Government and Public Sector news, April 2025

Legal insights, news and events from DWF's Government and Public Sector team delivered monthly to your inbox.

DWF monthly insight:

Cabinet Office and Government Legal Department publish New Model Contracts: DWF has worked closely with the Government Legal Department and the Cabinet Office on its review and update of the Model Services Contract, Mid-Tier Contract and Short Form Contract. View >

Investment in the UK Space Tech sector rockets: What are the main legal issues those involved need to consider? The UK Space Sector is experiencing a period of significant growth and transformation in 2025. In this article, we explore some of the legal issues which can arise in the sector.

View >

National Minimum Wage Increase April 2025: In this article, we explore the National Minimum Wage rates which are due to increase again on April 1st 2025. As usual, employers will need to adapt swiftly to this change in order to avoid accidental underpayments and any subsequent penalisation from HMRC that may follow. View >

UK High Court refuses first ever request for interim relief against final order under National Security and Investment Act 2021: On 7 February 2025, the UK High Court handed down a judgement refusing the first ever application for interim relief under the National Security and Investment Act 2021. The court demonstrated significant judicial deference to the UK government on matters of national security, ruling that in such matters "it must show great respect to the judgement of the executive". This case underlines that in matters of national security there will need to be something truly exceptional for the Court to provide interim relief while awaiting any substantive judicial reviews of NSIA cases. View >

Subsidy Control and Stadia - Manchester United Stadium announcement kicks off discussion about the role of public funding in supporting large sports infrastructure projects: The announcement of Manchester United's new 100,000-seater stadium in Old Trafford has sparked a debate on public funding for sports infrastructure. Sir Jim Ratcliffe stated that public support isn't needed for the stadium itself, but the surrounding regeneration project could benefit from it. This article by DWF examines similar investments and their Subsidy Control implications. View >

Court of Appeal clarifies the circumstances in which a contracting authority is obligated to seek clarification: In this article, DWF procurement experts examine the implications of a recent Court of Appeal decision where contracting authorities may seek to exclude a bid from a public procurement process due to error or obvious ambiguity. View >

UK government launches new ‘AI Playbook’: In this article, we provide an overview of the UK Government’s Artificial Intelligence Playbook, which replaces the Generative AI Framework for HMG and seeks to guide the public sector on harnessing "the power of a wider range of AI technologies safely, effectively and responsibly". View >

Mayoral Renewables Fund launched: In this article, Alexander Rose and Jack Wadsworth discuss the key points about the new fund, ahead of the bidding process closing on 22 April 2025. View >

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill: In this article, our Development and Infrastructure Planning team provide a summary of the key provisions of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. View >

Other news

Cabinet Office: Publishes the Public Procurement (Revocation) Regulations 2025, which revokes four items of assimilated law in their entirety and partially revokes one item of assimilated law due to their redundancy arising from the commencement of the Procurement Act 2023. View >

HM Treasury: Announces that growth-generating projects will receive significant new investment because of new powers granted to the Crown Estate. View >

Scotland Office: Announces that the Scottish Secretary welcomes £200 million UK Government funding for Scottish neighbourhoods. View >

HM Treasury: Publishes the Spring Statement 2025 speech as delivered by Chancellor Rachel Reeves. View >

Sector Events

Look out for details of our upcoming webinars and events:

Being Menopause Inclusive – 16 April 2025

This webinar will explore how employers can be menopause inclusive. A lack of awareness and support can lead to a loss of a key talent pool within organisations. We will also consider the legal impact of the menopause, including the risk of employment tribunal claims and the steps employers can take to reduce that risk.

Registration link >

Conditions of Participation, Exclusion, and Debarment in accordance with the Procurement Act 2023 – 23 April 2025

This webinar will explain the practical changes in the 2023 Act to allow Contracting Authorities to confidently exclude economic operators at the Conditions of Participation / Award stage of a procurement. The webinar will use practical case studies to show the steps that Contracting Authorities should consider and take at these stages of a procurement.

Registration link >

Tax treatment of acquiring housing stock – 30 April 2025

Acquiring residential housing can have a number of important tax implications, the nature of which will depend on who is involved in the acquisition. In this seminar, we intend to give a brief outline of some of these implications, focusing particularly on local authority and public sector acquirers.

Public bodies can find themselves acquiring residential housing, such as in their role of social housing providers, as part of a CPO or pursuant to planning agreements. While public bodies are usually exempt from direct taxation, VAT, stamp taxes and long-term planning will still often require public bodies to properly consider the tax implications of residential housing acquisitions.

Registration link >

In case you missed it:

Sexual Harassment

Within this webinar, we asked: as an employer, are you doing enough to comply with your duty to prevent sexual harassment?

Webinar Recording

Interpretation of Contracts and the need for Certainty

This webinar provided an in-depth exploration of the key principles and approaches applied by the court when interpreting commercial contracts and was ideal for anybody involved in negotiating and drafting contracts as well as for in-house lawyers who were called to advise on potential disputes.

Webinar Recording

Prosecutions Update: A review of Attorney Generals' guidelines, disclosure and the landscape post Horizon

This webinar provided key tips for prosecuting authorities and those involved in bringing and taking criminal prosecutions on how to conduct prosecutions in the current regime post-Horizon and dealt with thorny issues such as disclosure to ensure successful results.

Webinar Recording

Subsidy schemes

Many public authorities are not aware of the requirements that need to be satisfied in order to properly set up a Subsidy Scheme. In this webinar, Subsidy Control experts Jonathan Branton and Alexander Rose discuss the benefits of subsidy schemes, but also guide viewers through the steps that can be taken by public authorities to safely establish schemes.

Webinar Recording

Meet the team – Maniva Bi

Maniva is a Solicitor in DWF’s Commercial and Technology team. She has gained experience advising on high value private and public sector commercial matters and supports a range of clients on both business as usual and IT matters, as well as supporting with large corporate transactions. Maniva has completed a six-month placement at a FTSE 100 utilities provider and has a strong understanding of commercial risk and the core challenges faced by businesses.

Maniva is a member of DWF’s Grants Centre of Excellence which has been created to add value for, and service, the requirements of DWF’s Public Sector clients.

Maniva Bi

Solicitor, Commercial & Technology

Email me | +44 333 320 2220

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