Legislation / Legal
ScotGov: The age of criminal responsibility at which children can be prosecuted in adult criminal courts will be raised to twelve in Scotland. This will bring Scots law into line with jurisdictions across Europe and implement a key recommendation of the 2002 Scottish Law Commission report.
In raising the age of criminal responsibility from 8 to 12, ministers have taken on board the views of the United Nations, but have ruled out suggestions the age should be raised to 14 or even 16.
The new measures, to be included in the Scottish Government's forthcoming Criminal Justice and Licensing bill, will mean that children under twelve will instead be held to account for any offending behaviour through Children's Hearings. Another measure in the bill, which was originally announced last year, will scrap the law that allows children to be locked up in Scottish jails without being convicted of an offence through so-called 'unruly certificates.'
Press release ~ Children's Hearings ~ ScotGov - Law, Order & Public Safety ~ Report on Age of Criminal Responsibility
ScotGov: Tougher guidelines for police and prosecutors (introduced on 26 June 2006) are having a significant impact on continuing efforts to combat knife crime, the Solicitor General for Scotland, Frank Mulholland QC, announced when unveiling figures showing that those caught carrying knives are being taken off the streets more quickly and kept in custody for longer.
HMRC: Modernising the UK's direct tax law has taken another step forward, as two new draft bills rewriting corporation tax and international tax legislation were published by the Tax Law Rewrite project. The consultation period ends on 29 May 2009..
MoJ: The Law Society and the Legal Services Complaints Commissioner are pleased to announce a range of client care measures costing £275,000, which are designed to boost capability & capacity to deal with clients in the solicitors' profession.
In June 2008 the Legal Services Complaints Commissioner, Zahida Manzoor CBE, announced that she would be imposing a penalty of £275,000 on the Law Society following her decision to declare the complaints handling plan submitted by the Legal Complaints Service as inadequate.
The Commissioner and the Law Society have been discussing ways forward, considering in particular measures to improve client care. The Commissioner and the Law Society are pleased to announce that they have reached a regulatory settlement with the monies devoted to a range of measures primarily aimed at improving client care by solicitors.
Press release ~ Client care Campaign Proposals ~ Legal Services Complaints Commissioner ~ Law Society
OFT: The OFT has told 11 financial management businesses with 'look alike' websites posing as official or charity advice sites to close them down immediately and is warning consumers to take care when searching for debt advice online. The action followed complaints from a number of debt advice charities including.
The sites use similar or slightly amended domain names which imply that they are affiliated to organisations such as Citizens Advice, Advice UK, National Debtline or the Consumer Credit Counselling Service. Some of the website names also imply that they have some official status or sanction from the Government. Parts of the content of these 'look alike' websites are often copied from legitimate sites offering free advice, despite the companies involved charging fees.
Press release ~ Check whether a business holds an appropriate consumer credit licence ~ Some genuine websites of not-for-profit debt advice organisations include: Citizens Advice Bureaux ~ Advice UK ~ National Debtline ~ Consumer Credit Counselling Service ~ Parents, Pennies and Pounds
CompC: The Competition Commission (CC) has issued a statement after the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) published its judgment on an appeal by Tesco in relation to the CC's Groceries report.
Press release ~ CAT's judgment ~ Related press release ~ Order and Public consultation on Order ~ CompC. - Groceries Market Investigation
ScotGov: Sweeping reforms to Scotland's criminal law and court procedures - in the form of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Bill – have been unveiled.
