Michelmores Local Government Alert

Michelmores Local Government Alert

Welcome to the Michelmores Local Government Alert, where we bring you a round-up of the latest news and legal developments affecting Local Government.  We hope that you find this useful and welcome your feedback.  Please contact us with any comments or queries.  Items in this issue include:

Central Government:
The Law Commission announces its 11th Programme of Law  Reform

Charities:
Report on consortia formed to deliver public services

Education:
Department for Education publishes new standards of competence and conduct for teachers from September 2012
Department for Education makes announcement of education funding

Employment: 
Sick worker's entitlement to statutory holiday (and pay) carried over to next leave year
ACAS issues guidance for employers during Olympics

Environment:
Environment Agency imposes first civil sanctions for environmental offences

Local Government: 
The Local Government Ombudsman orders council to pay back charges for waste disposal
Department for Communities and Local Government publishes consultation on the Local Government Resource Review

Property and Planning:
Ministry of Justice consults on issuing stronger measures to deal with squatters
Reversing the registration of a town or village green

*************************************************
Central Government

The Law Commission announces its 11th Programme of Law Reform

The project will review areas of law such as the regulation and constitution of charities, European contract law and rights to light.  Furthermore the project will consider the existing law and whether it is fit for purpose.

*************************************************
Charities

A report has been produced on the consortia formed to deliver public services

The report considered the role of charities joining together and working as a consortium.  The focus was on the issues that arise for consortia that have to tender for and deliver public services.

Of particular interest is the fact that charities participating in consortia have found ways of identifying and managing conflicts of interest when they arise as part of the contract bidding process.  Furthermore, consortia are actively encouraging smaller organisations to have access to contract and tendering opportunities.

*************************************************
Education

Department for Education publishes new standards of competence and conduct for teachers from September 2012

The publication of new standards follows a review started in March 2011 and led by Sally Coates which was charged with considering the standards for teachers.  The review made a number of recommendations which included that; a set of eight standards should be made for all teachers and will apply to all teachers regardless of their career.  In addition, there is a clear expectation that teachers should not undermine fundamental British values.  The new standards will come into force on 1 September 2012.

Department for Education announcement on education funding

On 19 July 2011 the Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, set out the details of the government's plan to reform education funding.  The proposals cover school funding and the programme for meeting school capital investment requirements.  Announcements included the provision of £500 million to help local authorities provide additional school places.  A new school rebuilding plan is to be launched, and will be targeted at those schools in the worst condition.  Furthermore, a consultation has been launched seeking views on proposals for a new, fairer and more transparent school funding system.  The current funding for maintained schools will continue in 2012-13.

*************************************************

Employment

The EAT has upheld a tribunal's decision that a worker, who had been on sick leave for the whole of one year and had not taken holiday during that year was entitled to their accrued holiday pay.  The worker was dismissed on capability grounds and the employer refused to pay the worker her accrued holiday pay.  The Tribunal held that the worker was entitled to be paid for annual leave which she had no opportunity to take in the year she was on sick leave.

The claimant was presumed not to have been well enough to exercise her 'right to enjoy a period of relaxation and leisure' and was therefore not able to take her annual leave.  The worker automatically had the right under Regulation 13 of the Working Time Regulations 1998 that her leave is carried over to the following year.

Read more...

ACAS has issued guidance to employers on getting the best from their staff and avoiding absence during the Olympic Games. 

ACAS encourages employers to be:
Flexible, such as by altering start and finish times and allowing longer lunch breaks so that staff are able to watch Olympic events during the day.

Clear about what is expected of employees in relation to attendance and performance.

Communicative - employers should start talking early to their staff about managing leave and working hours.

Honest - employers should discuss with their staff how they propose to manage changes to working practices and where this isn't possible to explain the reasons for this.

Fair about the way employers respond to requests for time off.

Read more...

*************************************************
Environment

On 22 July 2011 the Environment Agency announced that it was the first enforcement body to use civil sanctions against an organisation that broke environmental regulations.  The Environment Agency accepted an offer of £21,000 from Invensys PLC an engineering and information technology company based in London, for packaging waste offences.  This money will be given to specified organisations to drive environmental improvements in local communities.

Read more...

*************************************************
Local Government

The Local Government Ombudsman orders council to pay back charges for waste disposal

The Local Government Ombudsman has recently published a report criticising Kingston upon Hull City Council and ordered the council to repay charges it made on residential care homes for disposing of non-clinical waste.
Following a complaint from a care home owner, the Local Government Ombudsman investigated and held that the council:
(i) Had no lawful power to charge care home owners for disposing of non-clinical waste.  Therefore the council had no lawful power to retain the money it had collected.
(ii) As a result the council should review its records to identify all residential care homes that have been wrongly charged and refund the payments made.

Regulation 4 of, and Schedule 2 of the Controlled Waste Regulations 1992 (SI 1992/588) provides local authorities with the power to charge for collecting waste from care homes.  However, crucially councils do not have the authority to also charge for the disposal of non-clinical waste.

This ruling is a reminder that local authorities must always operate within their powers before implementing policies to
levy charges.  In this instance the council may face significant costs given the length of time the policy was in place.

Department for Communities and Local Government publishes consultation on the Local Government Resource Review

The Department for Communities and Local Government considered the different ways of giving English local authorities greater autonomy and financial freedom.  Other proposals included local authorities being allowed to retain a share of the business rates charged in the area and become less dependant on central government grants.  Furthermore, there are no proposals to change the way that properties are valued or business rates are set.  The result would be that rates paid on properties would have more impact on the local authority budgets in the area of the property.  Proposals include protections to ensure that local authorities are able to meet local service needs in their area.

*************************************************
Property and Planning

Ministry of Justice consults on stronger measures to deal with squatters

The aim of the consultation is to gather information on the nature and extent of squatting in England and Wales.  Furthermore, the consultation will consider whether and how to strengthen current criminal and civil mechanisms to deal with squatters.  The Ministry of Justice is seeking the views of those affected by squatting or with experience of using the existing law or eviction procedures, including the police, local authorities, housing associations and homeless charities.  The proposals in the consultation include; plans to criminalise squatting punishable by fine or imprisonment, the abolition of squatters rights and ensure that squatters are prosecuted for any additional offences they commit whilst squatting such as criminal damage or burglary.

Reversing the registration of a town or village green

A developer purchased a piece of land, knowing that it had been registered as a town or village green.  The developer argued that the council had been wrong to register the land as a town or villager green in 1997.  The developer viewed that the land was not land on which the "inhabitants of any locality" had indulged in lawful sports and pastimes, as of right, for not less than twenty years.  Therefore, the land did not fall within class c of the definition of a town and village green under section 22(1) Commons Registration Act 1965.

The court held, although reluctantly, that the council had incorrectly registered the land as a town and village greed under the Commons Registration Act 1965 and that the register should be amended to remove the land. 
This case was a major success for the developer, particularly given that the developer deliberately purchased the land with a view to unravelling the town and village green registration.

*************************************************