The topics covered in this issue are as follows: Data protection: ICO accountability consultation Charity: Charity Commission issues updated safeguarding guidance Charity Commission and anti-cybercrime agency publish report and guidance Employment: EHRC guidance on confidentiality agreements in discrimination cases Governance: EHRC report on racial harassment FAQ: Employment Are employers liable for third-party harassment?
The Office for Students (OfS), which is the main regulator of higher education in England, has been asked by the Department for Education to consider options for setting out students’ consumer rights in the form of standard contract templates. In a letter to OfS dated 16 September 2019 and titled ‘Strategic Guidance to the Office for Students – Ministerial priorities’, the Education Secretary for England stated: ‘Working with partners such as the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education and the Competition and Markets Authority, as well as with other experts in the field, I would like the OfS to review the effectiveness of current practice ensuring students’ consumer rights are supported, and in particular to consider options for standard contractual templates setting out these rights.’ According to the letter, the OfS is asked to report its conclusions on the matter of standard contractual templates and make initial recommendations to the government by February 2020. Amongst other matters, the letter also proposes further reforms to the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF), stating: ‘…I would like the OfS to publish subject level TEF in 2021. This should be alongside the implementation of a new TEF model to be developed following the publication of the government response to the Dame Shirley Pearce’s Independent Review of TEE undertaken under Section Read Full Article…
In British Telecommunications PLC v Kevin Owen Meier [2019] NICA 43 the Northern Ireland (NI) Court of Appeal considered whether an employer had failed to make reasonable adjustments to a psychometric test in relation to a neuro-diverse job applicant. Mr Meier graduated from Queen’s University Belfast with a 2.1 degree in computer science. He has a high IQ. He has Asperger’s Syndrome, dyslexia and dyspraxia. During his educational career he had the benefit of note-takers for classes, scribes, a prompter, an Asperger’s mentor and extra time for examinations. In March 2017 he applied for a job with British Telecommunications PLC (BT), who had advertised network design and engineering opportunities for graduates. BT is a member of the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), which aims at helping organisations to employ and retain people with disabilities. DCS members are expected to take active steps to attract and recruit applicants with disabilities, and to provide a fully inclusive and accessible recruitment process. Under its ‘Guaranteed Interview Scheme’, BT guaranteed to interview any applicant with a disability whose application met the minimum criteria for the position. ‘Minimum criteria’ meant ‘evidence in the application form which demonstrates that the (applicant) generally meets the level of competence required for each competence as well as meeting any of the qualifications skills or experience defined as essential.’ BT’s graduate Read Full Article…
The following topics are covered in this newsletter:
Governance: OfS and standard contract template; UUK guidance on dangers of initiations
Procurement: OJEU notices and ineffectiveness claims
Data Protection: Right to be forgotten
Employment: NI Court of Appeal: reasonable adjustments and autism
FAQ Equality: What is a belief for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010?
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Charity: Charity Commission updates guidance on exempt charities
Data protection: Updated guidance on timescales for responding to SARs
Employment: Court of Appeal – holiday for part-year workers not subject to pro rata reduction; Good work plan – one-sided flexibility
Equality: Women and Equalities Committee report: Enforcing the Equality Act 2010 and the role of the EHRC
Procurement: Time limit for claims and disclosure obligations
FAQ: Commercial Agreements – What is a ‘termination for damage to reputation’ clause?
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In Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust v Cornwall Council [2019] EWHC 2211 (TCC), the Technology and Construction Court (the ‘Court’) considered a claim brought by the incumbent provider, the Trust, under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (the ‘PCR’) against the Council. The Council published a contract notice in the Official Journal of the European Union inviting tenders for three separate contracts to provide sexual health services in Cornwall (‘the new contract’). The contract notice and the tender documents provided that the new contract would be for seven years and would have a value of £2,500,000 per annum (‘financial cap’) with the exception of year one where an additional £100,000 was available for the implementation of a new digital platform. The Trust’s view was that the services to be provided under the new contract were materially the same as those it was providing under its current contract, and therefore could not be provided for less than about the £2.88m per annum that it spent in providing those services. The Trust obtained the tender documents and claimed that it had undertaken a significant amount of work to determine whether it should submit a bid, however, it ultimately decided not to do so, and informed the Council accordingly. Its reasons were that it could not satisfy the service specification within the financial cap Read Full Article…