Practice Direction - Pre Action Conduct (“PDPAC”) and its impact on your debt recovery action

Effective from 1 April 2009, this Practice Direction applies to all types of claim and in particular, those not already subject to a pre-action protocol. The over-riding principle is to allow parties a genuine opportunity to resolve matters without needing to start court proceedings. The PDPAC is not mandatory but parties should comply unless it would be inappropriate (inappropriate circumstances are likely to be exceptional e.g. an application for an order to freeze assets). This note is a brief guide to the most obvious changes for debt collection cases. All those involved in debt collection need to know about these as the courts will expect that parties have complied with the following.

The changing landscape of Further Education colleges in Wales

The Welsh Assembly Government published in September 2008 ‘Transforming Education and training Provision in Wales – Delivering Skills that Work for Wales’ and set the agenda for what many in the FE sector call ‘transformation’. The publication said that it expected more university and college mergers. Since ‘transformation’ began, many FE colleges in Wales are either in the process of merging or discussing merger options.

Preparing for the Remedies Directive

Purchasing by public bodies is governed by the Public Contracts Regulations 2006. The regulations require that, when a public body purchases goods and services above a certain value, it must formally advertise its requirements and comply with a detailed tendering process.

Autumn Education Seminar - Managing Risks: Social Networking and the Mushrooming of IT communications

We are pleased to report that our Autumn Education Seminar was well attended, in particular by Universities and Further Education Colleges.