SPOTLIGHT
Shelved 400px

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

A zero sum game?

The number of SEND tribunal cases is rising and the proportion of appeals ‘lost’ by local authorities is at a record high. Lottie Winson talks to education lawyers to understand the reasons why, and sets out the results of Local Government Lawyer’s exclusive survey.

Information Commissioner orders publication of NHS strategy report

Drafts of a controversial report on the future of the NHS in Wales must be made public, the Information Commissioner has ruled.

The Case for Change report, by Prof Marcus Longley, was launched as an independent review into hospital reform.

But emails released later showed him asking civil servants for ‘killer facts' to support the case for changes, leading to claims that the review would lack impartiality.

It was published in May 2012, containing a warning that some services were in danger of collapse.

Ministers said the report, commissioned by the NHS Confederation, supported the case for changes to hospitals.

A political row then broke out over bias allegations, in which Prof Longley denied he had “colluded or connived” with civil servants.

Information Commissioner Christopher Graham said there was a “strong public interest in revealing draft positions so that the public is given a fully informed picture of the decision or policy-making process promoting transparency and accountability in relation to the activities of public authorities”.