rather than traditional classroom learning, requiring teachers to teach a topic engaging different disciplines eg investigating wildlife from a mathematical, scientific and geographical perspective. Such autonomy goes to the heart of the free schools project.
Whilst the response from prospective parents has been positive there will be criticism of this unorthodox way of learning, which has its roots in the USA.
This is another chapter in the controversial free schools project debate: expect more to come.
Lauren Dobbs
0115 976 6231
lauren.dobbs@brownejacobson.com
Tags: cross-subject projects, Department for Education, DfE, free schools, teaching and learning
Posted in Education, Government, Public Sector | No Comments »
May 24th, 2013
At our recent in-house lawyer seminars we discussed the proposed European Commission directive for network and information security.
The UK Government has issued a call for evidence in relation to the proposed directive, and is preparing an initial impact assessment on its potential effects on the UK.
The proposed directive will oblige all EU member states to produce a national cyber security strategy and a computer emergency response team to help organisations respond to computer security incidents and advise on reducing the threat exposure.
Member states would face mandatory information sharing, and would see the creation of a EU cooperation plan and early warnings for cyber incidents, in addition to the requirement to report to a ‘competent authority’ any security breaches that have a significant impact on the provision of services.
This would impact on a number of sectors, including public administration, finance, energy, transport and health sectors and ‘enablers of internet society services’ i.e. app stores, cloud service providers, social networks and e-payment providers.
Posted by Helena Wootton, who specialises in commercial contracts, data protection, financial services, outsourcing agreements, services, supply collaboration, distribution & agency contracts, e-commerce and consumer law.
Helena Wootton
0115 976 6108
helena.wootton@brownejacobson.com
Tags: cyber directive, cyber security, Helena Wootton, internet
Posted in Data Protection, Government, Health, In-house Lawyers, Public Sector, Regulatory, Retail | No Comments »
May 23rd, 2013
Mr Pickles will not be a happy man following the decision last night of Lambeth LBC to retain their current policy for agreeing salaried positions and payouts of more than £100,000. Since Chapter 8 of Part 1 of the Localism Act 2011 came into force local authorities and fire and rescue authorities have been required to produce an annual pay policy statement setting out the basis for determining the highest and lowest salaries and the relationship between those and other salaries in the local authority.
The Department for Communities and Local Government has also issued guidance and supplementary guidance regarding those things that Mr Pickles thinks should be taken into account. The guidance states that any payments above £100,000 should be voted on by full council. Lambeth consider that this will cause too many delays and may result in the loss of the best candidates. They believe that their current policies and a new annual report to council of all relevant payments provide sufficient accountability.
Posted by Anja Beriro, who specialises in : local authority law, public sector procurements, commercial agreements, projects and shared services; clients: local authority and private sector bodies.
Anja Beriro
0115 976 6589
anja.beriro@brownejacobson.com
Tags: Anja Beriro, Department for Communities and Local Government, Lambeth London Borough Council, localism act 2011, pay policy statement
Posted in Employment, Government, In-house Lawyers, Local Authorities, Public Sector | No Comments »
May 23rd, 2013
Claims process reforms in relation to sub £25,000 motor, employers and public liability injury claims are still on track to be implemented at the end of July, according to the Government.
Since the Civil Procedure Rules Committee published draft protocols in February, there has been little sign of progress in expanding the current low value claims process, aside from the Government announcing its proposals for fixed costs. However, the Ministry of Justice has now published both rules and forms on its website, at the same time confirming that the intended start date remains 31 July.
Amendments to the Civil Procedure Rules, which are required to support the protocols and to govern the all-important fixed costs, have yet to be published.
Posted by James Arrowsmith, who specialises in high value personal injury claims, extensive experience of claims relating to head injuries and serious bodily injury, psychiatric damage and injuries to children.
James Arrowsmith
0121 237 3981
james.arrowsmith@brownejacobson.com
Tags: civil procedure rules, employers liability, Jackson reforms, james arrowsmith, low value claims, MOJ, motor, personal injury, Portal Co, public liability
Posted in Insurance, Litigation, Local Authorities | No Comments »
May 21st, 2013
Marks & Spencer (M&S) has won its £1.1m claim against the landlord of its former head office in Paddington.
M&S was claiming for overpaid rent, service charges, insurance rent and car park licence fees after it had exercised a break clause in January 2012 – despite there being no contractual right to do so.
The judge rejected M&S’s first claim that sub-underleases for the premises expressly provided for repayment of rent and other charges for the period after the break clause; instead the judge accepted M&S’s second claim that a term should be implied to that effect adding such a term would be “eminently reasonable”, what the parties meant and “necessary to give business efficacy to the lease”.
Whilst we wait to see if the landlord will appeal at least we have the glimmer of common sense on this topic.
In the meantime our advice is that you always expressly deal with this issue in the lease in order to prevent any ambiguity.
Posted by Sarah Parkinson, who specialises in property development and retail; heads up commercial property development practice, dealing with complex projects and commercial property transactions, including options and development agreements.
Sarah Parkinson
0115 976 6575
sarah.parkinson@brownejacobson.com
Tags: case law, landlords, leases, Marks & Spencer, Sarah Parkinson
Posted in Property, Retail | No Comments »
May 21st, 2013
A major overhaul of the English fire service has been called for, in a government commissioned report by former chief fire and rescue adviser, Sir Ken Knight. The report comments that the number of call-outs has decreased significantly in recent years but that there has not been a correlating reduction in staff numbers.
Sir Ken has expressed the opinion that millions of pounds of efficiency savings could be made, for instance, by taking steps to increase collaboration amongst authorities and with other emergency services. However, he also commented that the scale of change is “unlikely to be achieved through individual local action alone” and floated the idea of larger scale options including a single fire service for England “in the style of Scotland”.
It will be interesting to see this debate develop in the coming months, including the Government’s approach to localism as it applies to the fire service.
Emma Fox
0115 934 2003
emma.fox@brownejacobson.com
Tags: efficiency savings, emergency services, Emma Fox, fire and rescue authorities, localism, reform, single body, Sir Ken Knight, spending cuts
Posted in Employment, Government, Local Authorities, Public Sector | No Comments »
May 21st, 2013
Hammersmatch v Saint-Gobain [2013] EWHC 1161 is worthy of a read.
The court’s analysis of the s.18 cap and the weight it put on the parties’ valuation experts forms the biggest part of the judgment for good reason – the landlord’s original cost of works claim of £5 million was limited by the cap to £900k. Given that reduction, it would be interesting to know how the landlord’s litigation costs were assessed.
There is also a cautionary reminder that emails between a client and its non-legal advisor can be disclosed in legal proceedings. Here the court took them into account when considering whether the landlord actually intended to undertake the works.
For more insight see our dilapidations training video on our dedicated retail law website.
Posted by Tim Rayner, who specialises in property litigation, advises in connection with the full spectrum of property related disputes and commerical property
Tim Rayner
0121 237 3949
tim.rayner@brownejacobson.com
Tags: building surveyors, Dilapidations, Tim Rayner
Posted in Commercial dispute resolution, Commercial Litigation, Government, Health, Litigation, Local Authorities, NHS, Property, Public Sector, Retail | No Comments »
May 21st, 2013
The now oft-quoted 39 may no longer be the correct number if the members of 2 LEPs take forward the proposals set out in an options paper drawn up by the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire LEP, D2N2. In an article published today by the Local Government Chronicle, the Chief Executive of D2N2 and the leader of Nottingham City Council both say that the merger of D2N2 with the Leicestershire and Leicester City LEP (LLEP) should be seriously considered in more detail by members of both LEPs.
Nottingham leader, Jon Collins thinks that the current number of LEPs is too high, a concern shared by the Core Cities group of which he is a member. In his opinion the “rationalisation” of all LEPs is necessary to allow sufficient strength in numbers to support the receipt of further funding and powers.
If these proposals and others like them are taken forward, LEP boundaries across England could start to look like a familiar pre-2010 landscape without the bureaucracy.
Posted by Anja Beriro, who specialises in : local authority law, public sector procurements, commercial agreements, projects and shared services; clients: local authority and private sector bodies.
Anja Beriro
0115 976 6589
anja.beriro@brownejacobson.com
Tags: Anja Beriro, D2N2, LEP boundaries, LEPs, LLEP
Posted in Government, Local Authorities, Projects & partnerships, Public Sector, Shared services | No Comments »
May 20th, 2013
The OFT has published its report: ‘Personalised Pricing: Increasing Transparency to Improve Trust’ which looks at how consumers’ information, stored in places such as internet cookies, is used and how retailers use data to ‘personalise pricing’.
The OFT issued letters to over 60 leading online businesses to ensure they are transparent with consumers about how they collect and use their data.
Concerns were raised that retailers use information collected about individuals to offer higher prices to specific customers, however, the report confirms that no evidence was found of these practices. Many retailers were, however, found to be using consumers’ information to shape their pricing or place advertisements relevant to their interests. Overall, such targeted pricing can offer benefits to customers, according to the report.
We offer a website compliance product which checks company compliance with the requirements for websites.
Posted by Helena Wootton, who specialises in commercial contracts, data protection, financial services, outsourcing agreements, services, supply collaboration, distribution & agency contracts, e-commerce and consumer law.
Helena Wootton
0115 976 6108
helena.wootton@brownejacobson.com
Tags: Helena Wootton, internet, office of fair trading, OFT, personalised pricing, Personalised Pricing: Increasing Transparency to Improve Trust
Posted in Data Protection, Regulatory, Retail | No Comments »
May 17th, 2013
Alliance Boots and Morrisons have made fresh calls to the Government to reform business rates.
The two retailers made their submissions ahead of the first evidence session on Tuesday for the inquiry into the UK retail sector.
Morrisons said that “steep rises in business rates and lack of certainty in the rate-setting mechanism, are damaging confidence and weighing heavily on investment decisions” – a view which Alliance Boots and many others agree with.
Alliance Boots said that “the most significant challenge to operating successfully on high streets and town centres is business rates”.
Jeweller, F Hinds explained how it had to turn down “several” shops because the rates bill was so high and “often” higher than the rent itself – a situation faced by many SMEs.
We agree that businesses need to continue to lobby government to tackle this issue and hopefully this inquiry will go some way into making the Government realise the effect that the current business rates are having on the high street.
Posted by Sarah Parkinson, who specialises in property development and retail; heads up commercial property development practice, dealing with complex projects and commercial property transactions, including options and development agreements.
Sarah Parkinson
0115 976 6575
sparkinson@brownejacobson.com
Tags: Alliance Boots, business rates, high street, Morrisons, Sarah Parkinson
Posted in Brands, Government, Property, Retail | No Comments »
May 17th, 2013
The Government has announced that its response to the consultation ‘Reducing the Number and Cost of Whiplash Claims’ will be delayed while the Transport Committee conducts its own inquiry into the impact of whiplash on motor insurance premiums.
The consultation which closed on 8 March considered a number of measures intended to reduce whiplash claims, including an increase to the small claims track limit and panels of medical assessors. The consultation received a mixed response, even among defendants, with some cautioning that an increase to the small claims limit could reduce the ability to detect fraudulent claims.
The Government has already implemented reforms to the process for low value injury claims which will see a significant reduction in the costs recoverable by solicitors acting in whiplash cases.
Posted by James Arrowsmith, who specialises in high value personal injury claims, extensive experience of claims relating to head injuries and serious bodily injury, psychiatric damage and injuries to children.
James Arrowsmith
0121 237 3981
james.arrowsmith@brownejacobson.com
Tags: consultations, costs, government, james arrowsmith, low value claims, Ministry of Justice, MOJ, Reducing the Number and Cost of Whiplash Claims, Transport Committee, whiplash
Posted in Government, Insurance, Litigation | No Comments »
May 15th, 2013
A Serious Case Review (SCR) is to take place following the conviction of seven members of a paedophile ring yesterday.
It will look at the actions of all the agencies involved. Cases like this often seem to end up with public agencies being held to account, in circumstances where it is difficult for local authorities to defend themselves. They cannot, after all, release confidential information about young people. In this case the council has sensibly released what information it can, and has explained the limits on what they are able to do to help young people and their parents and carers to avoid risk taking behaviour.
We can confidently expect the SCR will identify some lessons that the various agencies can learn. Sadly there is a good chance that some or all of the agencies involved may face claims in reliance on those findings.
Posted by Sarah Erwin-Jones, who specialises in social services, the care sector, education and negotiating legal costs; advises on risk management issues including data protection matters.
Sarah Erwin-Jones
0115 976 6136
serwin@brownejacobson.com
Tags: child abuse, compensation claims, grooming of children, liability, Oxfordshire, paedophile ring, Sarah Erwin-Jones, SCR, serious case review, Social Care, trafficking
Posted in Charities, Data Protection, employer/public liability, Health, Insurance, Litigation, Local Authorities, NHS, Social Care | No Comments »
May 15th, 2013
Leading national health and social care partners have launched an ambitious plan to encourage local innovation and integration between health and social care services as part of moves towards “fully integrated” services by 2018.
‘Integrated care and support: our shared commitment’ calls for expressions of interest from integration ‘pioneers’ to take on responsibility for pioneering change in their health economy by 28 June 2013. It’s clear pioneers are expected to demonstrate “rapid progress” and the pressure to evidence results will be high.
The newly created clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in pioneer areas will play a key role in shaping and developing any proposals. Whilst the links between this initiative and the CCGs authorisation framework (to be finalised this Autumn) is unclear the plan is closely linked to the CCGs commissioning function and so will be a consideration.
This approach is a sign of things to come so the early decisions of these forerunners will no doubt be watched with interest by their peers, particularly CCGs.
Posted by Emily Birkett, who specialises in advice to NHS bodies ; their local authority partners and related organisations in commercial law, contracting, procurement , competition governance and all aspects of primary care.
Emily Birkett
0121 237 3934
emily.birkett@brownejacobson.com
Tags: CCG's, clinical commissioning groups, Emily Birkett, expressions of interest, Integrated care and support: our shared commitment, integrated services, pioneer, Social Care
Posted in Health, NHS, Public Sector | No Comments »
May 14th, 2013
The Government has announced that 137 of the 221 schools on its Priority School Building Programme (PSBP) will now be delivered using capital funding after failing to raise sufficient private capital.
Whilst the Government has confirmed the first batch of schools will go out to the market in June – to be followed in the next 12 months by a further four batches – the value of the privately financed element of the PSBP has been slashed by almost £1bn to £700m.
This is a major blow both to the Government’s plans to pilot their new private finance approach PF2 on the PSBP and to those schools in dire need of rebuilding, many of whom were victims of the government’s cull of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme in 2010.
One hopes swift progress is made on the first and subsequent batches of privately financed schemes. Only then might the dying embers of the flickering light at the end of the tunnel be rekindled!
Posted by Simon Chappel, who specialises in advising schools, colleges and local authorities on academy conversion matters and more widely advising on project finance, PFI/PPP, complex public sector procurements, social enterprises and mutuals.
Simon Chappel
0115 976 6097
simon.chappel@brownejacobson.com
Tags: BSF, Building Schools for the Future, PF2, priority school building programme, PSBP, schools, Simon Chappel
Posted in Comprehensive Spending Review, Education, Government, Local Authorities, Procurement, Projects & partnerships, Public Sector | No Comments »
May 13th, 2013
The ACAS disciplinary code does not apply to non – disciplinary dismissals. This includes misconduct and performance but not usually dismissals for Some Other Substantial Reason (SOSR).
In Lund v St Edmunds School the claimant was dismissed for alienating his colleagues and affecting morale. The potentially fair reason was SOSR, which the tribunal found procedurally unfair. Mr Lund was not warned of the dismissal meeting or the opportunity to appeal. No uplift was made for the breach of the ACAS code.
The EAT disagreed. Whilst he was not dismissed for conduct reasons, it said the ACAS code did still apply. His claim concerned his conduct which led his employers to consider whether he should be dismissed.
Employers should therefore think before assuming the code does not apply. However, they should also remember even where it does not apply, a failure to follow it is likely to mean that general principles of fairness have not been achieved; going to the reasonableness of the decision to dismiss.
Jade Andrews
0115 934 2002
jade.andrews@brownejacobson.com
Tags: Dismissal, employment appeal tribunal, Jade Andrews, Lund v St Edmunds School, Some Other Substantial Reason, SOSR, the acas code
Posted in Employment, Health, Local Authorities, NHS, Public Sector, Retail | No Comments »
May 13th, 2013
The divergence of opinion in Whitehall over where skills funding should be administered from continues. Recent comments by Vince Cable have highlighted that he for one doesn’t think that such funding should be part of the new ‘single pot’ which Lord Heseltine was instrumental in gaining Treasury support for.
In this week’s Local Government Chronicle Lord Adonis describes the issue as a “massive Whitehall bunfight” and it doesn’t seem likely that it will be concluded anytime soon. The single pot is already less than Lord Heseltine had proposed, with his original suggestions combining upwards of £49 billion of funding. The Treasury announced in March this year that the new funding stream from 2015 would encompass “some” funding for housing, transport and skills.
If Vince Cable’s Victoria sponge ends up having more weight than the Treasury’s cucumber sandwich then the significance of the single pot may start to be in doubt.
Posted by Anja Beriro, who specialises in : local authority law, public sector procurements, commercial agreements, projects and shared services; clients: local authority and private sector bodies.
Anja Beriro
0115 976 6589
anja.beriro@brownejacobson.com
Tags: Anja Beriro, single pot, Skills, skills funding
Posted in Government, Government bodies, Local Authorities, Outsourcing, Procurement, Projects & partnerships, Public Sector, Shared services | No Comments »
May 13th, 2013
In MN and KN v London Borough of Hackney, Mr Justice Leggatt held, obiter, that the case of KA was wrongly decided. Dismissing a challenge to a section 17 assessment, the judge held that social workers had been entitled to find that an overstaying family who had failed to provide information about their whereabouts for the previous decade were not destitute.
The judge found that an authority did not have power to provide section 17 support unless and until they were satisfied that a family were destitute, and that such decisions could only be challenged on grounds of irrationality or failure to carry out a proper investigation.
This will provide comfort to social workers struggling to assess families who are reluctant to provide background information. The judgment sets out a two stage approach to human rights assessments that social workers will find useful. Obiter, the judge held that the recent case of KA had been wrongly decided. Local authorities will hope that the Court of Appeal will share that view.
Posted by Ros Foster, who specialises in all aspects of public, administrative and local government law including judicial review, vires and FOIA/DPA.
Ros Foster
020 7337 1015
ros.foster@brownejacobson.com
Tags: High Court, human rights, KA, MN and KN v London Borough of Hackney, R (on the application of) v Essex County Council, Ros Foster, social services, social workers
Posted in Local Authorities, Public Sector, Social Care | No Comments »
May 10th, 2013
This week saw the Global Privacy Enforcement Network co-ordinate the ‘Internet Privacy Sweep’. The sweep involved participating data protection authorities worldwide (including the ICO in the UK) examining the transparency of companies’ websites and apps, and identifying those which may need further investigation or follow up. The participating authorities determined which sites to examine. Canada, for example, planned to visit the few hundred sites most visited by Canadians.
The key questions are:
- does the site have a privacy policy?
- how difficult is it to find information about the site’s privacy practices?
- is contact information for addressing privacy questions and concerns readily available?
- how readable is the information about privacy practices?
The sweep shows a co-ordinated compliance review by data protection authorities. Breach of data protection laws can be expensive and the sweep should incentivise companies to review their policies to ensure they are compliant with the law.
Posted by Emily Daniell
Emily Daniell
0115 976 6535
emily.daniell@brownejacobson.com
Tags: Data Protection, Emily Daniell, Global Privacy Enforcement Network, Internet Privacy Sweep, privacy, websites
Posted in Advertising & Marketing, Brands, Commercial contracts, Consumer contracts, Data Protection, Food & drink, In-house Lawyers, Retail | No Comments »
May 10th, 2013
Yesterday saw Barrister Barbara Hewson make some pretty controversial remarks. These have been widely quoted, and commented upon – usually with abhorrence. The response to her article was entirely predictable but also shows that as matters currently stand, this is not an arena in which it is helpful to make sweeping generalisations.
Our own experience is that when handling allegations and claims it really is necessary to descend to the individual facts of every case before forming any views. This will include the relative age of the child and alleged abuser, the nature of the relationship and the power dynamic between them, and the maturity of the young person in question. Making broad unspecific judgements about whether or not old men are being “scapegoated” while an investigation is ongoing is simply not, in my view, appropriate. These really are cases where the specific experience and memories of those involved merit individual attention.
Posted by Sarah Erwin-Jones, who specialises in social services, the care sector, education and negotiating legal costs; advises on risk management issues including data protection matters.
Sarah Erwin-Jones
0115 976 6136
serwin@brownejacobson.com
Tags: age of consent, Barbrara Hewson, child abuse, Metropolitan Police Force, NSPCC, old men, Sarah Erwin-Jones, Savile, Social Care, spiked, Stuart Hall, Yewtree
Posted in Charities, employer/public liability, Health, Insurance, Litigation, Local Authorities, NHS, Social Care | No Comments »
May 10th, 2013
It was announced in the Queen’s speech that the Government intends to enact a new Consumer Rights Act.
This act will:
- Expressly cover digital content, including music, films and e-books. Consumers will have rights to compensation if they purchase content which is inaccessible or repeatedly freezes.
- Consolidate consumer rights in one place. Consumer law is currently spread across more than 10 acts and regulations, which arguably makes it difficult for consumers to know their rights.
- Trading standards officers will be given new powers to require businesses to compensate consumers. We anticipate this will make complaints to Trading Standards more frequent.
- Implement recent EU directives, which are intended to harmonise consumer law across the EU.
Clarification on the status of digital content is welcomed, but it remains to be seen if other changes will truly help consumers, or will simply place new burdens on businesses.
We will provide further updates when the act is published in draft form later this year.
Posted by Oliver Sweeney, who specialises in regulatory matters; including compliance, representation e.g. company prosecutions and public inquiries; transport issues; commercial litigation, including reputation management, contractual litigation and injunctions.
Oliver Sweeney
0115 976 6247
oliver.sweeney@brownejacobson.com
Tags: consumer law, Consumer Rights, digital media, new Consumer Rights Act, oliver sweeney, Queen's speech
Posted in Advertising & Marketing, Brands, Charities, Commercial Litigation, Government, Regulatory, Retail | No Comments »
