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NLJ this week: A clean sheet on public procurement

21 February 2025
Issue: 8105 / Categories: Legal News , Procurement , Public , Governance
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The Procurement Act 2023, which comes into force on 24 February 2025, ushers in a new regime for the awarding of public contracts. In this week’s NLJ, Paul Henty, partner at Beale & Co, a specialist in public procurement law, looks at the Act’s provisions on debarment and exclusion.

As Henty notes, the Act ‘heralds a new era of accountability and integrity’. It expands and strengthens the ability to exclude bidders, for example, they can be excluded because of the actions of parent and subsidiary companies or for the acts of ‘connected persons’.

Henty looks at the grounds, requirements and definitions involved. He writes: ‘Self-cleaning plays a critical role in determining whether discretionary exclusion grounds remain applicable. Suppliers can demonstrate their commitment to addressing past deficiencies.’ 

MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
In this week's NLJ, Steven Ball of Red Lion Chambers unpacks how advances in forensic science finally unmasked Ryland Headley, jailed in 2025 for the 1967 rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne. Preserved swabs and palm prints lay dormant for decades until DNA-17 profiling produced a billion-to-one match
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
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