Legislation / Legal
PC&PE: The Joint Committee on the Draft Enhanced Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures Bill has published its report. "Lack of clarity about purpose of draft legislation” says Committee
PC&PE: The Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) has published a Report on the Crime & Courts Bill. The Committee expresses concern about the lack of clarity in the Bill introduced by the power to confer counter-terrorism functions on the National Crime Agency, since the need for this has not been demonstrated and the intended review of current counter-terrorism policing structures in England & Wales has not yet been carried out.
The Committee is also concerned about provisions for the NCA to be exempt from freedom of information legislation and for Agency officials with operational powers to be forbidden from taking strike action – even before current negotiations with trades unions for a voluntary no-strike agreement have been concluded.
WAG: A Bill that aims to improve democratic processes concerning local government, and in particular the operation of the Local Government Boundary Commission for Wales, has been laid before the National Assembly for Wales. The Bill follows the findings of the Mathias Review of the Commission’s electoral review process, published in June 2011, and will reform the structure & functions of the Commission.
ScotGov: New legislation will support better job chances for college leavers and ensure more students from poor backgrounds go to university. The Post-16 Education (Scotland) Bill, published last week, is intended to ‘drive forward regionalisation of colleges, the most fundamental change to the sector for two decades’. Regionalisation will eventually support efficiencies of £50m annually, improve governance and ensure courses are better aligned to employer need.
ScotGov: A second Protection Order has been issued in Scotland to protect a victim of forced marriage. Since November 2011, Scottish courts have had the power to issue the orders, which offer increased protection for individuals who are affected by forced marriage.
The news comes as a new awareness drive begins to make sure that men as well as women in Scotland know how to seek help over the threat of forced marriage. A third of all calls to the Scottish Domestic Abuse and Forced Marriage Helpline in the last year were from men.
FSA: The Food Standards Agency has recently removed all remaining Chernobyl sheep control legislation in Wales. The controls had been put in place due to raised levels of radioactivity, following the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986.
ScotGov: The first Crofting Register has been launched to give crofters legal certainty over their crofts. The register is part of the modernisation of crofting the Scottish Government has undertaken as part of the Crofting Reform (Scotland) Act 2010. This has also included launching the majority-elected Crofting Commission which aims to meet the needs of crofting & crofters in the 21st century.
EHRC: The Equality & Human Rights Commission is going to the UK's Supreme Court, to fight a ruling against a disabled air passenger which could see airlines get away with breaking the law by discriminating against disabled travellers.
HO: 2 new laws have come into force on the UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. They are part of a package of new government support to prevent domestic & sexual violence. The new laws - that carry a maximum prison sentence of 5 years - will provide extra protection for victims and help bring more stalkers to justice – See ‘In the News’ section for more information
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