What now for deprivations of liberty?
What will the effect of the postponement of the Liberty Protections Safeguards be on local authorities? Local Government Lawyer asked 50 adult social care lawyers for their views on the potential consequences.
SPOTLIGHT |
What does the Covid-19 inquiry mean for local authorities? Olivia Carter and David Owens explain.
We do not yet know the detail of the terms of reference for the Public Inquiry into the Covid-19 pandemic and its handling, but it seems likely there will be a number of areas where local authorities either collectively or individually will have a role to play. At a sector level we would anticipate that there may be scope for the LGA and its equivalents in Scotland and Northern Ireland to have a role as a core participant, and this may involve co-ordinating evidence and responses on a range of issues. Some local authorities may wish to submit evidence directly, or indeed be asked to supply such evidence.
What do we see as the likely areas of local government involvement at this stage?
There may well be some specific local issues which the Inquiry wants to look at, but at a more general level there are a number of issues that it is likely to be investigating where local government will need to be heard:
There may well be other issues that arise.
What should local authorities be doing now?
Perhaps the first question is to ask is, to what extent does any particular authority want to be involved? Whilst it is anticipated the Inquiry will have powers to require the production of evidence, it will no doubt want to manage this, and there may be an option for local authorities to choose whether to volunteer information or views or not. However as public bodies it is likely that the sector will be looked at in some detail, and either collectively or individually we would expect Councils to want to make sure their side of the story is heard as part of the process.
If you are intending to submit evidence on a topic it is important to ensure that the contemporaneous documents are preserved and accessible and to start thinking about who can give the evidence or witness statement.
Olivia Carter and David Owens are partners at Bevan Brittan.