Southern Branch

Friday, 20th June 2014 at10.30am

at The Civic Offices, Euclid Street, Swindon SN1 2JH

A G E N D A

  1. Apologies
  2. Children’s Services and Education Special Activity Area
    (i) Presentation - To receive a presentation from Antony Power (Partner at Michelmores) on “The Children and Families Act: Implications for SEN.”
    (ii) To receive an update from Graham Cole, National SAA Lead for this subject;
    (iii) To receive an update from Emma De Val (Hampshire) on behalf of Keri Taylor (Local SAA Lead).
  3. Minutes

To approve the attached minutes of the meeting held on 7th March 2013.(Items 3)

  1. Matters Arising
    To consider matters arising from the Minutes not appearing elsewhere on the Agenda.
  2. Presidential Visit
    To welcome Philip Thomson (Essex), President of LGG, who will address the branch on the state of the LGG – and the world!
  3. Current Issues
    Branch Members are invited to up-date each other on action being taken or progress made in relation to the following:

(i)Call-off Contract for Legal Services (standing item) – to receive a verbal report from members on the operation of the Contract and progress in relation to the re-procurement of the Call-Off contract. A summary of usage is attached.(Item 6(i))

(ii)LexisNexis – to consider any update in relation to a potential joint branch contract.

(iii)Benchmarking – to receive an update on the recent CIPFA benchmarking exercise.

(iv)Localism Act – to update each other on any issues arising from the Localism Act not covered elsewhere in the agenda.

(v)Monitoring Officer matters – to consider any Monitoring Officer matters that any member wishes to raise.

(vi)Ombudsman reports referring to maladministration – to consider the attached Note on this from Julie Openshaw (Wycombe). (Item 6(vi)

(vii)Deprivation of Liberty – to update each other following the recent Cheshire case.

  1. Local Land Charges
    To discuss the implications of the decision that the Land Registry will take over responsibility as the sole registering authority for Local Land Charges (LLC) to enable it to hold and maintain a composite register for England and Wales and be the sole provider of LLC official search results – see following link for further information:
  1. Neighbourhood Plan referendum
    To receive a ‘lessons learnt’ from Maria Lucas (Windsor & Maidenhead)
  1. Lawyers in Local Government (LGG)
    (i)To receive any oral reports on the LGG Weekend School on 4th/5th April 2014
    (ii)To note the current list of Special Activity Area (SAA) National and Local Leads and to receive any reports from Local Leads. (Item 9(ii) )
  1. Gossip Column

Please come prepared to report on any interesting cases (legal planning or administrative) or corporate issues that you have been involved in recently, if time permits.

  1. CPD Hours

To decide on the number of CPD hours accrued from the meeting in accordance with the Law Society guidelines.

  1. Dates and venues of future meetings

To note the dates and venues of the following meetings and to identify topics to be discussed:

19thSeptember 2014-Southampton

12thDecember 2014-Basingstoke

Stephen P Taylor

Honorary Secretary

June 2014

Item 6(vi)

Note to Southern Branch Meeting of LGG on 20th June – Ombudsman reports referring to maladministration

Wycombe District Council (WDC) received a letter from the Ombudsman finding maladministration at the pre-report stage, which appears to give rise to a Monitoring Officer report under S5A LG&HA 1989. We replied to the Ombudsman indicating our concern about changes to the term "maladministration" and the revised categories into which cases have now been placed by the Ombudsman.

The term maladministration has a specific legal consequence as set out in S5A (2) and (3) (b) of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989, i.e. a statutory duty to present a report to Cabinet. The Ombudsman responded expressing the view that that as the notification of the decision was under S30(1B) of the LGA 1974, not S30(1) there is no duty to present a report. The Council noted that when the 1974 Act was enacted, the Ombudsman had to prepare a "report" on conclusion of every investigation, but when (1B) was enacted, it allowed the Ombudsman to instead issue a "statement of reasons", where the Ombudsman decides that she is satisfied with the action which the authority concerned has taken, or proposes to take, so that it would not be appropriate to prepare and send a copy of a report under subsection (1).

The use by the Ombudsman of the term maladministration for cases which used to come under the "local resolution" category is of concern for all authorities and has been raised at the Public Sector Complaints Network meeting. We find difficulty in reconciling how the Ombudsman can find maladministration whilst expressing overall satisfaction with the Council's actions.

The widening of this term, apart from its effect on the Monitoring Officer's duty, appears bound to be confusing for the public. Other authorities are now believed to have received similar decisions from the Ombudsman. It would be helpful to discuss views on this matter in order to establish whether there is a consensus of opinion or any other potential interpretation or solution.

I have just had further communication from the LGO that as the statute includes the term “maladministration”, they will be including it in their reporting of decisions! - as in “maladministration but no injustice”.

Julie Openshaw

District Solicitor WDC

June 2014