UKAJI August 2019 round-up

Here is UKAJI’s summary of important administrative justice news and events for August 2019. If you have anything to add to this round-up or any future round-ups, please contact Lee Marsons at lm17598@essex.ac.uk.

UKAJI blog posts:

• Professor Grainne McKeever (University of Ulster) posted a blog entitled, ‘Improving legal participation: what is legal participation?’
• Professor Maurice Sunkin (University of Essex) posted a review of Hertogh & Kirkham’s Research Handbook on the Ombudsman (Elgar, 2018).

Research and publications:

• Dr Joe Tomlinson published a new paper entitled ‘Do we need a theory of legitimate expectations?’ soon to appear in Legal Studies.
• Roberto Iacono (London School of Economics) posted a book review of Measuring Poverty Around the World by Anthony B. Atkinson.
• Philip Milburn (Special Needs Jungle blog) posted a piece on navigating adult mental health services as an autistic young person.
• The Canadian Forum on Civil Justice posted a blog piece about the important of research evidence to civil justice reform.
• Angela Cora Garcia published a book entitled ‘How Mediation Works: Resolving Conflict Through Talk’.

Events

• ‘Administrative Justice: International Workshop’ held at King’s College London, 27-28 August 2019.  This surveyed a range of papers from the upcoming Oxford Handbook of Administrative Justice. The workshop was organised by Marc Hertogh, (University of Groningen), Richard Kirkham (Universirty of Sheffield), Robert Thomas (University of Manchester) and Joe Tomlinson  (King’s College, London).
• Public Law Project is to hold an event entitled ‘Access to Justice in the South West’ on 26 September 2019.
• HMCTS announced that asylum appeals will be filed and managed entirely online from 2020.
• The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (‘PACAC’) is to hold an oral evidence session on the PHSO report ‘Missed Opportunities’ on 10 September 2019.
• The Grenfell Tower Inquiry Chair posted an update to the Inquiry’s website on the progress of the Inquiry and the evidence that it had heard.
• Dr Sarah Nason gave a public lecture on ‘Welsh Administrative Justice: Rights, Duties, and Implications for Legal Services‘ to the Law Society of England & Wales.

Ombuds affairs

• The PHSO announced that it would be holding its third annual Open Meeting on 2^nd October 2019.
• The PHSO found that Gloucestershire Care Services NHS Trust failed in its duty to provide good clinical care for a boy with a life-threatening condition.
• The PHSO Assistant Director of Strategy and Partnerships, Andrew Medlock, posted a blog about the PHSO’s new Complaints Standards Framework.
• The Public Services Ombud for Wales is currently consulting until 30 September 2019 on its new powers under the Public Services Ombudsman (Wales) Act 2019.
• The LGSCO determined that a distressed Leeds girl left without proper education for months.
• The LGSCO determined that a Lancashire family left in overcrowded conditions for more than a decade.
• The LGSCO published a report highlighting widespread concerns about bin collection problems in Birmingham City Council.
• Michael King, the current LGSCO, published a statement following the publication of Healthwatch’s report on creating a learning culture in social care.
• The LGSCO published guidelines for council tax practitioners following changes to council tax reduction procedures.
• The LGSCO determined that Barnet Council wrongly instructed an enforcement company to destroy a fast food trailer.
• The Scottish Public Services Ombud laid its decisions in 42 cases before the Scottish Parliament.
• The Government of Jersey launched a consultation on the creation of a Public Services Ombud for Jersey.

Parliamentary affairs

• The new Secretary of State for Education, Gavin Williamson, gave a statement to the Commons on increases in education funding.

Cases

• Faqiri v Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) [2019] EWCA Civ 151, the Court of Appeal held that the UK government can be asked to pay expenses where a judicial review has been brought against the Upper Tribunal’s refusal to grant permission to appeal. See analysis of the case by the Free Movement Blog here.

News items

• The BBC reported that empty shipping containers had been used to house homeless children.
• Graham Boyack (Scottish Mediation) posted a piece in The Scotsman concerning mediation in Scotland.
• The BBC’s Talkback held a discussion on recent findings that one in twenty British pensioners live in severe poverty.

Upcoming UKAJI blogs

• Natalie Byrom (Director of Research, Legal Education Foundation) will post a piece about her research into the Government’s court and tribunal reform programme;
• Katie Boyle (University of Stirling) will post a piece about her Nuffield-funded study into the protection of social rights in each of the UK jurisdictions;
• Charlotte O’Brien (University of York) will post a piece about her work into the discriminatory impact of the ‘two child rule’ for Child Benefit claimants;
• Sarah Nason (University of Bangor) will post a piece concerning the system of administrative justice for education in Wales;
• Hideo Horasawa (Professor at University of Nanzan and visiting scholar at University of Essex) will post a blog about his comparative research into public inquiries in the UK and Japan;
• Lee Marsons (University of Essex) will post a piece concerning the need for caseworkers at the PHSO to be trained in emotional intelligence competencies;
• Anne-Marie Irwin (Irwin Mitchell solicitors) will post a piece concerning the ongoing judicial review into the Government’s funding of SEND education. Judgment is expected in October 2019.