News The Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (Procedure) (Amendment) Rules 2007 (No. 835 (L. 5)) make the necessary amendments to effect the legal changes demanded by the recent Court of Appeal decisions in AM (Serbia) & Ors v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2007] EWCA Civ 16 (25 January 2007) http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2007/16.html and FP (Iran) […]
Garden Court Chambers has grave concerns about the changes to publicly funded recently introduced by the Legal Services Commission.
CASES EMPLOYMENT APPEAL TRIBUNAL Statutory dismissal and grievance procedures London Borough of Hounslow v Miller UKEAT/0645/06/DAUnder s32 Employment Act 2002, where the statutory grievance procedure applies, an employee shall not present a complaint unless 28 days have elapsed since a step one grievance letter was sent. In this case the Claimant put in a claim […]
News Monday the 2nd of April 2007 saw the launch of the new Border and Immigration Agency which, a new executive agency of the Home Office. The Agency will assume the responsibilities of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate. The new body will supposedly focus on ‘local-level’ immigration, and has appointed six regional directors. The six […]
Government & Legislation: Last Week On Tuesday 20 March 2007, Citizens Advice published its report Locked Out: CAB evidence on prisoners and ex-offenders. The document indicates that a third of prisoners lose their homes while in custody and that homeless ex-prisoners are more likely to re-offend. In recommends an increase in advisory services for prisoners, […]
News The UNHCR has published its annual review of asylum applications lodged in European and Non-European industrialised countries. Across the 50 countries surveyed, the main countries of origin of asylum applicants in 2006 were Iraq (22,200), China (18,300), the Russian Federation (15,700), Serbia and Montenegro (15,600) and Turkey (8,700). The United States was the largest […]
On March 22nd 2007 Mr Barry Kerbey won his action against the Defendant for assault, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution. He claimed damages including aggravated and exemplary damages. Mr Kerbey was represented by Leslie Thomas of Garden Court Ch
On Wednesday 21 March 2007, the House of Lords handed down its joint opinion in the cases of Huang -v- Secretary of State for the Home Department; Kashmiri -v- Secretary of State for the Home Department [2007] UKHL 11. Duran Seddon was junior counsel for
This year's Minority Lawyers Conference is taking place on Saturday 28th April 2007. The Minority Lawyers Conference provides a forum for BME lawyers and those in the legal profession to express their views and exert their influence on legal and relevant
Government & Legislation Last Week On Monday 12 March 2007 Baroness Andrews set out the extent of the Government’s support for tenant and resident involvement in housing matters in a speech to the TAROE national conference. For a copy of the speech click here On the same day, the Government published the latest statistics on […]
CASES EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS Trade Union Rights ASLEF v United Kingdom, European Court of Human Rights (Application no. 11002/05) The restriction imposed on trade unions by section 174 Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 preventing them from expelling a member on the basis of his or her membership of a political […]
Government and Parliament Fees for entry clearance for marriage or for settlement go up on 1 April to a whopping £500 under the Consular Fees Order 2007, SI 2007/649. Student entry clearance will cost £99. Fees for the issue of passports are also increased under the Order. The Accession (Immigration and Worker Authorisation) (Amendment) Regulations […]
Government & Legislation Last Week On 6 March 2007 the Gypsy and Traveller Task Group on Site Provision and Enforcement presented Ministers with its interim report. It advised that enforcement against unauthorised sites remains a "blunt weapon" and "can only be used successfully if there is sufficient provision of authorised sites". For a copy of […]
News From the 12 March 2007 the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) will be operating a revised policy for handling Judicial Review challenges made after removal directions have been served. IND will give at least 72 hours notice of removal, including two full working days. The last 24 hours of the 72 hours will include […]
Government & Legislation Last Week March 1 2007 was a busy day for developments in relation to gypsies and travellers. The junior minister, Meg Munn MP, gave a speech at a conference on Gypsies and Travelers held by the Royal Town Planning Institute. For a copy click here Her department published Preparing Regional Spatial Strategy […]
Cases Restrictive Covenants Thomas v Farr plc [2007] EWCA Civ 118 The Court of Appeal reviewed the authorities on non-competition clauses and upheld the enforceability of a clause in a contract of employment of a managing director of a firm of insurance brokers, prohibiting him from competing with the company for 12 months after the […]
Government & Legislation Last Week On Tuesday 20 February 2007, Professor John Hills delivered his report on the future of social housing sector: Ends and Means – The future roles of social housing in England. For the full report or a summary click here The Secretary of State welcomed the report as not ending discussion […]
News Home Office ministers are refusing to abandon their policy of threatening to take the children of rejected asylum seekers into care despite a critical internal report saying it has failed to encourage them to leave the country. Immigration minister Liam Byrne refused, on 21 February, to rule out extending the controversial policy that can […]
Government and Legislation Last Week On Tuesday 13 February 2007 the Secretary of State for Communities set out her detailed vision for the development of housing policy for the next 5 to 10 years. For a copy of her speech, The Future of Housing Policy, click here On 14 February 2007 the Disability Rights Commission […]
Cases CM (Kenya) v Secretary of State for the Home Department An immigration tribunal had erred in law in finding that it was not unduly harsh to return an asylum seeker to Nairobi, as it had failed to give sufficient reasons for rejecting an expert report that suggested that the asylum seeker would be in […]
