Posts Tagged ‘Public Sector’
Monday, January 30th, 2012
The future structure and operation of the NHS Commissioning Board is set to be discussed at its board meeting this week.
Its board will consider a 63-page document outlining the NHS Commissioning Board’s future structure. It will have an “hour glass” shape – an 800-strong central office, four commissioning sectors (based on SHA cluster locations) and, at least initially, 50 local offices (covering PCT cluster areas). Each commissioning sector and local office is expected to have about 50 staff.
Whilst there is logic behind the structure, some might question how lean this structure really is. However, it seems that the NHS Commissioning Board’s budget represents a reduction of about 50% compared to the running costs of the functions transferring to it.
The board will also be asked to approve and adopt Clinical Commissioning Group guidance that has been in circulation (some in draft form) for a few months. Don’t ignore the board papers accompanying each item either, as they also contain some useful information.
Posted by Jonathan Hayden, specialising in: advising health and social care clients including clinical commissioning groups, primary and secondary care contracting, commercial contracts, joint ventures, statutory powers/duties and governance.
Jonathan Hayden
0121 237 4551
jhayden@brownejacobson.com
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Tags: clinical commissioning groups, health, NHS, NHS commissioning board, primary care trusts, Public Sector, Social Care
Posted in Health, NHS, Public Sector, Social Care | No Comments »
Monday, January 30th, 2012
At the World Economic Forum recently Neelie Kroes announced the setting up of the “Cloud Partnership”.
With it she announced a policy to increase the uptake of cloud computing throughout Europe through the creation of common standards and regulation, together with an initial investment of Euro 10 Million from the European Commission to make it happen.
Personally I’m always a little concerned by announcements to boost the economy through greater regulation. If however the policy results in greater uptake of cloud computing by the public sector (whether through true “public” clouds or through the greater use of “private” clouds), as common standards are agreed and accepted then there is a real chance of (much-needed) cost savings, which must be welcome.
Let’s hope an agreement on standards can be reached more quickly than agreement on the debt crisis, even if it does involve putting up with unnecessary repeated references by politicians to becoming “not just Cloud friendly but Cloud active”.
Posted by Richard Nicholas, who specialises in commercial, IT and outsourcing agreements, complex projects for private and public sector clients, collaboration, distribution & agency contracts, e-commerce and consumer law.
Richard Nicholas
0121 237 3992
rnicholas@brownejacobson.com
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Tags: cloud computing, Commercial contracts, European Commission, government bodies, IT Contracts, neelie kroes, outsourcing, Public Sector, world economic forum
Posted in Commercial contracts, Consumer contracts, Government bodies, IT Contracts, Outsourcing, Public Sector | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 24th, 2012
The current examination system is said to encourage schools to focus their teaching towards the actual exam, rather than providing a general overview of the subject.
The purpose of new league tables, due out next week, is to incentivise schools to raise standards and teaching for all pupils, instead of encouraging them to jump through hoops to avoid intervention. The revised tables will show more accurate and detailed statistics of grades, offering a comparison between the schools that take on high achievers and those that started at a lower base. They will carefully monitor the improvements made in each school.
It is hoped that this will further the government’s agenda to close the attainment gap between different backgrounds. This is coupled with the extra Pupil Premium funding to support poorer children. The theory is that in return schools should deliver the same level of achievement for all children, regardless of background.
Laura Richards
0115 976 6249
lrichards@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)
Tags: Education, further education, Public Sector, pupil premium, school league tables, schools, teaching standards
Posted in Education, Further Education | No Comments »
Thursday, January 12th, 2012
Ofsted’s new chief has announced the current two day notice before an inspection is set to be replaced with a no notice system for inspections for all schools in England from autumn.
Some schools believe these changes are a result of recent claims that schools attempt to portray a stronger impression during Ofsted inspections by sending “bad” pupils home or drafting in staff from other schools. There are also concerns that shorter or no notice inspections may stop schools properly engaging with the inspection process.
Ofsted has carried out 1,500 no notice inspections over the last 18 months and defends the new system by assuring that the sole aim is to provide a true picture of school performance. Schools should be able to trust the inspection process but no notice inspections may just aggravate the feeling that Ofsted is trying to catch them out.
Laura Richards
0115 976 6249
lrichards@brownejacobson.com
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Tags: Education, Ofsted, ofsted inspection, primary education, Public Sector, schools, secondary education
Posted in Employment, Public Sector | No Comments »
Monday, January 9th, 2012
Just before Christmas the UK Government requested input from various bodies across the UK on the EU Commission’s legislative proposals for a reform of public procurement. Both the Commission and the Government have stated that procurement reform is a priority in 2012 so we are hoping to see some progress made over the next 12 months. EU reform is a time consuming process however, so don’t expect to see any legislative changes trickle down to the UK in the next year or two.
The Commission produced a green paper proposing reform which the Government responded to in July last year. Some of the responses made have clearly been incorporated into the current proposals and the Government has stated its intention to continue negotiations throughout 2012 with a view to protecting the UK’s position. If the Government can continue to push for simpler, more flexible procurement regulations then this will be welcomed by both the public and private sectors.
Alex Kynoch
0115 976 6528
akynoch@brownejacobson.com
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Tags: eu commision, green paper, private sector, Procurement, public procurement, Public Sector, reform
Posted in Procurement, Public Sector | No Comments »
Friday, January 6th, 2012
Around half of public sector senior leaders have expressed concerns over growing public-private sector collaborations according to a recent report by global management consulting firm the Hay Group.
The report, Relationship Counselling, surveyed around 200 senior leaders from local government, healthcare, uniformed services and universities.
The report highlights growing opposition and resentment to closer ties with the public sector amid increasing concerns over risks to service delivery.
This is an issue that is clearly taxing the minds of public sector managers as was evidenced at our December Claims Club session on shared services, outsourcing and private sector delivery of local government services.
With the report predicting public-private sector collaborations will double over the next three years these are unsettling findings.
Then again following the very public failure of private sector providers of care services in 2011 perhaps we ought not to be that surprised by the research findings.
Posted by Bridget Tatham, specialising in: high value complex litigation relating to disease and stress and bullying at work; experienced in regulatory matters including advocacy, investigations and inquests.
Bridget Tatham
0121 237 3916
btatham@brownejacobson.com
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Tags: hay group, healthcare services, local government, private sector, Public Sector, relationship counselling, service delivery, uniformed services, universities
Posted in Government bodies, Health, Litigation, Public Sector | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012
The updated public procurement thresholds came into force on 1 January 2012. As the first working day of the New Year for many, today is likely to be the first day of their practical application. Whilst the Regulation sets out the thresholds in Euros the equivalent in Sterling has also been published.
The limit for supply and services and design contracts has increased to £173,934 and the limit for works contracts is now £4,348,350.
Whilst any rise in the thresholds will be welcomed by most public bodies, the increase of approximately 3% is unlikely to have a significant impact on the nature of works or services which trigger the requirement to conduct a public procurement exercise. Current UK inflation stands at 4.8% meaning that even a 3% increase may equate to a reduction in ‘real terms’ here in the UK, but public bodies can at least take comfort in the fact that the thresholds have not been decreased as was the case in January 2008.
Alex Kynoch
0115 976 6528
akynoch@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)
Tags: euros, inflation, public procurement, public procurement exercises, Public Sector
Posted in Procurement, Public Sector | No Comments »
Friday, November 18th, 2011
Munir Yakub Patel, an administrative clerk, made legal history today after being handed a three-year prison term for bribery and ordered to serve six years concurrently for misconduct in a public office.
Patel pled guilty on October 14 this year to requesting and receiving a bribe intending to improperly perform his functions, contrary to Section 2 of the Bribery Act. Patel was charged in relation to his employment at Redbridge Magistrates Court and was the first person charged since the Act came into force.
The imposition of a prison sentence for a relatively minor instance of bribery shows very clearly that the Act will not just be used against big corporates and sends a powerful message to individuals and smaller businesses. If businesses have not yet put in place suitable procedures to ensure compliance with the Act then this case should serve as a reminder as to why they need to so. The threat of unlimited corporate fines and prison for employees is very real.
Matthew Woodford
0121 237 3965
mwoodford@brownejacobson.com
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Tags: bribery, bribery act, browne jacobson, criminal proceedings, employment, Public Sector, Regulatory
Posted in Commercial contracts, Competition, In-house Lawyers, Public Sector, Regulatory | No Comments »
Thursday, November 3rd, 2011
Over the last six months more than 470 UK colleges have been banned from accepting non European students with some 302 colleges having had their licences cancelled it has emerged.
Tighter restrictions for student visa applicants already mean tougher English language requirements and students at public sector FE colleges are now limited to 10 hours of work per week during term time. Students at privately funded FE colleges or language schools are not permitted to work at any time during their studies.
Further changes due to take effect from April 2012 include:
- courses offering work placements will have to have a study:work ratio of 66:33 (except at HE institutions)
- Tier 1 Post Study Work Route will be closed (but switching to Tier 2 will be allowed in certain circumstances)
The concern for the education sector is that the tighter restrictions could mean that less international students can apply to study in the UK, and those that can apply, are deterred from doing so as result if the restrictions in the opportunities to work.
Posted by Dawn Lobley, who specialises in employment law, acting for clients on matters including unfair dismissal, redundancy, restructure, TUPE, contractual issues and discrimination, plus immigration and data protection.
Dawn Lobley
0115 976 6185
dlobley@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)
Tags: education sector, FE colleges, further education sector, immigration rules, non European students, Public Sector, student visa
Posted in Education, Employment, Further Education, Public Sector | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 5th, 2011
The Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) have recently commissioned a new survey which reveals that due to the continuing economic downturn, 50% of employers in the public sector have noted that there has been an increase in stress related absence last year. The report says “stress is a particular challenge in the public sector where the sheer amount of major change and restructuring would appear to be the root cause”.
An employer is usually entitled to assume that the employee can withstand the normal pressures of the job unless he knows of some particular problem or vulnerability. However, given the continuing uncertainty and changes in the workplace that are being forced upon employers due to budget restraints, it is important for employers to revisit their strategies and policies in place (to possibly include counselling) to deal with employees who are not handling the changes in the workplace.
Posted by Jonathan Cook, who specialises in defendant public liability work including employers’, occupiers’ and highways liability cases from initial instruction to trial. Including small claims, fast and multi track work.
Jonathan Cook
0115 976 6150
jcook@brownejacobson.com
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Tags: CIPD, Public Sector, stress related absence, The Charted Institute of Personal Development
Posted in Employment, Local Authorities | No Comments »
Friday, September 30th, 2011
Hot on the heels of yesterday’s announcement (29 September 2011) that only 60 babies were adopted last year, comes the news that the number of children in care in England has increased to 65,520.
Monitoring these placements is not easy, it involves social workers working with multidisciplinary teams and families to try and work out what is best for each child. We are seeing an increasing number of claims arising out of such placements (and indeed failure to make such placements). To defend each claim we have to read lots of paper and electronic documents. We also need to spend valuable hours with practitioners so that we can explain what Social Work Practice means on the ground, and why decision making is not simple. The amount of time this involves is breathtaking yet quite often the value of the claim relatively low.
Sadly my view is that Social Workers may, like health professionals, have to become used to the idea that giving evidence in professional negligence claims is simply part of the job. Employers can make that change of culture easier by providing regular training and support.
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
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Tags: browne jacobson, child protection, children in care, Claims, local authorities, professional negligence, professional negligence claims, Public Sector, safeguarding, sarah erwin-jones, Social Care, social work practice, training social workers
Posted in Professional Indemnity, Public Sector, Social Care | No Comments »
Friday, September 16th, 2011
A series of strikes are scheduled as a result of the proposals to increase member contributions to public sector pension schemes
The publication of the final Hutton report earlier this year brought with it rumblings of discontentment amongst recipients and future recipients of the various public sector schemes to which it outlined reforms including the NHS pension scheme
The Government clarified that although it accepted all of Hutton’s 27 recommendations for reform, implementation would only occur following consultation with unions and members. The first consultations have been opened for a number of public sector pension schemes and they relate to increasing member contributions with effect from April 2012.
This consultation is only the first issued in respect of the 27 recommendations and the reaction amongst unions and members to these initial consultations signifies that there could be a lot more strikes ahead. It remains to be seen whether the Government determine that financial pressures and the “need” for reform of the public sector schemes will outweigh the upheaval to public services as a result of the planned strikes.
Posted by Victoria Leybourn, who specialises in advising companies and trustees in all aspects of pensions law and local authorities and contractors on their obligations regarding public sector pension schemes.
Victoria Leybourn
0115 976 6160
vleybourn@brownejacobson.com
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Tags: browne jacobson, government, Hutton report, NHS, NHS pension scheme, pension schemes, Pensions, Public Sector, public sector pensions, public sector strike, public sector strike action, Victoria Leybourn
Posted in Employment, Health, Pensions, Public Sector | No Comments »
Thursday, February 10th, 2011
It is rare that a judicial decision is so timely – given current economic and political pressures on the public sector to reduce costs and procure collaboratively, the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn LAML will be warmly welcomed. The Court of Appeal had held that several London Boroughs had acted unlawfully by setting up a company with the intention to generate savings on insurance costs. Amongst other things, the court found they should have gone through a procurement process.
In overturning this ruling, the Supreme Court has given comfort to public bodies seeking to share services. This comes at a time when case law in Europe is moving in the same direction – holding that public to public arrangements, with no profit or private involvement, are less likely to be covered by the procurement regulations.
Shared services can take a number of forms, and the Supreme Court has just removed one of the biggest risks to councils taking an enterprising approach to protect front line services.
Posted by Craig Elder, who specialises in project finance; Projects; PFI/PPP ; commercial contracts ; waste and defence sectors; long term/complex service arrangements;public sector procurements
Craig Elder
0115 976 6089
celder@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 6.0/10 (1 vote cast)
Tags: Procurement, Public Sector, shared services
Posted in Local Authorities, Procurement | No Comments »
Monday, February 7th, 2011
The localism agenda aims to decentralise power to local communities with power being exercised at the lowest practical level. Some commentators have argued that the sort of shared services arrangements seen to date are more about “local centralism”- where authorities design arrangements to retain as much power and influence as possible.
However, rather than contradictory, localism has the potential to bring new energy and a new perspective to shared services. For example, the general power of competence can give councils more confidence to deliver creative and innovative shared services arrangements. Too often the worry about whether an authority has power to implement a good idea can prevent its delivery.
For too long, shared services have been largely confined to public sector to public sector arrangements. Total Place moved things forward by challenging local public services to come together to deliver placed based solutions. Twinning localism with shared services can bring a new perspective to arrangements with local communities being built into shared service approaches.
Posted by Nick Mackenzie, who specialises in corporate law in both private and public sector, mergers and acquisitions, reorganisations, private equity, MBOs, MBIs, joint ventures, corporate governance and director’s duties.
Nick Mackenzie
0121 237 4564
nmackenzie@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)
Tags: local authorities, localism, outsourcing, Procurement, Public Sector, shared services
Posted in Local Authorities, Procurement, Projects & partnerships, Public Sector, Shared services | No Comments »
Monday, February 7th, 2011
It could be argued that the delivery of shared services requires a more entrepreneurial approach, and with that comes its own challenges. Can local authorities, who are traditionally risk averse, really transform themselves into entrepreneurial organisations and do we really want our local authorities to adopt an entrepreneurial ethos that encourages risk taking?
We would do well to remember that many entrepreneurs fail time and time again and that only a few truly succeed. So if we are to encourage entrepreneurism should we not limit that extent of the services exposed to any risks and should we not try to identify a new breed of local government employee who truly embraces this ethos. Perhaps more authorities need to follow the lead set by Sunderland who recently screened thousands of their employees for entrepreneurial talent!
Posted by Dominic Swift, who specialises in commercial propertyand property development law advising on all aspects of development transactions; advises on property elements of insolvency and banking.
Dominic Swift
0115 976 6148
dswift@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)
Tags: local authorities, outsourcing, partnerships, Procurement, Public Sector, shared services
Posted in Local Authorities, Procurement, Projects & partnerships, Public Sector, Shared services | No Comments »
Thursday, December 16th, 2010
On 9 December 2010, HM Treasury announced that from 1 April 2011 Academy schools should be put on the same footing as local authority maintained schools, in terms of their ability to recover VAT from HM Revenue & Customs in certain situations.
The announcement focuses on Academies recovering VAT which they incur on incoming supplies of goods and services, which are then used by the Academy for its non-business activities. Since providing education free of charge is generally a non-business activity, this is a very relevant point for Academies.
At the moment, Academies don’t have the same powers as local authority schools to recover VAT which they incur in this non-business context. Additional grant funding has been available from the government to try to bridge this gap. But from 1 April 2011 the intention is for Academies to be treated in the same way as local authority maintained schools on this issue.
Posted by Andrew Noble, who specialises in corporate and real estate tax, employee share incentives, UK and cross-border; advises clients from private individuals to listed companies; Chartered Tax Adviser.
Andrew Noble
0121 237 3952
anoble@brownejacobson.com
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Tags: academies, hm revenue, local authorities, maintained schools, Public Sector, Tax, vat
Posted in Tax | 1 Comment »
Thursday, December 9th, 2010
The National Fraud Authority estimates that public sector fraud cost £17.6 billion but these are only the estimated losses. Some suggest that this figure could be in excess of £38 billion.
Whatever the real cost one thing is for sure – the government’s planned austerity measures means we could see a significant increase in internal and external fraud against the public sector, according to leading accountancy firm PwC.
The greatest financial costs are incurred from high volume, low value fraud, with fraudsters being made up of a combination of staff and managers, contractors and members of the public.
With the scaling back of staff at all levels in the public sector, the use of intelligence database technology must become increasingly important. Public sector organisations need to start looking seriously at cutting edge screening and advanced data mining techniques and products if they really want to keep pace with the fraudsters.
Posted by Scott Bowers, who specialises in counter-fraud. Has worked with national and international businesses to implement counter fraud solutions to all types of litigation
Scott Bowers
0121 237 3905
sbowers@brownejacobson.com
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Tags: counter fraud, fraud, insurance, Public Sector
Posted in Insurance | No Comments »
Friday, November 5th, 2010
In a recent test case the Court of Appeal has decided that The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea acted lawfully when it decided to withdraw services to one of its clients to save money.
Following a stroke in 1999, Elaine McDonald, aged 67 had restricted mobility. In 2008, she fell and broke her hip. She was subsequently assessed as needing 24 hour support to assist her using a commode and her local authority provided a sleep-in care worker seven days a week. The authority later decided that they could make a saving of £22,000 a year supplying Miss McDonald with incontinence pads to use at night instead, and she challenged this decision.
To date it has been difficult to know how far the courts will let a public authority reduce their services, but this case gives us some idea. We expect many more disputes like this, as budgets tighten across the whole of health and social care provision.
Louise Wilbrham
0115 976 6552
lwilbraham@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 6.7/10 (3 votes cast)
Tags: adult social care, Public Sector, Social Care
Posted in Public Sector, Social Care | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010
It was a surprise that the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) abolished PFI credits for several waste PFIs. PFIs will now have to proceed without this direct government financial support.
Longer term, this raises the question about how government targets to divert waste from landfill can be met given the funding gap that many local authorities relied on these credits to bridge.
The shape of waste projects in this new environment remains unknown. But two things remain clear. The environmental pressures and targets facing the UK are not going away and, to deal with these issues, private sector investment will be needed.
It may be that merchant facilities and smaller, more innovative diversion technologies will start to replace the large scale council – contractor waste management contracts of recent years.
Posted by Craig Elder, who specialises in project finance; Projects; PFI/PPP ; commercial contracts ; waste and defence sectors; long term/complex service arrangements;public sector procurements
Craig Elder
0115 976 6089
celder@brownejacobson.com
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Tags: comprehensive spending review, environment, PFI, Public Sector, waste
Posted in Projects & partnerships, Waste & Environmental | 1 Comment »
Monday, November 1st, 2010
The government’s recent White Paper on Local Growth has set out proposals to increase confidence to invest.
The ‘incentives’ include: allowing councils to retain locally raised business rates, enabling local authorities to offer local discounts on business rates and new borrowing powers for councils to carry out TIF.
Free from dependency on central funding and the restrictions this entails – sounds great but, a badly thought-out framework could see more disparity between regions. What about councils that don’t collect enough business rates or indeed those who don’t collect any, how will they be supported?
It is also a small comfort that TIF will be initially introduced through a bid-based process, minimizing potential problems and risks. However, can local authorities marry their public duties with the high risks of borrowing against future additional uplift within their business rates base when this will be largely unknown at the time of borrowing? If the uplifts are not achieved it could be the taxpayer who will fund the deficit.
To have your say on the government’s proposals send your views to GrowthIncentives@communities.gsi.gov.uk by 1 December 2010.
Helene Maillet-Vioud
0115 976 6213
hmaillet-vioud@brownejacobson.com
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Tags: local growth, Public Sector, TIF
Posted in Public Sector | No Comments »
