Legislation / Legal
BERR: The Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform has announced that the official investigation into Farepak by its Companies Investigations Branch (CIB) has been completed and that the CIB is now seeking independent legal advice on whether the evidence contained in its report merits legal action.
DfT: New powers allowing councils to financially penalise utility companies which fail to give proper notice that they intend to dig up the roads have come into force. Following last month's strengthening of powers to better co-ordinate when street works are carried out, councils can now issue Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) to any utility company which fails to give correct notice before digging up the roads. Disruption from street works costs the economy about £4.9 billion each year.
Press release ~ Co-ordination of Street Works and Works for Road Purposes and Related Matters ~ Closed consultation documents ~ Street Work Qualifications Register (SWQR) ~ The New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 (NRSWA) ~ Traffic Management Act 2004 (TMA) ~ HAUC(UK) ~ Department for Transport - Street works Regulations ~ The Traffic Management Permit Scheme (England) Regulations 2007
SGC: The first revised magistrates’ court sentencing guidelines in four years have been published by the Sentencing Guidelines Council. Copies of the guidelines are being sent to over 30,000 magistrates and District Judges in and ahead of their implementation on 4 August 2008and their introduction is being supported by an extensive training programme developed by the Judicial Studies Board.
They have been developed following advice from the Sentencing Advisory Panel which consulted widely and commissioned research on the subject. Since October 2003, when the last edition of guidelines was published, there have been significant changes to the sentencing framework, including the implementation of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 and the development of guidelines by the Council.
