The High Court has ordered that a coroner's decision not to permit an inquest jury to consider a verdict of unlawful killing or to leave a narrative verdict to the jury was wrong and has quashed that decision and ordered a fresh inquest before a different
Government & Legislation: The Last Week Today (11 June 2007) the Government has published the figures for homelessness in England for the first quarter of 2007. They show that there were 17,230 acceptances under Housing Act 1996 Part 7, during the January – March quarter, 17 per cent lower than in the same period in […]
News The Home Office have announced that they want to radically simplify the law, rules and guidance relating to immigration. Subject to the Parliamentary timetable, they hope to introduce new primary legislation in 2008, whilst at the same time, to develop plans for reform of the complicated system of rules, regulations and operational instructions which […]
The jury inquiring into the death of Winifred Dalton at Coventry Coroner's Court reached a verdict of natural causes in the presence of neglect.
Members of Garden Court Chambers will be taking part in this week's charity 'Square Mile Run'
Government & Legislation: Last Week On 31 May 2007 the Government published figures supplied by the three Tenancy Deposit Protection (TDP) schemes showing that 66,000 deposits have been protected under the new tenancy deposit rules. That is a rate of over 1,500 deposits per day. Over £58 million worth of deposits are now protected by […]
CASES COURT OF APPEAL Admissibility of without prejudice negotiations Brunel University & Swartz v Webster & Vaseghi UKEAT/0307/06The Court of Appeal agrees with the decision of the EAT (see Bulletin 19) holding that while in most cases, where a grievance meeting takes place in the usual way, internally, there will be no question of waiver […]
News from Parliament The Citizenship Oath and Pledge (Welsh Language) Order 2007This order sets out the form of words in Welsh that may be used as an alternative to the form of citizenship oath and pledge set out in paragraph 1 of Schedule 5 to the British Nationality Act 1981. More info Consultation Paper: Implementation […]
Government & Legislation: Last week At a recent Police Federation conference the Home Secretary, John Reid MP, announced that "…this summer we’ll be introducing a new Criminal Justice Bill: to extend your powers to close all premises generating yobbish behaviour – not just crack dens." For a copy of his speech click here This follows […]
News from Parliament The Asylum (Designated States) Order 2007The order adds a number of States to the list in Section 94(4) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002.That provisions concerns appeal rights for "unfounded human rights and asylum claims". Under section 94(2), a person may not bring an appeal under section 82(1) while in […]
The Death of Shahid Aziz and the failure of the Prison Service to learn lessons following the Zahid Murbarek Inquiry. Shahid Aziz was killed by his cell mate, Peter McCann, on the morning of 2nd April 2004, literally within minutes of being locked up in
Government & Legislation: Last week On 16 May 2007 Meg Munn MP, a minister at Communities & Local Government, set out the Government’s latest thinking on accommodation provision for gypsies and travellers in a conference speech. For a copy, click here. On the same day she issued two consultation papers: Draft Guidance on the design […]
Court of Appeal AK (Afghanistan) v Secretary Of State For The Home Department (2007) 10 May 2007. When the Secretary of State considers whether fresh representations amount to a fresh claim for asylum he must ask the right question and consider how an independent tribunal would view the fresh representations, WM (Democratic Republic of Congo) […]
Mr Justice Holman held that local authorities were required to accommodate children in need of accommodation under Children Act 1989, s 20, so that they were entitled to the protective machinery of being looked after and also after-care services, when the
The House of Lords decided in a unanimous decision today (16th May 2006) that a person who had been a joint tenant of a local authority tenancy and became a sole tenant prior to the introduction of secure tenancies by the Housing Act 1980 was not a succes
CASES COURT OF APPEAL Whistleblowing Lake v British Transport Police [2007] EWCA 424The Court of Appeal held that the Tribunal did have jurisdiction to hear a claim of detriment for making a protected disclosure and unfair dismissal even though the matter had been considered by the Police Disciplinary Board. The fact that a statutory appeals […]
Legislation The UK Borders Bill received its first reading in the House of Lords on 10.5.2007. In its present form, the Bill can be found by clicking here The Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Procedure)(Amendment) Rules 2007, SI 2007/1285 provide (inter alia) for the holding of directions hearings as soon as practicable after notice of appeal […]
Government & Legislation: Last week How should policies on provision of Housing be adapted to the needs of an ageing population? Answers to that question are invited by National Strategy for Housing in an Ageing Society – a pre-strategy document published by the Government on 8 May 2007. The consultation closes on 11 June 2007. […]
Garden Court Chambers Online Legal Resources has been recommended by Delia Venables.
Government & Legislation: Last week At the end of April 2007 the Government issued updated guidance on the limited extent to which workers can be paid less than the minimum wage because their employer provides the worker’s accommodation. For a copy of National Minimum Wage and Accommodation Offset, click here On 30 April 2007 it […]
