Statwatch

Companies (Disclosure of Auditor Remuneration and Liability Limitation Agreements) Regulations 2008 (SI 2008/489) Commence 6 April 2008. Require companies, in their annual accounts, to disclose information about amounts payable for the services they and their associates have purchased from their auditors and their associates. They also require companies to disclose whether they have entered into a liability limitation agreement with their auditors. They replace the existing Companies (Disclosure of Auditor Remuneration) Regulations 2005 (SI 2005/2417).

Home Information Pack (Amendment) Regulations 2008 (SI 2008/572) Commence 31 March 2008. Amend SI 2007/1667 to introduce a requirement for a sustainability certificate to be included in a home information pack for new properties in England in accordance with the Code for Sustainable Homes. This will enable buyers of new homes to take account of sustainability issues, such as energy and water efficiency. Also extend the temporary measure allowing the use of insurance to cover any gaps in data where a local authority has a policy of refusing access to that data.

Immigration and Nationality (Fees) (Amendment) Regulations 2008 (SI 2008/544) Commence 29 February 2008 and 1 April 2008. Set immigration fees including those fees for new applications being introduced under the new Points Based System.

UK Borders Act 2007 (Commencement No 2 and Transitional Provisions) Order 2008, SI 2008/309 Commenced 29 February 2008. Brings into force the UK Borders Act 2007, ss 27 and 28; on 31 March 2008, ss 22, 44–47; and on 1 April 2008, ss 26, 48–56. Relate to arrest, search for personnel records, disposal of property and immigration inspectors. From 1 April 2008, premises of an arrested person can be searched for evidence of nationality, if it is suspected that they are not British.

DIVERSITY WORRIES

The legal system is not as diverse as it could be justice minister Jack Straw said at the launch of the Law Society’s “Markets, Justice and Legal Ethics” campaign. Straw said diversit y is something firms can no longer ignore if they want to deliver not just good legal services, but world class services which meet today’s expectations. He condemned the fact that although women make up 60% of admissions to the Law Society, only 23% are partners in private law firms. Similarly at the Bar, 30% are female, but women make up less than 10% of QCs. Worryingly, he said, those from a BME background account for only 9% of the total number of solicitors in private practice, while only 4% of QCs are from a minority ethnic background.

JUDGE TEST

Volunteers are being sought to pilot the written test to be used in the Judicial Appointments Commission’s ( JAC’s) forthcoming Circuit Bench selection exercise. Some recently-appointed circuit judges have already taken the test, but the JAC also wants to try out the test on practitioners of appropriate experience in criminal, civil or family cases. Volunteers should have a minimum of 10 years’ qualification, fee-paid judicial experience of at least two years or 30 judicial sitting days completed. Everyone taking part in the pilot will be asked to sign a confidentiality agreement.

TAXING TROUBLES

Hasty changes to banking regulation and to rules on capital gains tax and nondomiciled workers will damage the financial services sector and the UK’s reputation, the government has been warned. In separate warnings, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and the Association of British Insurers (ABI) said that the handling of the Northern Rock crisis, reaction to the credit crunch and the fallout from various measures contained in last October’s Pre-Budget Report have all put the position of the financial services sector at risk.