The Arbitration Bill, introduced in the House of Lords this week, implements Law Commission recommendations to improve the Arbitration Act. Bar Council Chair Sam Townend KC called the Bill an ‘important reform’ that will help London maintain ‘its deserved reputation as the foremost centre for international arbitration. The hard currency and soft power value to the country of the legal services sector, the most liberal and open in the world, and already constituting 10% of the global legal economy, should not be understated’.
On the issue of court delays, the Victims, Courts and Public Protection Bill will allow associate prosecutors to work on appropriate cases, and create specialist courts at every Crown Court to fast-track rape cases.
Welcoming a Bill to modernise the asylum and immigration system, Katie Newbury, partner, Kingsley Napley, said she hoped it would include ‘repeal of the Illegal Migration Act which inhibits proper consideration of asylum claims and the introduction of safe and legal routes for those wishing to seek international protection in the UK’.
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill—key to the government’s growth agenda—will reform compulsory purchase compensation, modernise planning committees and speed up decision-making.
Ben Standing, partner, Browne Jacobson, recommended the government define the ‘grey belt’, simplify the process whereby councils update their local plans and ‘clarify what the planning system will prioritise when giving weight to various considerations’.
Law Society President Nick Emmerson welcomed the Employment Rights Bill’s ‘focus on improving dispute resolution and enforcement’. It aims to deliver a genuine living wage, ban exploitative zero-hours contracts and ‘fire-and-rehire’ practices, and make parental leave, sick pay and protection from unfair dismissal available from day one. However, probationary periods for new hires will stay.
