‘The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) must publish data on the backlogs of individual criminal courts, a group that campaigns to improve public data has said.’
Legal Futures, 28th March 2023
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) has said that vulnerable people are facing homelessness because some councils are “still not getting it right”, in a report marking five years since the introduction of the Homelessness Reduction Act.’
Local Government Lawyer, 21st March 2023
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘A mental health unit criticised over the deaths of three teenagers was “chaotic and unsafe”, a report found.’
BBC News, 21st March 2023
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Women and children have been failed by the Metropolitan Police, with racism, misogyny, and homophobia at the heart of the force, a blistering review says. Baroness Casey says a “boys’ club” culture is rife and the force could be dismantled if it does not improve.’
BBC News, 21st March 2023
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘The Chief Coroner, His Honour Judge Thomas Teague KC, is nearing the end of his tour around all 83 coroner areas in England and Wales. He started the tour shortly after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, with the aim of supporting the welfare of coroners and staff in the wake of the pandemic. The tour has taken just over a year to complete, with the final visits scheduled for later this month (March 2023). The visits have given the Chief Coroner a unique insight into the local provision made for the coroner service around the country and have afforded him the opportunity to discuss with coroners, staff, local authorities and police forces, many of the issues raised in the Coroner Attitude Survey (published below).’
Courts and Tribunals Judiciary, 1st March 2023
Source: www.judiciary.uk
‘Universities have been reprimanded over unfair treatment of students accused of academic misconduct in a report by the higher education ombudsman for England and Wales.’
The Guardian, 27th February 2023
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘An organisation that monitors Prevent, the UK government’s controversial programme to stop people getting drawn into terrorism, has warned of a defamation action against the Home Office before a review into the strategy.’
The Guardian, 30th January 2023
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘The head of the Windrush inquiry has expressed disappointment after the home secretary confirmed the government was dropping three key commitments made in the wake of the scandal.’
BBC News, 26th January 2023
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘The Brown Commission has recommended replacing the House of Lords with an elected Assembly of the Nations and Regions of the UK. In recent posts, the Commission’s proposals for legally empowering the Assembly to scrutinise bills and to protect the constitution have come under criticism on several grounds. First, there are concerns that the Assembly would be unable effectively to scrutinise ordinary bills, as unlike the Lords, the Assembly would lack the legal power to delay such bills. Second, the Assembly would be vested with the power to veto bills which amend existing constitutional arrangements. Yet the Commission not only fails to provide a definitive list of existing constitutional statutes that could be protected by the veto but also envisaged that in exceptional circumstances the House of Commons may still assert its primacy through a specific but currently undetermined processes. Thus, it has been argued the proposed position is not drastically different from the existing legislative process established by the Parliament Acts. Third, there is an implicit concern that the Assembly’s elected membership may hinder rather than facilitate the Assembly in scrutinising and protecting the constitution.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 26th January 2023
Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘One of the key recommendations of the Brown Commission is to replace the House of Lords with an elected second chamber called the Assembly of the Nations and Regions. The proposal has stimulated a broad debate. A key intervention in the debate was by the Speaker of the Commons, Lindsay Hoyle, who has argued against replacing the House of Lords with a second elected chamber because—he claims—doing so would threaten the supremacy of the Commons. In this post, I will draw upon my paper in defence of “moderated parliamentarism” to argue that—if done right—this might be a welcome reform that could combine the benefits of creating a system that checks executive power better, but without being prone to US-style legislative deadlocks and governmental dysfunction. I will argue that a properly designed elected second chamber could make the quality of British democracy better, especially by doing a better job of holding the executive to account and improving the quality of legislation. To the extent that the details for this reform in the Brown Report are sketchy and not exactly thought through, the objective of this blogpost is to provide a relatively more detailed proposal—if only to explain what is at stake and what kinds of questions need to be discussed and answered.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 25th January 2023
Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘The National Archives (TNA), which took over as the immediate online publisher of senior court judgments last year, failed to publish judgments in over a quarter of cases in its first three months of operation, a report has found.’
Legal Futures, 24th January 2023
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘Proposals to change UK legislation to protect the rights of women experiencing menopause have been in part rejected by the government due to fears such a move would discriminate against men.’
The Guardian, 24th January 2023
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘Over 70 organisations from across civil society in England and Wales have provided evidence for a new report to the UN on the UK’s human rights record. The report concludes that rights in the UK – including everyday rights such as to food, housing, social security, work, trade unions, health and education – are in crisis.’
Each Other, 17th January 2023
Source: eachother.org.uk
‘The Government has announced plans to review guidance to landlords on damp and mould, after a coroner asked the government to take action to prevent future deaths.’
Local Government Lawyer, 16th January 2023
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘A review into how a quadruple murderer was dealt with by probation officers has found failings “at every stage”.’
BBC News, 17th January 2023
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Spire Barristers’ pupils Lauren Gardner and Eleanor Suthern discuss The House of Lords Children and Families Act 2014 Committee published report “Children and Families Act 2014: A failure of implementation” in which Joint Head of Chambers, Sarah Blackmore was called to give evidence as a leading practitioner in the field of Family Law and the author of the practitioner text Family Justice Reformed – Developments since the Children’s & Families Act 2014.’
Spire Barristers, 9th December 2022
Source: spirebarristers.co.uk
‘The founder of the former children’s charity Kids Company, Camila Batmanghelidjh, has won permission to go to the high court to try to overturn a charities watchdog report she claims was unbalanced, unfair and unlawful.’
The Guardian, 19th December 2022
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘The publication of the Report of the Commission on the UK’s Future is attracting widespread attention. The centrepiece of its constitutional content is the replacement of the House of Lords with a new second chamber with new composition and a reformed role, which would have particular responsibility for territorial aspects of the constitution (discussed here) and act as guardian of (newly) entrenched elements of the constitution –not just in the devolution context but also more widely.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 15th December 2022
Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘A damning official examination into how police forces tackle rape has exposed persistent failings in the criminal justice system, including a failure to track repeat suspects, “explicit victim-blaming” and botched investigations.’
The Guardian, 15th December 2022
Source: www.theguardian.com
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