Jill Davies, the South Hams CVS Groups Development Officer recently attended an information event about Public Law.

She shares her learning from the event.

"During July I went to a very informative day about Public Law, this was part of ‘Empowering the Voluntary Sector’ a three-year project funded by the Big Lottery Fund which brings together NAVCA and the Public Law Project in an innovative venture to support the voluntary and community sector.

The first part of the day was focussed on understanding what public law is.
I suppose I already knew that public bodies cannot do just what they like, but didn’t realise that they can only do things which they have the power to do and must only operate within the principles of public law.

These principles have evolved due to the courts’ concerns about public bodies’ behaviour and are to ensure that public bodies: 

• Discharge their legal duties
• Do not abuse or exceed their powers 
• Do not breach human rights law
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Public bodies include central government departments, local authorities, and healthcare trusts, and the principles only apply to their public functions. Public bodies can only do what they are legally allowed to do. Generally speaking, their actions fall into two categories: they have either a power to do something, which is discretionary, or a duty, which means they must do it.

These duties and powers often come from Acts of Parliament (also known as statutes), or secondary legislation (usually called regulations or statutory instruments). Although few statutes or regulations apply to the relationships between voluntary sector organisations and public bodies, you should be aware of those that do apply to your work and your working relationship with the public bodies you deal with. These may include the power to fund voluntary organisations and public bodies’ duties under the Race Relations Act. The way public bodies behave is also governed by guidance.

The Compact is essentially a form of guidance, in that it is not the law but public bodies should follow it and its Codes, taking them into account when they make decisions, and justifying any departure from them. A failure to follow the Codes may be a breach of public law principles. The rest of the day was spent looking at challenging public law wrongs, around things like consultation, funding and equality.

The main types of public law wrongs involve illegality, fairness, irrationality & maladministration and different ways of dealing with them include: 

• Complaints procedures
• Compact advocacy and mediation 
• Ombudsman schemes 
• Judicial review

The main thing which I brought away from the day was a need for ‘good housekeeping’ when dealing with public bodies, recording communication, persisting with enquiries and learning about each other. The other thing was a greater confidence to assist any Voluntary & Community Groups with ‘public law’ questions, so please, send them my way!"

You can contact Jill Davies, Groups Development Officer on 01803 862266 or use our contact form.

The Public Law Advice Line can be reached on 0207 697 2198. Mon & Weds 2-5; Tues & Thurs 10-1 or e-mail [email protected]. Visit http://www.publiclawproject.org.uk