This paper considers some of the obligations and powers under which the State comes to investigate deaths , incidents of serious harm and abuse , and other forms of wrongdoing. These obligations and powers can , in limited circumstances , be used in judicial review proceedings to challenge decisions of Government and other public authorities on whether to conduct an investigation , and , if so , what form of investigation is required
The last few years have seen a raft of discrimination claims come before the higher courts in public law cases. A significant proportion of these claims have succeeded , in areas as diverse as the allocation of social housing and the payment of disability benefits.
Legal aid is vital to ensure that those who cannot afford to pay for a lawyer are able to access to justice. Prior to April 2013 , legal aid was generally available to separated migrant children for all immigration applications that they may need to make , e.g. for cases which raised either asylum or Article 8 ECHR/EEA grounds , or a mixture.
Now , with a few exceptions , it is available only for protection claims
This is a note prepared by PLP’s Rakesh Singh for the Immigration Law Practitioners Association (ILPA) on changes to the Home Office policy on when JR will not suspend removal. It has been included in the ILPA mailing for November 2016 and was part of a talk prepared for the working group on removals , detention and offences on 10/11/16.
PLP views this consultation with considerable disquiet , as it appears to be no more than a renewed attempt by Government to introduce a new DFT , notwithstanding the rejection of its recent attempt to do so by the TPC and despite the evidential deficiency identified by the TPC not having been filled.
The investigatory Powers Bill (IPB) provides a legal framework to UK state surveillance , purporting to balance personal privacy with the needs of state to provide security and prevent fraud and terrorism. The panellists disucss the public law issues arising from the so called ‘snoopers charter’.
The introduction of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (“DoLSâ€) to the MCA 2005 on 1 April 2009 imposed a statutory responsibility on local authorities to oversee and operate a scheme to lawfully deprive the liberty of adults who lack the capacity to consent to arrangements made for their care or treatment in either hospitals or care home in their own best interests.
There have been rapid technological developments and the scale of data sharing and collection has increased dramatically. Intelligent technology allows private and state use of personal data on an unprecedented scale. There is a wide variation in national implementation of Directive 95/46/EC , and a need to do away with legal uncertainty and current costly fragmentation.
The next six years marks out the most ambitious period of change since the Judicature Acts of the 1870s. The aim that the Lord Chief Justice and I have agreed with the Lord Chancellor is quite simply to strengthen the rule of law. The reform programme that was announced this last month is a breathtaking £1bn investment project.
Response to ‘Transforming our Justice System’ consultation , 10 November 2016.
Please note that this response is a response to both parts of the consultation , covering both ‘assisted digital’ issues and the proposed changes to tribunal panel composition.
There has been a good deal of discussion of late about the notion of judicial overreach , the suggestion being that ‘judicial power’ needs to be more carefully confined than it has been in the recent past. In this talk , Mark Elliott , while acknowledging that there must be , or are , limits to judicial power , will critically examine and challenge the argument that the courts are guilty of significant overreach.
The number and diversity of JR cases is now such that a review of the year can only hope to cover a small sample of the Administrative Court’s workload. The selection of cases here (from September 2015 to August 2016) necessarily reflects our personal choice , and no doubt there are many others that could have been included. We have each picked three cases. They are summarised in chronological order.