Legal News

In this issue: Brexit highlights Brexit SIs Post- Brexit transition guidance Public procurement Judicial review Constitutional and administrative law State accountability and liability Coronavirus ( COVID-19) SIs Equality and human rights Projects and infrastructure Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Brexit highlights ESIC terminates operation The Commons European Statutory Instruments Committee ( ESIC) has ended its work, having ceased to exist on the dissolution of Parliament on 30 May 2024. Alongside the Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee ( SLSC), ESIC managed the sifting processes under the European Union ( Withdrawal) Act 2018 ( EU( W) A 2018), the European Union ( Future Relationship) Act 2020 ( EU( FR) A 2020) and the Retained EU Law ( Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 ( REUL( RR) A...

Introduction The Phase 2 report of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, released on 4 September 2024 (the report), builds upon the analysis from Phase 1, centring on the devastating fire of 14 June 2017. While the first phase forensically charted what unfolded on the night itself, Phase 2 sought to explain how a concrete block, assumed to be fire-resistant in 21st-century London, could become a lethal inferno. The report sets out a series of institutional and individual shortcomings that, taken together, culminated in the tragedy. Over time, the panel’s composition changed, with new members and assessors appointed, ensuring a wide range of expertise and viewpoints informed the investigation. Phase 2 proceeded in a disciplined, methodical fashion, echoing Phase 1 to permit rigorous scrutiny. The Inquiry convened for 312 sitting days; hearings began in January 2020 but were intermittently halted by the...

The web of blame The report delivers a scathing assessment of entrenched failures and blame-shifting among those responsible for the refurbishment and governance of the Grenfell Tower project. At the centre were Studio E, Rydon, and Harley Facades, whose combined negligence and absence of accountability were instrumental in the catastrophic fire that followed. It sets out how these parties neglected their duties, resulting in a tragic loss of life and a profound breach of public trust. Studio E, the architectural practice leading the refurbishment design, did not ensure the scheme met essential fire safety requirements. Despite recognising the project’s high-risk nature, the firm failed to properly consider the consequences of employing combustible materials on the building’s exterior. Its lack of experience with high-rise residential work, and the failure to bring in fire safety consultants at an early stage, meant critical protections were missed. These...

R (on the application of Woody Carrigan) v Secretary of State for Justice [2024] EWHC 1940 ( Admin) What are the practical implications of this case? As noted above, a structured seven-step approach is endorsed for all Judicial Review practitioners, with several stages readily transferable to other strands of Judicial Review analysis. For those practising within the Parol Board/ SSJ sphere, the judgment also clarifies facets of the jurisdictional interface between them, including: how the balance of risk-expertise sits between the two bodies policy direction and any re-orientation the need to act reasonably, give reasons, and remain within a range of reasonable outcomes the scope for reasoned divergence between recommendations and final decisions acknowledging each body’s risk expertise according appropriate respect to their distinct roles attaching proper and due weight to the organisations’ respective expertise justification of, and engagement with, the relevant processes and decisions, and providing legally adequate...

Re an application by RM (a person under disability) by SM, (his father and next friend) for Judicial Review ( Northern Ireland); Re an application by RM (a person under disability) by SM, (his father and next friend) for Judicial Review ( Northern Ireland) No 2 [2024] UKSC 7 What are the practical implications of this case? This judgment clarifies how the rules on discharging a mentally disordered patient compulsorily detained for medical treatment operate, and how they interrelate with provisions on leave of absence. The Supreme Court’s conclusions will assist practitioners working with the Mental Health ( Northern Ireland) Order 1986 (the 1986 Order), SI 1986/596, and the Me HA 1983. It confirms that, despite differing wording, the detention standard under the 1986 Order aligns with that in the Me HA 1983: the decisive threshold is necessity. Accordingly, case law on the Me HA 1983 from...

The use of unlawful means conspiracy in procurement disputes ( Roche v GGHB & Co) Roche Diagnostics Ltd v Greater Glasgow Health Board and another [2024] CSOH 55, 2024 Scot ( D) 5/6 What are the practical implications of this case? Those practising in public procurement will find this ruling of particular note. Although determined in Scotland, the core legal architecture governing the award of public contracts, and the doctrine of unlawful means conspiracy, closely aligns with the approach in England and Wales. Its potential reach is considerable: it spotlights the exposure faced by contracting authorities when contemplating abandoning a procurement and the manner in which such choices are made. Within procurement litigation, this is a distinctly unusual claim, advancing an innovative pleading, and practitioners should track how its consequences unfold as the matter...

In this issue: Public procurement Constitutional and administrative law Judicial review Information law Brexit highlights Brexit SIs Post- Brexit transition guidance Equality and human rights State accountability and liability Subsidy control and state aid Other Public Law updates Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Public procurement Procurement Act 2023 commencement date pushed back to February 2025 The UK Parliament has published an official written statement from the Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office, Georgia Gould, setting out proposals for a brief postponement to the planned start of the Procurement Act 2023, which had been scheduled for October 2024. Gould has confirmed that the government will introduce regulations to move the commencement date to 24 February 2025. She also remarked that the...

Background to the Dutch DPA’s investigation As is often the case, the AP’s scrutiny of Uber’s processing first arose following complaints from data subjects themselves. The French human rights organisation Ligue des droits de l'homme et du citoyen ( LDH) submitted two collective complaints in June 2020 and September 2021 respectively to the French DPA, the Commission Nationale de l' Informatique et des Libertés ( CNIL), on behalf of 172 Uber drivers, specifically highlighting difficulties enforcing data subject rights and third‑country data transfers. As Uber’s EU headquarters are in the Netherlands, the CNIL formally referred the matter to the AP. In April 2021, the AP notified Uber that it had begun an official investigation. What processing was at issue? During the proceedings, the AP reviewed and assessed transfers of sensitive personal data of Uber drivers between Uber BV ( UBV) and Uber...

In this issue: Brexit feature analysis Brexit SIs Coronavirus ( COVID-19) Constitutional and administrative law Public procurement State accountability and liability State security and intelligence Subsidy control and State aid Judicial review Equality and human rights Information law Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Latest Q& A Useful information Brexit feature analysis Denied boarding, and Brexit rules of engagement ( Lipton v BA City Flyer Ltd). In Lipton v BA City Flyer Ltd [2024] UKSC 24, the Supreme Court clarified the approach to interpreting Regulation ( EC) 261/2004—often colloquially called the ‘ Denied Boarding Regulation’, though not by the court—and in doing so offered a practical aide for practitioners on handling Eurolaw across the Brexit process. The ruling...

Lipton v BA City Flyer Ltd [2024] UKSC 24 The facts The narrative is simple and commonplace. Mr and Mrs Lipton held bookings on a service operated by the appellant, Cityflyer, due to leave Milan Linate at around 5 pm on 30 January 2018, with arrival at London City a little after 6 pm local time. Shortly before departure the pilot reported ill, so the flight was cancelled as no replacement could be found in time. The Liptons were placed on another service and reached London City at about 8:45 pm that evening, a little more than two and a half hours later than planned. They sought €250 in compensation under the Denied Boarding Regulation; Cityflyer rejected the request, arguing that the pilot’s illness was an ‘extraordinary circumstance’ within the Regulation, absolving it of liability. The denied boarding...

Thomas v (1) Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (2) Brett [2024] EAT 141 Steven Thomas’s appeal failed, with the EAT upholding an employment tribunal’s finding that his English nationalist belief, which encompassed anti- Islam views, was not protected by the Eq A 2010. The underlying ruling was made at a preliminary hearing in his claim against an NHS trust, following the termination of his employment after three months. Judge Clive Sheldon KC recorded that the claimant advanced a strand of English nationalism asserting there is no place in British society for Muslims or for Islam itself. He emphasised that the claimant is free to hold such views, but cannot rely on them to found a complaint of discrimination. Sheldon J also clarified that English nationalism, in principle, can amount to a legally protected philosophical belief. The appeal was dismissed, leaving the...

In this issue: Judicial review Brexit headlines Constitutional and administrative law Subsidy control and state aid Daily and weekly news alerts Dates for your diary Trackers New and updated content Judicial review Policy on re-sitting assessments irrational— R (on the application of Dr Marwa Karmakar) The Administrative Court determined the claimants’ challenges to the legality of a rule or policy introduced by the Royal College of General Practitioners ( RCGP). That rule limited candidates to four attempts at each of the three assessment tests, even where a person discovers after sitting an exam that she has a disability which, had it been known at the time, would have entitled her to ‘reasonable adjustments’, including extra time to take the test. The first claimant ( K), a GP trainee, had sat the applied knowledge test three times, failing on each...

In this issue: Judicial review Guidance on the post‑ Brexit transition Subsidy control and State aid Public procurement Other public law news Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Judicial review Judicial monitoring of compliance with orders in judicial review proceedings—( R ( ECPAT UK) v Kent CC) The proceedings in R ( ECPAT UK) v Kent CC illustrate clearly the deployment of suspended quashing orders and the court’s supervision of compliance with its directions. The case has produced four reported judgments in total. The second explained why suspended quashing orders and ongoing judicial oversight were apt here, and was covered in an earlier piece. This article sketches a brief chronology of the case and examines the fourth judgment, which further highlights the boundaries of the court’s...

Farley v Paymaster (1836) Ltd, trading as Equiniti [2024] EWCA Civ 781 What are the practical implications of this case? By recognising that a person can suffer distress from non-compliant processing without needing to prove that a third party accessed or read their personal data, this judgment expands the scope for individuals to seek compensation for infringements of their data protection rights arising from a data breach involving their information. Claimants pursuing compensation for data breaches must be able to establish financial loss or distress resulting from the breach (section 13 of the Data Protection Act 2018 and Article 82 of Assimilated Regulation ( EU) 2016/679, the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation, Assimilated Regulation ( EU) 2016/679 (the UK GDPR)). The Court of Appeal confirmed that distress may stem from processing that contravenes UK data protection law, irrespective of whether the personal data was...

R ( ECPAT UK) v Kent CC, SSHD [2024] EWHC 1353 ( Admin) What are the practical implications of this case? This judgment on final relief in the R ( ECPAT) v Kent CC proceedings offers clear guidance on the court’s possible role in supervising compliance with its own orders. It explains when and how such supervision may occur. Whereas Judgment 2 records Mrs Justice Chamberlain’s justification for continued judicial involvement, Judgment 4 marks the boundaries of that continuing role. Consistent with Chamberlain J’s observations, it is probable that courts will assume a monitoring function only in exceptional circumstances. In this claim, a principal justification for supervision was the internecine dispute between two public authorities, who were thought unlikely to resolve the dispute without oversight. As regards the limits of ongoing supervision, Chamberlain J sought to distinguish, on the one hand, issues pleaded by the parties and the...

In this issue: Brexit highlights Brexit SIs Post- Brexit transition guidance Constitutional and administrative law Judicial review Equality and human rights Information law Subsidy control and State aid Management and strategic planning Daily and weekly news alerts Dates for your diary Trackers New and updated content Useful information Brexit highlights Preliminary ruling request from the Supreme Court of Ireland on a UK arrest warrant under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement ( Alchaster) The Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice has issued its decision following a reference from Ireland’s Supreme Court, addressing how an EU Member State court should approach execution of a UK arrest warrant. The Court commented on the post‑ Brexit EU– UK dynamic and affirmed that Member State authorities bear a duty to verify, on their own...

Alchaster , Case C‑202/24 What are the practical implications of this case? The Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice has delivered a ruling that matters for EU extradition practitioners handling requests from the UK across the EU. The Court made entirely plain its stance on the degree of mutual trust to be extended to the UK: despite 47 years of shared integration, the UK sits outside the Union legal order and, as a result, the relationship is not as exceptional as, for example, Norway. Provisions in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement ( TCA) concerning duties to uphold fundamental rights and legal principles in the ECHR and the Charter ( Article 524(2), TCA), and the guarantees provided when executing an arrest warrant ( Article 604, TCA), ultimately do not alter that position at all. Member State courts must conduct an independent assessment of any such arrest...

Challenge to Order made under section 62(1) of the Medicines Act 1968 dismissed ( R( Transactual & Anther) v So S Health and Social Care) R (on the application of Transactual CIC and another) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and another [2024] EWHC 1936 ( Admin) What are the practical implications of this case? Apart from the immediate ramifications for those subject to the Order, the ruling exemplifies the hurdles confronting both individuals and corporate bodies who seek to judicially review decisions in the medical-legal arena. Even with heightened scrutiny, and acceptance that the statutory wording sets a stringent bar—the Minister must reasonably determine an urgent order is ‘essential’—the imperative of protecting health warrants a ‘low tolerance of risk’. Mrs Justice Lang stressed that Parliament has entrusted Ministers with a significant power, to be exercised through their...

In this issue: Brexit highlights Post- Brexit transition guidance Constitutional and administrative law Judicial review Equality and human rights Subsidy control and State aid Public procurement Management and strategic planning Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers New Q& As Useful information Brexit highlights The UK Parliament has confirmed the European Scrutiny Committee has been wound up, following the House of Commons’ decision on 30 July 2024 not to re-establish it. See: LNB News 01/08/2024 97. The House of Lords European Affairs Committee has released correspondence spanning 7 November 2023 to 30 May 2024, covering scrutiny of EU papers, primary legislation (including the Illegal Migration Bill) and broader issues such as public procurement and the impacts of the UK’s EU...

Mc Bride v Scottish Ministers ( ETS/4102841/2023) Although Kenny Mc Bride reported feeling acutely upset by remarks at LGBTQ+ events and staff forums that prioritised the lived experience of transgender people over biological sex, Employment Judge David Hoey, in a 136-page decision, concluded that Mc Bride entered these discussions anticipating the response. The tribunal recorded that he intentionally engaged with people he expected to oppose him and sought to draw out their beliefs to show that the respondent did not share his position, Judge Hoey wrote for the tribunal. However, the panel determined there was no connection at all between Mc Bride’s belief that sex is binary and how he was treated. Mc Bride was employed on a temporary basis by Pertemps Recruitment Ltd and, in June 2022, was assigned to Transport Scotland, the Scottish government’s transport agency......