Rachel Barrett
Rachel Barrett is a barrister at Cloisters specialising in employment, discrimination, human rights, mental health, clinical negligence and personal injury law.
Practice Areas
Panel
- Contributing Author
2 Contributions by Rachel Barrett
PRACTICE NOTES
Best Value Duty in English Local Government: Outsourcing, consultation, guidance (2015/2024), procurement interface, inspections, interventions and judicial review
What is the best value duty?
The best value duty (BVD) obliges a local government organisation to show that it has arrangements to secure continuous improvement in the way it exercises its functions, in other words, how it delivers its work. In practice, this typically covers how the authority manages core responsibilities such as:
balancing its budget
providing statutory services, including adult social care and children’s services
The BVD was created by the Local Government Act 1999 (LGA 1999). That Act remains the governing legislation, though it has been substantially amended, particularly by the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 (LGPIHA 2007).
Much of the detail on what BVD is and how it should be applied in practice is set out not in the LGA 1999 itself but in statutory guidance, which is issued from time to time under section 26 of that Act.
Best value replaced compulsory competitive tendering (CCT), which required local authorities in England and Wales to expose prescribed services to competitive tender in specified circumstances and allowed in-house delivery only where the internal team won the tender. Unlike CCT, best value is not directly concerned with outsourcing...
TMT
PRACTICE NOTES
Public sector equality duty in Wales: specific duties, equality impact assessments, objectives, gender pay action plans, procurement and enforcement (Equality Act 2010 (Statutory Duties) (Wales) Regulations 2011)
The public sector equality duty (PSED)
Set out in Part 11 of the Equality Act 2010 (ss 149–159), the public sector equality duty (PSED) comprises a general equality duty applying UK-wide to public bodies listed in Schedule 19 of the EqA 2010, alongside specific duties intended to support delivery of the general duty and enhance transparency. Although the general duty is identical across England, Wales and Scotland, the specific duties made under EqA 2010, s 153 vary. In Wales, listed public bodies must meet particular specific duties that sit alongside the UK-wide general duty. These specific duties bind listed Welsh bodies only. They do not extend to non-devolved public authorities operating in Wales. Under EqA 2010, s 149, the general duty requires public authorities and those exercising public functions to have 'due regard' to the need to:
eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation, and any other behaviour prohibited by or under the EqA 2010
advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not
foster good relations between...
Public Law
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