Legislation / Legal
ICO: The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued Glasgow City Council with a monetary penalty of £150,000 following the loss of 2 unencrypted laptops, one of which contained the council’s creditor payment history file, listing the personal information of over 20,000 people, including 6,069 individuals’ bank account details.
The ICO’s investigation found that, despite the ICO’s previous warning and in breach of its own policy, the council had issued a number of its staff with unencrypted laptops after encountering problems with the encryption software.
While most of these devices were later encrypted, the ICO also discovered that a further 74 unencrypted laptops remain unaccounted for, with at least 6 of these known to have been stolen.
WAG: A new Bill would propose that the statutory requirement for local health boards to balance their books over a one-year period should be changed to a 3-year cycle. The Bill is scheduled to be introduced early in the next Assembly term and, if passed, the new financial regime would come into effect for the 2014/15 financial year.
MoJ: The most vulnerable victims are to be protected from the trauma of appearing in court, Justice Secretary Chris Grayling announced last week. For the first time young & vulnerable victims, who have survived the most horrific crimes, will be offered the chance to avoid what is often a distressing & intimidating court experience by pre-recording both their evidence and any cross-examination for a later trial.
This new approach will be tested in 3 areas — Leeds, Liverpool & Kingston-upon-Thames — with the intention of rolling it out more widely if it proves a success.
BIS: Measures to enhance consumer rights & make them easier to understand, which will boost the economy by £4bn over the next decade, have been unveiled by Consumer Minister Jo Swinson. The proposals, outlined in the draft Consumer Rights Bill, streamline overlapping & complicated areas from 8 pieces of legislation into one consumer Bill.
HMT: The government will introduce legislation in the autumn so that more people have access to affordable, short term credit. The changes will allow credit unions to provide credit to customers they had previously been forced to turn away.
NIA: The Northern Ireland Assembly Committee for the Environment has published its Report on the Planning Bill, which details the Committee's consideration and views on the Bill.
The primary objective of the Planning Bill is to accelerate the implementation of reforms contained within the Planning Act (Northern Ireland) 2011, ahead of the transfer of planning powers to local councils. The Bill also brings forward amendments to the Planning (Northern Ireland) Order 1991.
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