Legislation / Legal
WAG: A Welsh law that aims to strengthen local government in Wales and ensure councils engage with the people they serve has been laid before the National Assembly. A key feature of the proposed Local Government (Wales) Measure is to encourage more people from diverse backgrounds into public life.
Under the Measure councils will be able to remove barriers which may have previously discouraged people from standing as a councillor. Proposals such as parental leave and remote attendance at meetings will encourage a wider range of people to become local councillors.
CM&EC: The Child Maintenance & Enforcement Commission has begun using tough new powers to halt or reverse the sale & transfer of assets by parents attempting to dodge financial responsibility for their children. In the first case of its kind, a father in the northwest of England (who owes over £78,000 in unpaid maintenance) has been prevented from selling a house he was advertising on a popular property website.
In the first case to be brought under powers introduced by the latest child maintenance legislation, the High Court has now imposed an order preventing the sale. The reforms also allow the courts to reverse the sale or transfer of property by parents who have unpaid maintenance arrears.
MoJ: Plans to review the law on defamation to protect free speech & freedom of expression were outlined recently by Justice Minister Lord McNally. The Ministry of Justice will publish a draft Defamation Bill for consultation & pre-legislative scrutiny in the New Year, with a view to introducing a Bill as soon after that as parliamentary time allows.
