Legislation / Legal
Defra: Powers to confirm local nature reserve byelaws will shortly be devolved from the Secretary of State for the Environment to English LAs. This change will mean that local authorities will be able to make, confirm & revoke byelaws without approval from the Secretary of State. Subject to legislative timetable, local authorities (in England only) will be able to use these new powers early in 2011.
CLG: Serious misconduct for personal gain will be a criminal act, while petty local vendettas will no longer get a hearing as the unpopular standards board regime is axed, Communities Minister, Andrew Stunell, announced last week.
BIS: Firms which pester consumers with silent & abandoned calls can now be fined up to £2m under new Government legislation. The new fine is 40 times larger than the previous maximum limit of £50,000. Silent calls are generated when call centres use predictive dialling systems to call more numbers than there is staff available to speak to the person who answers. Ofcom will now have the power to use the fine to penalise & deter firms from persistently making these calls.
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