Local Authority round-up 15/10/18

Brexit

EU officials report progress in Brexit negotiations

EU negotiators have found renewed momentum in the Brexit negotiations with several EU officials expressing optimism that a Brexit deal can be reached by the end of the year. Although obstacles remain, such as a solution to the Northern Ireland border issue, European Council President Donald Tusk said an agreement was possible by the end of the year, whilst Jean-Claude Juncker, the head of the European Commission confirmed the chance of the UK and the EU reaching a deal has increased in the last few days and could be agreed by November 2018. Both sides hope to reach an agreement by an EU summit to be held on 17 October 2018.

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Scottish National Party (SNP) Leader delivers keynote speech

During the SNP Autumn conference, the SNP Leader Nicola Sturgeon stated that she was “more confident than ever” that Scotland would become independent whilst adding that members must “wait for the fog of Brexit to clear” and work to win people over who voted to remain in the European Union in 2014. To conclude the speech, Mrs Sturgeon described Brexit as a “serious problem” and repeatedly prompted the cause of independence and clarified that a Scottish independence referendum must be deferred until there is clarity over Brexit.

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How will Brexit affect the Good Friday Agreement?

The House of Lords has published a Library Briefing in advance of a debate in the House of Lords on a motion moved by Labour Peer, Lord Dubs on the “impact of the Good Friday Agreement of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union.” The briefing provides background information on the changing context of the Good Friday Agreement represented by Brexit, summarises aspects of the withdrawal negotiations particularly relating to Northern Ireland and provides a summary of the political context in which the negotiations are currently taking place within the UK.

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Budget submission sets the tone for post-Brexit economy

Carolyn Fairbairn, the Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) Director-General, has urged the Chancellor of the Exchequer to focus on key areas to unlock economic growth in a letter ahead of the Government’s Autumn Budget submission. The letter recommends that the Budget must help tackle the immediate impact of Brexit uncertainty whilst emphasising that businesses urgently require a one-stop shop for advice and information as the clock ticks down to March 2019. The recommended policies are structured around short-term, medium-term and long-term reform, suggesting policies for this year’s Autumn Budget that are financially viable for the Government.

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Date set for Brexit court case

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) will consider on 27 November 2018 whether Brexit can be halted if MPs want it to be. The ECJ confirmed the case has been “granted the fast-track procedure” after a Scottish court said the issue was “urgent.” The fast-track procedure comes after the Court of Session in Edinburgh said it was referring the question to whether the UK is able to unilaterally withdraw its Article 50 letter in March 2017. If it is successful, the case could significantly strengthen the position of MPs should they wish to keep the UK in the EU after the final details of its departure terms are known.

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Commercial

Programme to boost North East schools and teacher training

Education Secretary Damien Hinds announced on Monday 8 October 2018 that the North East is to receive a £24 million boost in an effort to prevent pupils in the region from feeling “left behind.” Although the North East has some of the best-performing schools in the country, Mr Hinds said secondary school performance was currently below that of other regions. Projects funded by the programme, such as investing a further £12 million to boost early career training, will be in place by 2019 and an executive board of education, business and council leaders will be formed with the goal of pushing them forward.

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Metro mayors call for post-Brexit fiscal devolution

Four of England’s directly elected metro mayors have united to demand spending control of the regional funding that will replace EU structural funding after Brexit. The EU funding is worth approximately £2.4 billion a year and the Government has said that it will match it, but has not yet confirmed how the UK Shared Prosperity Fund will operate. In a joint statement to the Financial Times, the four northern mayors echoed the Vote Leave campaign slogan saying they wanted to “take back control” and emphasised: “if that phrase is to mean anything, it must mean substantial devolution of power and resources out of Westminster to the English regions.”

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Local Government Association (LGA) publishes “no-deal” briefing

The LGA has published a ‘no-deal’ briefing which summarises for councils both the ‘knowns’ and ‘unknowns’ under a ‘no-deal’ scenario for the local government. The paper looks at the issues that local government needs to address as a result of national advice from the Government, as contained in the Government’s ‘no-deal’ technical notices published over the last few weeks, and future announcements on regulatory and legislative change that could affect councils in the run up to March 2019, as well as addressing community cohesion and civil contingency concerns.

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Pension partners commit a further £550 million to infrastructure fund

The local authority pension fund partners of GLIL Infrastructure LLP (GLIL) have pledged a further £550 million to the platform, bringing the total they have invested and committed to more than £1.8 billion. GLIL targets core infrastructure projects, mainly in the UK, and is run by the pension funds of Greater Manchester, Merseyside, West Yorkshire – collectively known as the Northern Pool – and Local Pensions Partnership (LPP). Michael O’Higgins, chair of the Local Pensions Partnership, said the LLP was “delighted” to increase its commitment to GLIL.

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Regulatory

Charity urges Government to inspect financially struggling councils

In a report published by the Voluntary Organisation Disability Group (VODG), the body which represents over 90 non-profit organisations supporting disabled people, called for appropriate Government inspection to ensure that statutory duties relating to social care are being fully met. The VODG highlighted Government figures, showing that there are 11.5 million disabled people living in England which equates to 21% of the population. The report asks for a long-term and sustainable funding solution, and also focuses on the stresses put on the NHS by failures in social care, which it says should be a national priority.

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Consultation offers air pollution guidance

A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs publication summarises the responses to its consultation on how to reduce nitrogen dioxide (NO2) air pollution in the shortest possible time in 22 English local authority areas. It highlights widespread support for electric vehicles and the associated infrastructure, and widespread support for the implementation of cycling and walking infrastructure. It also outlines the suggestion that the Government should provide more funding and national-level leadership through technical support for local authorities and business national level communications campaign.

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Regulator expands GDPR exemptions guidance

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has expanded its guidance in the ‘ICO: Guide to the GDPR’. Organisations that relied on exemptions under the Data Protection Act 1998 should check what is covered by the GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 and that they are correctly relying on any exemptions. In particular, the ICO notes that exemptions are context specific and depend on the reasons for processing personal data. The revised guidance also lists the exemptions available by reference to particular topics, such as crime, law and public protection and health, social work, education and child abuse.

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Government announces public sector counter fraud profession

The UK Government has announced the first counter fraud profession to tackle fraud and error across the public sector. The profession will deliver new standards, guidance and tools to help build counter fraud capability across 10,000 public sector counter fraud specialists. Minister for Constitution, Chloe Smith MP said: “the profession shows the government’s continued dedication to protect public services against attacks by a small group of unscrupulous people who break the law for their own personal gain.”

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Planning and housing

Case rules that ministers must give reasons for planning call-in decisions

The Court of Appeal has ruled that ministers must follow Government policy and give reasons for call-in decisions on planning applications, including in those cases where the decision is not to call-in. The case concerned the Secretary of State’s decision in March 2017, not to call-in certain planning applications dealing with the controversial ‘Paddington Cube’ development. Lord Justice Coulson concluded that: “Since a promise had been made to operate a particular procedure then, as a matter of good administration and transparent governance, any change to that policy also had to be announced publicly.”

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Government announces new planning, defects and cladding ban measures

The Government has announced a series of housing measures relevant to homeowners, housebuilders and those concerned with planning matters. The measures include: (1) a “new home ombudsman” supporting homebuyers facing problems with their newly built homes (2) banning combustible cladding for all high-rise buildings that contain flats, as well as hospitals, residential care premises and student accommodation and (3) plans to consult on measures to speed up the planning system and make better use of land and vacant buildings to deliver new homes.

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New generation of council housing announced

The Government has announced that borrowing restrictions will be removed enabling councils to play a key role in delivering the homes their communities need. By lifting the Housing Revenue Account borrowing cap, councils should be able to deliver an estimated 10,000 additional homes a year – the Ministry of Housing of Communities & Local Government has confirmed. Councils in areas of high affordability pressure have already been invited to bid for a share of £1 billion extra borrowing to build much needed homes.

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Councils call for extension on time limit for all Right to Buy receipts

Under the current housing system, local authorities have 5 years to spend their existing Right to Buy receipts. However, they still only have 3 years in which to spend future receipts.  The District Council’s Network (DCN) argued in its submission to the Government on the use of receipts from Right to Buy sales that having two different time limits for receipts that are used for the same purpose of house building is “illogical, particular where DCN, as the planning and housing authorities, share [the] Government’s ambition to increase house building.”

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Upcoming seminars

As you may well know we run a programme of seminars on a wide range of topics. Listed below are those seminars coming up which we feel may be of interest to you. Please click on the links for further information and to book your place. You can see our full programme of upcoming events by clicking here.

Housing Managing Law School – Autumn Term

This will be the twelfth semester in our series of Law Schools and the Autumn term will bring with it a brand new programme, with our experts covering up to the minute topics that you need to know about. The sessions will cover a housing law news round up, GDPR for housing management, the rising cost of disrepair and an ask the experts case surgery and Q&A session.

Wednesday 17th October 2018 (Manchester)

Wednesday 24th October 2018 (Leeds)

Procurement law update

This session is designed to provide you with a unique opportunity to hear first-hand from leading procurement experts who will share their thoughts on the most topical issues of the moment, as well as reviewing the new regulations one year on from introduction.

Thursday 18th October 2018 (Newcastle)

Wednesday 7th November 2018 (Leeds)

If you have any questions about the issues raised in this update, please do not hesitate to get in touch.