News & Events

Listed below are the national news items and national events.

Schedule of Coronavirus Legislation Since the Beginning
Publish date: 20/05/2021
Jennifer Batten from Norfolk's Legal Team has helpfully compiled a schedule detailing the current status of Covid Legislation which is a helpful colour coded table for an easy glance at whats in force, what has been amended and what is currently pending amendment. Click to access
The LLG Grapevine - Week 45 Available Now
Publish date: 18/05/2021
Talking Law in Local Government
Nigel Roberts Pays Tribute to John Emms on behalf of Lawyers in Local Government
Publish date: 17/05/2021
LLG are saddened to announce the loss of John Emms, a central figure in local government law and practice for many years. Author of Local Lawyers: Public Practice - Solicitors in Local Government 1947-2012, John began his career at Nottingham in 1971. He held a number of roles with LLG's predecessor entities including the National Executive Committee. He was a member of the Local Government Legal Society Trust and was heavily involved with the Yorkshire and Humber Branch. In later years, he was the Honorary Members secretary, organising yearly lunches for those who had retired from practice. In this item, Nigel Roberts pays his personal respects to John, on behalf of LLG and local government lawyers everywhere.
National Lead Planning Zoom Meeting 20th May 12pm
Publish date: 13/05/2021
LLG's next National Lead meeting will feature guest speakers Esther Drabkin-Reiter and Jonathan Welch, of Francis Taylor Building as they provide a planning case law update.
LLG appoints Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Director in Pursuit of our "More Than Words Commitment"
Publish date: 13/05/2021
LLG is delighted to introduce Manisha Patel to our Board to work with LLG to educate, inform and improve equality, diversity, and inclusion in our offering to members and across the sector. Click to read more about Manisha.
The LLG Grapevine - Week 44 Available Now
Publish date: 10/05/2021
Talking Law in Local Government
Are you a Junior Lawyer in Local Government who could Represent your Sector? Deadline For Applications this Friday!
Publish date: 10/05/2021
LLG are looking to appoint a Junior National Lead, leading to Junior Director in October 2021 by nomination to the AGM with a seat on the LLG board from October 2021 to October 2022. This is a fantastic opportunity to gain national exposure and mentoring in your career development. Applications are sought by 14th May 2021.
LLG Work Experience Applications NOW OPEN
Publish date: 06/05/2021
Are you a law student looking to gain work experience In a local authority? LLG are delighted to announce that we are now accepting applications for our LLG work experience week for 2021 for all students who wish to take part in the week. This year students just like you, across the country will take part in LLG work experience week which will begin on the 5th July 2021.
The LLG Grapevine - Week 43 Available Now
Publish date: 04/05/2021
Talking Law in Local Government
Member Update: - Virtual Meeting Judgement following Post-script on Open to Public
Publish date: 04/05/2021
Following the Judgement from the High Court in relation to our Virtual Meeting Judicial Review, the court indicated at the end of that judgement within a postscript, that it would consider references to a meeting being “open to the public” or “held in public”. That judgement was handed down today.

Blog

30 July 2021

Publish date: 30/07/2021

Following a glorious- perhaps too hot for some start to the summer recess, the weather has turned significantly, and the rain has taken on somewhat biblical proportions. I was horrified to watch the water level rise in London, and I know other regions have suffered substantially as well. Germany of course saw a catastrophic event with loss of life, and elsewhere (often unreported), mudslides cause horrendous loss of life and infrastructure damage. The Met Office this month reported on a new study published in the journal 'Climate Change' which found that "the higher level of global warming, the projected increase in frequency or severity or both will be stronger for hot weather, droughts and flooding in the UK". In turn this will cause problems for the health sector, transport, agriculture and energy. The report suggests that days exceeding 25 degrees could increase four-fold; rainfall leading to flooding could increase by 4 days per year, and the severity and duration of droughts (on the level seen in 2010) increasing by 146%. If you are wondering the role local authorities can play in tackling climate change, Friends of the Earth have published 33 individual actions authorities can take covering a broad range of areas including buildings, procurement and transport. LLG will continue to incorporate climate change training modules into our webinar offering and conference programme whilst our corporate partners hold a vast array of information in published articles held on their own websites which are definitely worth a read.

In other news, the Law Commission's 14^th Programme of Law Reform closes tomorrow which seeks to establish which new areas of law should be reviewed in their next programme with the aim of making the law fair, modern, simple and cost-effective. LLG capitalised on the ability to respond by making representations to both evoke a change in the law to extend statutory protections for monitoring officers in line with the Committee on Standards in Public Life's recommendation (number 22) way back in 2019 and seek to require a mandatory legal qualification to be held by a monitoring officer moving forward with the aim of raising the position of legal services within local authorities.

It's worth reminding ourselves here that the Caller report into failings at Liverpool City Council found that "the current delegations to the City Solicitor in the Officer Delegation Scheme are limited and do not reflect the significance of the role and its responsibilities or the work and activities that this officer and their team is, in fact and necessarily, undertaking" (para 8.9), that "Legal Services views were not always heard or were consciously ignored when raising valid concerns with other departments" (para 8.4). Further, "it was common practice for internal Legal Services to be presented with reports for "sign off" seemingly at the last possible moment with emphasis on the political support behind any proposal. This introduced unacceptable pressures on the internal team, impacting on the robustness of scrutiny, and increasing the reliance and trust placed (or potentially/occasionally misplaced) on the information provided by Officers submitting the report" (para 8.8).

The Law Commission report is expected within the first half of 2022.

Best wishes

Helen McGrath

Head of Public Affairs

Helen@llg.org.uk