The Equality Bill that is currently before Parliament is intended to harmonise discrimination law, and to strengthen the law to support progress on equality. It will have particular significance for the public sector.

It is not uncommon for LHBs engaged in the process of considering whether to remove, conditionally remove or suspend performers under the NHS (Performers List) (Wales) Regulations 2004 (‘the Regulations’) to receive requests from practitioners or their representatives to allow practitioners to be legally represented at Reference or Performance Panel hearings. The Regulations are silent on this issue, merely stating that the practitioner is entitled to an oral hearing. So what is the position?

Local authorities that are considering replacing residential staff employed in sheltered accommodation with non-residential staff should ensure that decision makers have regard to the duty imposed on local authorities under section 49A(1) DDA 1995 to have due regard to the need to take steps to take account of disabled persons' disabilities when discharging their functions.

At present local authorities providing certain social care services can recover such charges as they consider reasonable in respect of those services, by virtue of section 17 of the Health and Social Services and Social Security Adjustments Act 1983. Those services include personal care.

The new acute contract contains new provisions that are designed to help you manage the provision of good quality services for patients. We strongly recommend that you read them, negotiate your Quality Requirements for 2010/11 with them in mind and then actively manage the contract, month on month to deal with performance issues as they arise.

This judgement provides a useful review of the principles applicable to proceedings under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. It confirms that, although the Court of Protection has the power to summarily dispose of proceedings, the exercise of this power should be used with caution.

In September 2009, Sir Roger Singleton, the Chief Adviser on the Safety of Children and Chair of the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA), was asked by Children’s Secretary, Ed Balls, to check that the ‘frequent’ and ‘intensive’ principles used to define who is covered by the Vetting and Barring Scheme (“the Scheme”) were appropriate for real life situations.

A Family Health Services Appeal Authority (FHSAA) had unlawfully exercised its discretion not to call an individual to give oral evidence. The individual’s written evidence about her relationship with a doctor went to the heart of whether the doctor should be removed from the medical performers list and there was no opportunity to test the evidence or assess her credibility.

After much controversy and debate, the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 (‘the Act’) received Royal Assent on 12 November 2009. Part 1 of the new Act introduces a new framework for the Coronial system in England and Wales and represents the first major reform of this system in over one hundred years. The Act is of importance to NHS bodies and to their employees who may be required to participate in a Coronial investigation and to give oral evidence in the Coroner’s Court.

The All Wales Convention (“the Convention”) was set up by the Welsh Assembly Government to increase understanding of how the National Assembly for Wales works and to assess public views on the National Assembly for Wales having more primary law-making powers.

The proposed LCO aims to confer further legislative competency on the National Assembly for Wales (“the Assembly”) in the field of Health and Health Services so that an Assembly Measure can be brought forward in relation to Mental Health Services.

Following the death of Baby Peter in 2008, Lord Laming issued his independent report, “The Protection of Children in England: A Progress Report” in March 2009. The Welsh Assembly Government responded to this Report by reviewing arrangements in Wales to ensure that children’s services in Wales are sufficiently robust.

A recent Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (“HIW”), commissioned by the Welsh Assembly Government, has reviewed the provision of mental health services to Mr E following a homicide committed in August 2007. Mr E stabbed an acquaintance, Mr V, five times; Mr V died of his injuries (“the Review”).

Welcome to Morgan Cole's first edition of our newsletter specifically addressing competition issues in the healthcare sector. Since the Co-operation and Competition Panel was set up in January 2009, a number of rulings have been made. We discuss the impact of the Panel.

Lord Denning famously likened European law to “an incoming tide”. With the Remedies Directive, the tide appears to have reached flood proportions and will necessitate major changes for procuring authorities.

We operate as a fully integrated team – we are not compartmentalised into silos. This enables us to be flexible and responsive and import ideas and best practice across sectors.

In a push to implement recommendations set out in his report on the future of the NHS, “High quality of care for all: next stage review”, health minister Lord Darzi announced that a £220m ‘innovation fund’ will be made available to Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs), to encourage NHS staff to think of innovative ways to improve the services provided by the NHS.

This is the well-established principle set out in Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

With the Framework for procuring External Support for Commissioners now fully operational, with a significant number of PCTs having elected to procure from amongst the 14 appointed providers, our relevant expertise and significant experience with these contracts can make a genuine difference.

Are you fully utilising the potential levers within your contracts to drive improvement and increase efficiency?