Legislation / Legal
ScotGov: Proposals from the Scottish Court Service to change the future structure of Scotland’s courts have been accepted by the Scottish Government. The Justice Secretary has now sent draft Orders to the SCS and the Lord President which will enable the necessary legislative changes to be made in the Scottish Parliament to implement the proposed court closures.
The Scottish Court Service will be required to consult with relevant key stakeholders on these Orders before deciding whether to formally consent. Once approved, the Orders will be laid in the Scottish Parliament where they will be considered by the Justice Committee.
DCMS: The government’s Royal Charter proposes a new system of independent, self-regulation of the press which is one of ‘incentivisation’ rather than compulsion. Those proposals are now being taken forward in the Crime and Courts Bill. Following the initial debate in Parliament, clauses have been refined to make it absolutely clear that small blogs are outside of the scheme.
MoJ: The culture of using meritless judicial review applications to delay immigration decisions and hold up development will be attacked by new controls announced by Justice Secretary Chris Grayling. The changes are intended to tackle the soaring number of judicial review applications being made in England & Wales.
HO: A new legal agreement has been signed with Jordan which should ‘allow the government to remove the last remaining obstacles to the deportation of Abu Qatada’, the Home Secretary announced last week.
The comprehensive mutual legal assistance treaty sets out a joint commitment between the UK & Jordan to tackle international crime, including a number of fair trial guarantees which would apply to individuals subject to immigration action who are returned to either country.
The comprehensive mutual legal assistance treaty sets out a joint commitment between the UK & Jordan to tackle international crime, including a number of fair trial guarantees which would apply to individuals subject to immigration action who are returned to either country.
PC&PE: The introduction of auto-enrolment makes rigorous pension scheme governance essential, argues the Work and Pensions Committee in a report published last week. The Report calls on the Government to reassess the case for establishing one body with sole responsibility for regulating workplace pensions.
Noting concerns over current gaps in regulation and the potential for further gaps to arise as a result of now having 3 regulators with a role to play, the Report argues that a single regulator is necessary to ensure that all members of workplace pension schemes are adequately and consistently protected.
The Report also highlights that deferred-member charges and member-borne consultancy charges have the potential to cause serious consumer detriment. It recommends that both are banned by the Government, if significant progress is not made in the very near future by the industry towards ending them.
