minutes

Board meeting 24 may 2017

Board:
Attendees: / Sir David Bean, Chair
Professor Nicholas Hopkins, Commissioner for Property, Family and Trust Law
Stephen Lewis, Commissioner for Commercial and Common Law
Professor David Ormerod QC, Commissioner for Criminal Law
Nicholas Paines QC, Commissioner for Public and Welsh Law
Phil Golding, Chief Executive
Sir David Bell, Non-Executive Director
Bronwen Maddox, Non-Executive Director
Matt Jolley
Gulzar Gill
Laura Burgoyne
Jessica De Mounteney
Spencer Clarke (Item 9 only)
Damien Bruneau (Item 9 only)

Item 1: Approval of Minutes of the Meeting of 26 April 2017

1.1The minutes were approved subject to an amendment to paragraph 7 in relation to the Land Registration project timetableand a clarification in paragraph 15 that income relates to external funding of individual projects.

Item 2: Matters arising

1.2SL informed the Board of a timetable change in relation to the Bills of Sale project. Following the announcement of the General Election, the PBL timetable for the project is no longer realistic. Discussions with HMT are ongoing in relation to a revised timetable, which will take account of the considerable uncertainty around future legislative slots.

Item 3: Board Report and Forward Look

1.3Commissioners provided updates on each of their projects. DO informed the Board that there had been a timetable slip on Search Warrants due to waiting on further input from key stakeholders. The Consultation Paper is expected to be ready for consideration by Commissioners before the end of July.

1.4NH flagged potential resource issues on the Land Registration project and also said that the Team were keen to secure greater engagement from MoJ officials in relation to Easements, although the project itself was on track.

1.5NP informed the Board that a pilot project on Electoral Law is underway looking at the benefits and viability of concluding the project with draft Statutory Instruments and is expected to last until September. On Mental Capacity and Detention, the team will look to engage with the Department of Health.

1.6The CEO informed the Board that the Corporate objectives have been updated to align with the proposed outputs in the Business Plan 2017/18. The CEO also provided an update on recent budget discussions with MoJ Finance.

Item 4: Law Reform Manual

1.7MJ provided the Board with an update on the Law Reform Manual. The purpose of the manual is to create a single repository on how to undertake law reform and develop best practice. A project team of volunteers from across the Law Commission has been formed. The team are in the process of gathering information that has already been created with the intention to then identify where further guidance is required and create material by project stages. MJ anticipated that the manual will be complete by the end of the year but material will be made available as it is completed. MJ agreed to bring a proposed structure to the next Board meeting and draft documents later in the year.

Item 5: JustStore Rollout

1.8GG updated the Board on the recent launch of JustStore within the MoJ and outlined the high level plans for rollout across the Law Commission, focussing on training, file saving conventions and developing an appropriate folder structure. GG agreed to come back to the Board once the rollout plans were finalised.

Item 6: Internship Policy

1.9GG informed the Board that the Law Commission had recently received a few enquiries in relation to unpaid work experience. The Senior Management Team had agreed that our internship policy needed to be reviewed to ensure that responses to enquiries were consistent. The updated policy covers the Law Commission’s position on unpaid work experience, funded internships and academic placements.

1.10DO and NH agreed to review the wording for academic placements and provide feedback to PG and GG. NH requested that we clarify that funded internships are not restricted to travel expenses, but also cover salary costs. The Chair asked that we make it clear that the Law Commission will still support intra-Government shadowing opportunities.

Item 7: Guest Speakers at Future Board Meetings

1.11The CEO proposed a potential list of guest speakers for future Board meetings. This included:

  • Government Department Directors with experience of implementing Law Commission reports
  • Representatives from ALBs
  • Cabinet Office ALB leads
  • Senior MoJ officials
  • Senior legal officials
  • Senior Brexit officials
  • The Board were content with the proposed speakers and agreed that the Chair and CEO should begin approaching individuals. It was agreed that we should try to alternate between a guest speaker and team presentation, although we did not need to do this at every Board meeting.

Item 8: Update on Protection of Official Data (POD) Project

1.13DO provided a brief update on the POD project following the close of the consultation period. DO provided a high level idea of the type of responses received in the consultation and discussed some of the issues raised in petitions, which had mainly been raised due to a misinterpretation of the Law Commission’s proposals.

Item 9: Team Presentation – PFT: Wills

1.14The team gave a presentation to the Board on the Wills project. The presentation looked at the background to the project, aims, issues and recommendations.

Item 10: Any Other Business

1.15The Chair recognised and congratulated the Law Commission’s contribution to the London Legal Walk.

1.16The Chair confirmed that preparations for the upcoming Scarman lecture were on track.

1.17The Chair congratulated the team following Royal Assent for the Intellectual Property (Unjustified Threats) Act.

1.18DO updated the Board on his recent meeting with the Hong Kong Law Reform Commission, highlighting an interest in sharing best practice between the organisations.

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