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Legislation / Legal
GCA: The Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) was formally established by Act of Parliament on 25 June 2013. The Groceries Code Adjudicator can receive confidential complaints and evidence about how large supermarket retailers are treating their direct suppliers.
If she finds there has been a breach of the Groceries Supply Code, she will be able to:
* make recommendations
* require retailers to publish details of their breach
* in the most serious cases, impose a fine
EHRC: Child victims of human trafficking who commit a crime could have charges against them dropped if they can prove that the offence was committed as a result of exploitation, following a Court of Appeal case in which the Equality and Human Rights Commission intervened.
ICO: The Information Commissioner’s Office has served Google Inc with an enforcement notice over the collection of payload data by Google’s Street View cars in the UK. Based on a detailed investigation, including an analysis of the data Google has recorded, the ICO has concluded that the detriment caused to individuals by this breach fails to meet the level required to issue a monetary penalty.
ScotGov: A ‘raft of measures to improve the criminal justice system’ have been outlined in the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill, published recently. The bill takes forward a range of proposals to modernise & improve efficiency within the criminal justice system, responding to reviews by Lord Carloway and Sheriff Principal Bowen.
The bill includes provisions that will abolish the requirement for corroboration in criminal trials alongside increases to the jury majority required for a guilty verdict to two-thirds of jurors. The bill also raises the maximum sentence for handling knives and other offensive weapons from 4 to 5 years.
OFT: The OFT has referred the market for payday lending in the UK to the Competition Commission because of concerns the OFT has about deep-rooted problems with the way competition works.
ScotGov: A Bill to allow same sex couples to marry in Scotland has been published. The proposals offer protections for religious bodies, individual celebrants and the Bill also makes it clear that freedom of speech is unaffected.
Under the plans, religious bodies who wish to perform same sex marriage will have to opt in. If a body does decide to perform same sex marriages, protection will also be in place for individual celebrants who consider such ceremonies to be contrary to their faith. It was also confirmed that a review will be undertaken on the Civil Partnership Act 2004 in Scotland, driven by the need to consider the position on opposite sex civil partnership.
PC&PE: The Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) has published its legislative scrutiny Report on the Children and Families Bill. The Report deals with issues to do with adoption and looked after children (Part 1 of the Bill), family justice (Part 2), Special Educational Needs (Part 3), the Children’s Commissioner (Part 5) and statutory rights to shared parental leave and pay (Part 6). The Report also includes an analysis of two issues connected with the Energy Bill.
