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March 2011 Understanding Public Law and the Compact A short guide to using public law to protect...
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Transcript of March 2011 Understanding Public Law and the Compact A short guide to using public law to protect...
March 2011
Understanding Public Law and the Compact
A short guide to using public law to protect
your organisation and its funding
March 2011
What are you going to get out of this session?
This session will help you to: Understand how using public law and the Compact can
help to protect yourproject and its funding
Identify what you can do if faced with a problem in your dealings withpublic bodies
How you can use the Compact to strengthen your relationship with public bodies
March 2011
Empowering the Voluntary Sector project
Funded by the Big Lottery Fund NAVCA, Compact Advocacy and the Public Law Project
working in partnership alongside Voice4Change England We aim to help voluntary and community organisations to
understand the principles of public law and the Compact, and to use this understanding to challenge unfair or unlawful decisions made by public bodies
Three key outputs
1. Training
2. Advice
3. Information
Strengthening the Voice of the BME Third Sector Project
Funded by BLF and Commission for the Compact Aims to develop, strengthen and integrate the Black
and Minority Ethnic Third Sector across England Four key outputs:
1. Improve collaboration, communication and peer support
2. Increase access to, and effectiveness in, policy making processes
3. Improve the understanding, awareness and use of the Compact
4. Strengthen relations between BME infrastructure and mainstream infrastructure
March 2011
March 2011
What are public bodies and how should they behave?
In broad terms, a public body is an organisation that carries out a governmental function, for example, a local authority, a PCT, a government department
Public bodies must– Act lawfully and fairly– Not exceed their powers.
March 2011
What are their public functions?
A public function is a function delivered to the public in the broader sense
It could be described as service delivery by a public body:
FundingHousing
TransportTax/ Benefits
Which public bodies do you work with?
March 2011
What is Public Law?
Set of legal rules (not an Act) which ensure that when public bodies carry their outpublic functions they:– Discharge their legal duties– Do not abuse or exceed their powers
Private law - You can do as you like unless it is illegal, measured by who is right and who must pay
Public law - A public body can only do what it is legally allowed to do, measured by their behaviour & intervention
March 2011
Where does public body authority derive from?
Their actions fall into two categories: Duty or Power Duties and powers arise from Acts of Parliament or
Secondary Legislation Supported by guidance – internal and external A public body can depart from guidance it has a good
reason and clear reason Public body cannot refuse access to guidance docs,
consider using the Freedom of Information Act The Compact is a form of guidance
March 2011
The Compact: An Overview
An agreement between Government and the voluntary and community sector
PURPOSE – strengthen partnership Based on a set of outcomes:
Strong, diverse and independent civil society
Effective and transparent design and development of policies, services and programmes
Responsive and high-quality services
Managing changes to programmes and services
Equal and fair society
The status of the Compact
• FUNDAMENTAL FACTOR – voluntary status
• Compact underpinned by Public Law principles
R (Berry) v Cumbria County Council“It seems to me that the Compact was more than a wish list but less than a contract. It is a commitment of intent between the parties concerned.”Taken from paragraph 44 of the judgment made by His Honour Judge Mackie in the above case. (November 2007)
March 2011
March 2011
Local Compacts
Strengthen relations between local VCS and local public bodies
Vary from area to area to reflect local needsand issues
Compact principles are reflected in local performance frameworks – e.g. LEPs, Participatory Budgeting
Using the Compact to strengthen the equality sector (1)
March 2011
Challenge Bad
Practice
Tackling Racism,
Inequality and
Exclusion
Better Services
Challenge Funding
Decisions
Funding Support
Policy Voice
Strengthen
Partnerships
The Compact and BME
VCS
March 2011
Using the Compact to strengthen the equality sector (2)
How to use it:– Take it to meetings and use as a tool for partnership
working. – Use it as a guide to develop good relationships with
funding bodies. – Use it to challenge bad practice by a statutory
partner – Use it to resolve disputes with funders and policy
makers. – Use it to develop good practice within your
organisation by implementing the voluntary sector undertakings.
March 2011
What has the public body done wrong?
Illegality Fairness Irrationality Maladministration
March 2011
Illegality and Unfairness
1. Illegality:– Must apply law correctly– Ask the right questions and undertake sufficient enquiry
when deciding an issue– Mustn’t fetter their discretion e.g. putting in criteria which
can’t be achieved by many VCSOs– Must not exceed their powers
2. Unfairness:– Clear decision making processes – Must follow agreed procedures– Give reasons for decisions– No breaches of legitimate expectation
March 2011
Irrationality and Maladministration
3. Irrationality:– Must make rational and reasonable decisions e.g.
funds for advice work going to a play scheme– Difficult to prove, pass to the advice team!
4. Maladministration:– Public Law wrongs having a lower level of “effect”
on services/ provision– Poor administrative practice
March 2011
Are they complying with the Compact?
Commitments for Government and VCS – puts outcomes into practice
Failure to comply with Compact commitments are challengeable (accountability measures)
Most common seem to be lack of consultation and funding withdrawals
Breach of the Compact by a public body may be breach of Public Law
March 2011
Key Compact commitments for equality groups
Requirement to understand specific needs
Requirement to carry out impact assessments
Recognition that single group funding can promote cohesion
Alignment with Equality Act 2010
Requirement to ensure social, environmental and economic value for part of the design and delivery of policies, programmes and services
March 2011
What do I need to do when a problem occurs?
Gather all your project documents including meeting notes, bids documents, application and monitoring records
Ask the public body for their internal documents, e.g. guidance, minutes of meetings. decisions, etc
Make sure you have made notes of all phone and face-to-face conversations
Follow-up all discussions on crucial issues Ask the difficult questions – yourself, your team and
the public body
March 2011
What's the next step?
Identify what has gone wrong? Sum up in one sentence Have you got anything wrong? Could you could have avoided the problem? Is it about personalities? How have you presented your case? Are they clear about what your problem is? Analyse the impact of the decision on your service
users, the community and your organisation Draft a short chronology setting out the key facts
March 2011
What action can I take?
Talk to your funder Compact Complaints and
Ombudsman Judicial Review
March 2011
Remedies
• Open the Dialogue – Talk though the issues as a critical friend
• Compact – use your local Compact as a non-adversarial method of
negotiating a resolution based on the Compact principles, if this fails
then consider contacting the Compact Advocacy team and getting their
support
• Complaints and Ombudsmen – point out public law wrongs and
Compact wrongs, If complaining fails and the issue is one of
maladministration consider the Ombudsman. You must use the body’s
complaints procedure first, but remember, it is a lengthy process
March 2011
Remedies
1. Judicial Review – The court case that looks the behaviour of public
bodies when delivering public functions. The aim is to get a decision
quashed, the public will then have to take it again. It is complex and
potentially costly and as with all court cases, no guarantee of success.
Legal aid may be available to cover the costs of the case. You may also
be able to get a Court order to prevent actions being taken or funding
being cut before the case is heard. You must act quickly as you only
have three months from the time the action or decision is taken in order
to get proceedings issued.
March 2011
Where to get more help
Contact us at… Contact the EVS advice team on
0207 5320 3161 or email [email protected]
Come on a one day course and learn more Contact the EVS Project at NAVCA by emailing
[email protected] Contact Voice4Change England by emailing