“A council has won an appeal over whether it was required – following an FOI request – to disclose the job titles of junior officers attending a meeting at a law firm to discuss a major outsourcing project.”
Local Government Lawyer, 13th September 2013
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
“In December 2010 the government announced plans to close the Forensic Science Service (FSS). The FSS was the primary source of forensic expertise to prosecution authorities, and a major provider of expertise to defence lawyers – demonstrating a world class position as provider of impartial evidence to the criminal justice system. Whilst at the time of closure there was already an increasing move to outsourcing services to private forensic providers, the bulk of market share was taken by the FSS, meaning that private providers had little commercial clout. Since the demise of the FSS the position has shifted and power is split between the buyers of services (primarily the police) and the private providers. One matter of grave concern at the moment is in relation to accessing forensic material.”
CrimeLine, 9th September 2013
Source: www.crimeline.info
“Changes to the regime governing protections for employees whose contracts are transferred to a new employer ‘go a long way towards eliminating the unnecessary gold plating’ that has made the rules such a headache for employers, an expert has said.”
OUT-LAW.com, 6th September 2013
Source: www.out-law.com
“If you want to challenge a decision to do with public procurement, time is of the essence. The Court of Appeal has reiterated this warning in one of its last decisions of the term: R (Nash) v Barnet LBC [2013] EWCA Civ 1004.”
Hardwicke Chambers, 8th August 2013
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
“A coroner who oversaw the inquest into the death of the Angolan deportee Jimmy Mubenga has issued a highly critical report that raises a series of concerns about the way the government and private contractors deport people from the UK.”
The Guardian, 4th August 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“David Wood, the head of the Home Office’s immigration enforcement, has given a qualified apology to the family of Jimmy Mubenga, the Angolan asylum seeker who an inquest jury last week ruled was unlawfully killed by three G4S escort guards.”
The Guardian, 16th July 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“A council has been stripped of its powers to provide child protection by the education secretary, Michael Gove, after the latest in a series of damning reports found its services could not overcome a persistent culture of ‘failure and disillusion’.”
The Guardian, 16th July 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The judges have nothing to gain and everything to lose by negotiating with Chris Grayling in private.”
The Guardian, 25th June 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The justice secretary, Chris Grayling, has been warned by the lord chief justice, Lord Judge, not to undermine the independence of the judiciary through plans to privatise parts of the court service or make it self-financing.”
The Guardian, 24th June 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The justice secretary, Chris Grayling, has been warned by his most senior officials that plans to privatise 70% of the probation service lack support, are being pushed through on an aggressive timetable and potentially endanger public safety, leaked documents show.”
The Guardian, 24th June 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The contracting out of key services by the Ministry of Justice could end in a ‘multiple train crash’ because the department displays naivety and lacks the capacity to understand what it is doing, according to a parliamentary watchdog.”
The Guardian, 20th June 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The NHS is in the middle of the transition from a publicly funded and publicly provided health service towards a publicly funded but increasingly privately provided service. It is thus following the course adopted in social care, with the closure of local authority owned care homes and the contracting out of service provision to commercial, charity, and other voluntary sector providers.”
No. 5 Chambers, 17th June 2013
Source: www.no5chambers.com
“Immigration has proved a toxic issue for recent Home Office ministers. In 2004 home secretary David Blunkett resigned following revelations that a visa application had been fast-tracked. Immigration minister Beverley Hughes resigned after admitting she ‘unwittingly’ misled people about a suspected visa ‘scam’. Charles Clarke resigned as home secretary in 2006 after intense pressure over the release of foreign prisoners who could have been deported at the end of their custodial term.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 20th May 2013
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“Campaigners against Barnet council’s radical plan to outsource hundreds of millions of pounds worth of services, dubbed easyCouncil, are to take their case to the appeal court after a judge ruled their objection to a £320m contract had come too late.”
The Guardian, 29th April 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“What’s the point of the TUPE? Other than terrorising HR professionals and inspiring books as good as this one, that is? Its essential function is simple: to protect the employment and the terms and conditions of employees affected by a change in the ownership of the undertaking they work in or (for now at least) by a change in the identity of the provider of a service. The eye-popping complexity for which TUPE disputes are famous arises from trying to apply that simple principle to the messy business that is real life employment. The CJEU is presently pondering one example of the conceptual difficulties that can be thrown up in Alemo-Herron and others v Parkwood Leisure Limited C-426/11 and Advocate General Cruz Villalon has just delivered his opinion.”
Employment Law Blog, 22nd February 2013
Source: www.employment11kbw.com
“The probation service, which faces wholesale outsourcing under government plans, is ‘doing much good work’ with adult offenders but some aspects continue to require improvement, according to the chief inspector of probation.”
The Guardian, 21st February 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Probation officers are warning that the public will be at greater risk if the government presses ahead with plans to privatise the supervision of offenders.”
The Guardian, 17th February 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Details of the government’s plans to introduce a flat-rate pension by 2017 – equivalent to £144 per week in today’s money – have emerged ahead of an official announcement next week.”
BBC News, 12th January 2013
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“The justice secretary, Chris Grayling, is to outline plans for the wholesale outsourcing of the probation service with private companies and voluntary sector organisations to take over the rehabilitation of the majority of offenders by 2015.”
The Guardian, 9th Januaury 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Britain’s leading translators today accused the government of endangering justice with a cut-price private contract for courtroom interpreters, which is ‘dangerous to the interests of public safety.'”
The Independent, 23rd October 2012
Source: www.independent.co.uk
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