‘Questions around government responsibility for food systems, churning away during the Brexit debates, long ignored, sometimes derided, are meeting stark realities in the coronavirus pandemic. This week we are back to free school meals (FSM).’
UK Human Rights Blog, 22nd October 2020
Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘Police officers detained and interviewed hundreds of thousands of vulnerable suspects last year in England and Wales in breach of mandatory safeguards, according to the body that sets standards for those who support vulnerable adults in police custody.’
The Guardian, 28th September 2020
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘A QC representing bereaved families in the Grenfell Tower public inquiry has backed calls for a statutory duty of candour, saying she has often found inquests far more adversarial than any criminal case she has done. ‘
Law Society's Gazette, 26th August 2020
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘The Leader of Kent County Council has warned that the local authority “cannot safely meet our statutory duty” when it comes to its capacity to care for new arrivals of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC).’
Local Government Lawyer, 18th August 2020
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘David Travers QC of 6 Pump Court discusses hindsight bias, its relevance to health and safety cases and how to avoid its impact.’
Six Pump Court, July 2020
Source: www.6pumpcourt.co.uk
‘In this interview with Pietra Asprou for Lexis Nexis, David Travers QC considers the impact of hindsight bias in health and safety cases, and what can be done to avoid it.’
Six Pump Court, 21st July 2020
Source: www.6pumpcourt.co.uk
‘In R (Maguire) v HM Senior Coroner for Blackpool & Fylde & Others [2020] EWCA Civ 738, the Court of Appeal considered whether the enhanced procedural duty to investigate death under Article 2 ECHR applied to the inquest touching upon the death of a vulnerable individual subject to the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (“DoLS”) under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 living in a care home. The Court of Appeal’s judgment is an important authority on the scope of the substantive positive duties on the state to protect life under Article 2 ECHR.’
Dispute Resolution Blog, 30th June 2020
Source: www.lexisnexis.co.uk
‘Worcestershire County Council has started legal action against the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock, in a dispute over which council should care for someone under the Mental Health Act 1983.’
Local Government Lawyer, 25th June 2020
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘Residential landlords may well be familiar with, and will quite possibly have fallen foul of, the statutory requirements placed upon them in respect of gas safety certificates. The case of Caridon Property Ltd v Shooltz (02/02/18, unreported but the judgment is available online) providing, until yesterday, unbinding but highly persuasive authority that landlords who fail to serve a copy of the most recent gas safety certificate prior to a tenant entering in to occupation of the relevant property could not rely upon the no-fault eviction process provided by section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 and, as per the County Court appeal judgment of HHJ Luba QC, could never rectify the error. The decision, which was regularly followed by district judges and deputy district judges in the County Court throughout the country, placed landlords in a position where, unless they were able to rely upon any of the grounds set out Schedule 2 of the 1988 Act and therefore serve a section 8 notice, they had no way of evicting tenants, even though they were purportedly assured shorthold tenants.’
3PB, 19th June 2020
Source: www.3pb.co.uk
‘Where a local authority has an initial s.188 Housing Act 1996 duty to provide interim accommodation, but then makes a s.184 decision that the applicant is not in priority need, is that sufficient to bring the s.188 duty to an end? In this judicial review, the answer turns out to be no, at least not if the s.189B duty is continuing and notice of no further duty has not been served.’
Nearly Legal, 16th June 2020
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘A children’s rights charity is to ask the High Court to quash a statutory instrument that introduced significant changes to children’s social care law during the coronavirus pandemic.’
Local Government Lawyer, 8th June 2020
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘Mr I, his wife and child had been given the tenancy of a two bedroom flat on the eight floor of a block of flats in discharge of the council’s homeless duty to them in September 2017. In November 2017 Mr I was suddenly paralysed from the waist down. He could not leave his bedroom and a wheelchair could not be used in the flat. The council carried out Care Act 2014 assessments, which acknowledged that he had a clear need to move to a suitable property, ground floor with 3 bedrooms and in which a wheelchair could be used.’
Nearly Legal, 3rd June 2020
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘Dr Minesh Talati wants accountability not just for his father’s death, but the other coronavirus victims who didn’t need to die.’
The Guardian, 3rd June 2020
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘In the context of an employer’s duty to provide PPE to protect against exposure to the novel coronavirus, the focus is likely to be on two sets of domestic health and safety regulations: The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (PPE Regulations), and the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH). The application of the latter should disapply the former, but the two will be considered together.’
Ropewalk Chambers, 6th May 2020
Source: www.ropewalk.co.uk
‘Have we ever talked so much about PPE? Each breakfast bulletin features interviews with essential workers on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic, varyingly reporting inadequacies, shortages and faltering supply lines. When a shipment lands, it makes the news.’
St Philips Barristers, 14th May 2020
Source: st-philips.com
‘The Department for Education has taken two key steps to relieve councils of duties related to children with special educational needs (SEN) during the Covid-19 crisis.’
Law Society's Gazette, 1st May 2020
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘As we watch the Covid-19 pandemic unfold our attention is naturally on the steps that HM Government (“HMG”) is taking to mitigate the immediate crisis. The time is approaching, however, when it will be necessary to evaluate HMG’s preparation for, and response to, the pandemic. Calls are being made by the TUC and doctors’ groups for a public inquiry into one aspect of its response, namely failures to procure adequate personal protective equipment (“PPE”) for NHS staff, at least 100 of whom are believed to have died having contracted the virus while treating patients. HMG is accused of failing to respond to a national exercise in 2016 testing the UK’s resilience to a similar flu pandemic which highlighted an increased need for ventilators. Other criticisms go further. This blog argues that the state owes a duty under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights to investigate some deaths caused by Covid-19. This duty will require not only inquests into individual deaths but also a public inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005 to address those systemic issues not suitable for determination by an inquest. The post builds on and responds to posts by Conall Mallory, James Rowbottom and Elizabeth Stubbins Banes. It also foreshadows the need for reform in this area.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 29th April 2020
Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘The government will attempt to push back a legally binding deadline for the completion of an independent review of Prevent, the programme that aims to stop people becoming terrorists, the Guardian understands.’
The Guardian, 28th April 2020
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘The recent judgment in R(Idolo) v London Borough of Bromley [2020] EWHC 860 (Admin) provides an important discussion of the positive duties of the state under Article 8 ECHR – and specifically, the issue of when an Article 8 breach may arise in the absence of any failure of a local authority to carry out statutory duties. Arianne Kelly discusses the case and its practical implications following the amendments that the Coronavirus Act made to the Care Act.’
Coronavirus: Guidance for Lawyers and Businesses, 27th April 2020
‘There is no doubt that the Government owes a moral duty to provide those on the frontline fighting this virus with the tools they need to work safely. Beyond the undeniable moral duty, does the Government owe them a legal duty as well?’
Nexus Chambers, 10th April 2020
Source: www.nexuschambers.com
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