From the 1 October 2010 key parts of the Equality Act will be enforced against public bodies that provide public services or exercise public functions. There will be one law applying to protect people from discrimination on the basis of a series of protected characteristics.

As another radical reform of the NHS looms on the horizon, the courts are still suffering the effects of the last dose of legislation. Nicola Marchant and Kate Gomery report on the High Court’s first taste of a dentistry contract dispute.

Published on 12 July 2010, the Department of Health White Paper sets out a new strategy for the NHS in England to put patients first, improve patient choice and healthcare outcomes, empower professionals and providers within the NHS, cut bureaucracy and improve efficiency. Eve Piffaretti considers the impact on the Board of regulatory functions.

Gayle Curry considers what the White Paper published in July 2010 "Equity and excellence: liberating the NHS" means for GPs.

Just weeks before voluntary registration with the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA)was due to commence, the Home Office has announced plans to re-scope and fundamentally re-model the Vetting and Barring Scheme in line with what is promised to be a more proportionate, common sense approach.

On 10 February 2010 the National Assembly for Wales gained competence to legislate on the issue of mental health services in Wales. The Proposed Mental Health (Wales) Measure was laid before the Assembly on 22 March 2010 and is now at the Stage One Committee, which will report by 2 July 2010.

The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 (“the Act”) introduced a vetting and barring scheme designed to reduce the risk of harm to children or vulnerable adults. The Act affects all individuals and organisations which carry out either "regulated" or "controlled" activities in relation to children and/or vulnerable adults.

The rights of children and young people are increasingly gaining weight but UK law in this area has struggled to keep pace, being seen by some as overly paternalistic and restrictive of these rights.

Three recent court decisions provide illustrations of the balancing exercise which the courts undertake, and will expect the NHS and local authorities to have undertaken, when considering whether an action is in the best interests of an individual who lacks capacity under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 to make that decision. Two of the cases also involved consideration of the interface between human rights legislation and the Mental Capacity Act, in particular in relation to Deprivation of Liberty.

The case of Savage v South Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is a significant human rights case which confirms that there is a duty on health authorities under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights to take all reasonable measures to prevent mental health patients from committing suicide.

Like any other business, as a developer in the primary care sector we are sure you are looking very carefully at every aspect of your business to save costs. The effects of the recession, and the need to cut costs, have caused developers to focus afresh on this issue. One area you perhaps have not yet focused on is your legal spend.

The Equality Bill that is currently before Parliament is intended to harmonise discrimination law, and to strengthen the law to support progress on equality. It will have particular significance for the public sector.

It is not uncommon for LHBs engaged in the process of considering whether to remove, conditionally remove or suspend performers under the NHS (Performers List) (Wales) Regulations 2004 (‘the Regulations’) to receive requests from practitioners or their representatives to allow practitioners to be legally represented at Reference or Performance Panel hearings. The Regulations are silent on this issue, merely stating that the practitioner is entitled to an oral hearing. So what is the position?

Local authorities that are considering replacing residential staff employed in sheltered accommodation with non-residential staff should ensure that decision makers have regard to the duty imposed on local authorities under section 49A(1) DDA 1995 to have due regard to the need to take steps to take account of disabled persons' disabilities when discharging their functions.

At present local authorities providing certain social care services can recover such charges as they consider reasonable in respect of those services, by virtue of section 17 of the Health and Social Services and Social Security Adjustments Act 1983. Those services include personal care.

The new acute contract contains new provisions that are designed to help you manage the provision of good quality services for patients. We strongly recommend that you read them, negotiate your Quality Requirements for 2010/11 with them in mind and then actively manage the contract, month on month to deal with performance issues as they arise.

This judgement provides a useful review of the principles applicable to proceedings under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. It confirms that, although the Court of Protection has the power to summarily dispose of proceedings, the exercise of this power should be used with caution.

In September 2009, Sir Roger Singleton, the Chief Adviser on the Safety of Children and Chair of the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA), was asked by Children’s Secretary, Ed Balls, to check that the ‘frequent’ and ‘intensive’ principles used to define who is covered by the Vetting and Barring Scheme (“the Scheme”) were appropriate for real life situations.

A Family Health Services Appeal Authority (FHSAA) had unlawfully exercised its discretion not to call an individual to give oral evidence. The individual’s written evidence about her relationship with a doctor went to the heart of whether the doctor should be removed from the medical performers list and there was no opportunity to test the evidence or assess her credibility.

After much controversy and debate, the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 (‘the Act’) received Royal Assent on 12 November 2009. Part 1 of the new Act introduces a new framework for the Coronial system in England and Wales and represents the first major reform of this system in over one hundred years. The Act is of importance to NHS bodies and to their employees who may be required to participate in a Coronial investigation and to give oral evidence in the Coroner’s Court.