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 On the same day she issued two consultation papers: Draft Guidance on the design […]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
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
Reed Elsevier, through its ownership of Butterworths Lexis Nexis is one of the primary publishers of UK legal information.
Government & Legislation: Last week On 27 April 2007 the Government outlined the new scheme for provision of information to leaseholders about service and administration charges which will come into force on 1 October 2007. The enabling legislation (Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 section 153 and Schedule 11) has been triggered by a commencement […]
CASES HOUSE OF LORDS Victimisation St Helens Borough Council v Derbyshire & ors [2007] UKHL 16The House of Lords disagreed with the majority of the Court of Appeal and upheld the decision of the Tribunal that a letter sent by the Council to all catering staff warning of the consequences of the Claimants continued claims […]
NEWS A new "Australia-style points" based Migration system will begin in 2008.On 18th April 2007 Liam Byrne set out the timetable for the new system designed to limit the number of newcomers to the UK. There will be a tier system under the rules. Non-EU workers will be placed in five categories ranging from the […]
These two important principles of the common law were upheld today in the House of Lords.
Government & Legislation: Last week The Legal Services Commission has announced that the present contracts for Specialist Support with Housing Cases let to Shelter, Garden Court Chambers and other specialist housing advisers have been extended to 31 June 2008. A consultation paper on the future position is planned for May 2007. For a description of […]
COURT OF APPEAL IA Somalia v Sec of State [2007] EWCA Civ 323 An asylum appeal was remitted for a rehearing in circumstances where it could not be said with confidence that the adjudicator would have arrived at the same conclusion as he had if he had taken a relevant country guidance case into account, […]
David Watkinson, appears in the March issue of the magazine 'From the Lawyers' Collective.'
