Spring2013


Policy and Committees Coordinator’s Report


The CLLS’s 19 Committees have continued to actively represent the members on issues of policy and practice. Since the beginning of December 2012 the CLLS Specialist Committees have responded to the following consultations:


• DCLG: “Technical Review of Planning Appeal Procedures”; “Nationally significant infrastructure planning: expanding and improving the ‘one stop shop’ approach for consents”; “Nationally significant infrastructure planning: extending the regime to business and commercial projects”; “Planning performance and the Planning Guarantee”.


•


Euroclear: “CREST Rule 13: settlement finality in respect of complex transactions”.


• FSA: CP 12/20: “Review of the client money rules for insurance intermediaries”; CP 12/25: “Enhancing the Effectiveness of the Listing Regime”


• HMRC: “Implementing the UK/US FATCA Agreement”; “Discussion document and draft guidance on Tax and Procurement”


• MoJ: “Judicial Review: proposals for reform”


• SRA: “Co-operation agreements”; “Red Tape Initiative: Removing unnecessary regulations and simplifying processes”


In addition:


• The Land Law Committee recently published a precedent “Deed of Release of Rights to Light and Air” (See http://www.citysolicitors.org.uk/Default. aspx?sID=923&lID=0 for the document).


• The CLLS and the Commercial Bar Association (“COMBAR”) recently published specimen terms of


Associates Forum


Over the last 12 months we have been providing input to the Training Committee on the LETR and keenly await the outcome. We have also seen a few members leave and some new ones join. We are hoping to further refresh the membership during the course of 2013 (see the Associates Forum web page) and are planning a follow up paper to the Quality of Life Paper we issued in December 2010.


Kate George, Chairman, Stephenson Harwood LLP


City Solicitor • Issue 80 • 11 81


business for the supply of services by a barrister in a commercial case, together with a guidance note on those terms. These are available on the CLLS website at http://www.citysolicitors.org.uk/Default. aspx?sID=993&lID=0.


• The Chief Executive recently responded to the Lords’ Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee’s Call for Evidence on the Government’s July 2012 “new approach to consultation”. The Committee was particularly interested in the appropriate timing and duration of consultation exercises, and the implications for different groups in society of the Government’s expectation that consultation will be “digital by default”. The response argued inter alia that the justification for reducing the consultation period was not made out in the proposals; that reducing the consultation period would be disproportionate to any gains achieved in terms of processing times; that there had been no effective consultation with stakeholders about the planned change of approach (despite it being substantial); and that the new guidelines appear to signal a fundamental shift in the Government’s attitude towards the value of the consultation process.


Robert Leeder, Policy & Committees Coordinator, CLLS


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