As part of the Transforming Public Procurement reform, the Government sought feedback on the secondary legislation that will sit under the Procurement Act 2023 (the Act).  The Government's response to these consultations has now been published - Consultation on draft regulations to implement the Procurement Bill. The first part of the consultation focusses on areas of the Act such as the scope of light touch services, the interface with the NHS provider selection regime and application of the tests for the Teckal exemption for public to public contracts. Part 2 focusses on transparency ..read more

So much attention is on the finances - balancing the budget, Section 114 Notices, diminishing reserves, more for less - it is constant and a real problem for Local Government. I have been a Corporate Head and Strategic Director of Resources with responsibility for finance (yes I am a lawyer!) and long been an advocate that this is not just an issue for the S151 Officer and their teams - we all need to own this one.  I have also worked with some of the best finance leads - Joseph Holmes, Liz Keys, Kevin Jaquest, Dorcas Bunton to name a few and behind them their brilliant teams - I cannot ..read more

The dust is starting to settle on the recent local elections, leading to big changes in some areas. There will be local authorities with lots of new members, some of whom may have been elected for the first time and of course some of whom may have already held the position of councillor and have been re-elected or have been elected again following an absence from local government. In any scenario good training on the expectations of their role is vital.  We have devised training for local authorities to help ease the burden on busy monitoring officers and democratic services teams to tra ..read more

The Fire and Rescue Service is currently experiencing unprecedented focus on its culture. According to Nazir Afzal in his Cultural Review of the London Fire Brigade, the Fire and Rescue Service is facing its 'me too' moment. Afzal found the organisation to be institutionally misogynistic and racist. HMICFRS has since made similar findings. Those working in and supporting the sector recognise that Fire and Rescue services need to understand its culture, whether that be by way of cultural review or by way of a form of workforce engagement, in order that the Service can work to improve its cultu ..read more

A light has been shone on both the Police Service and the Fire Service and it is likely that more examples of poor behaviour, even criminal behaviour, are likely to be disclosed as more existing and former employees come forward with their experiences. This is Fire and Rescue's 'Me Too' moment, according to Afir Nazal, former Chief Prosecutor for the North West of England and author of the recent 'Independent Culture Review of London Fire Brigade'. The finding of the Culture Review, together with recent publicised stories and witness testimony involving other Fire Services, would appear ..read more

In this article, we set out some key data protection considerations for public sector organisations who are looking to engage (or perhaps have already engaged) a third-party processor, particularly if they are a cloud-based provider. The past year has seen an unprecedented rise in the use of online service providers. In particular, the rise in home-working has prompted many organisations to 'upgrade' their current IT offering, and move to solutions which are more suitable for remote-working. Cloud-based solutions offer online tools to assist organisations with business continuity, despite the ..read more

The provisional local government finance settlement, announced in December, sets out how local councils will be supported financially for the year. The final settlement has been published and is due to be laid before the House of Commons for approval. Councils can expect to receive £51.2 billion (an increase of £2.2 billion from last year) in 2021. These changes can be seen through the following initiatives: £622 million for the New Homes Bonus scheme; £111 million specifically to councils with responsibility for services such as homelessness, planning, recycling and refuse collection and le ..read more

The Treasury has issued new guidance which relates to 'Special Severance Payments' (SSPs) made by public sector employers to their employees. The guidance sets out the criteria that should be considered and steps to take to obtain Treasury approval. According to the Treasury, the SSP system costs the Government millions of pounds, and so it is vital that they are made only when there is a "clear justification for doing so" to make sure that the taxpayer is fairly funding them. Employers should also be careful that SSPs are properly documented in order that the process followed is transparent ..read more

Since 1 January, the rules that apply to central and local government and other public funded bodies, such as universities, which prevent the grant of subsidies have been in a state of flux. The relative certainty provided by the previous EU State aid regime has been replaced by commitments in the EU-UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement which need individual assessment on a case-by-case basis of grants, loans and other forms of financial assistance.  The Government has just released its consultation document on designing a new subsidy control for the UK: The consultation invites comments ..read more

Following the announcement in the Queen's Speech that the Procurement Bill would be rolled over into the forthcoming parliamentary session, the Bill was published on 11 May 2022. The Bill represents a radical change to the UK procurement laws which promises consolidation of the current public procurement framework, greater flexibility in the procurement process and award criteria and increased transparency. The Bill regime builds on a range of familiar procurement principles of non-discrimination and fair treatment and sets out a mix of old and new procurement objectives - value for money, ma ..read more