Government and Public Sector news, September 2025

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

DWF monthly insight:

Tackling late payments via the Small Business Plan: Time to pay up? In this article, we discuss the UK Government’s announcement of its Small Business Plan, which aims to provide support for small and medium enterprises. The Plan includes a number of proposals, including a public consultation on tackling late payments to ensure SMEs are paid on time.

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Strategic by design: How our partnership with Legora is unlocking the full potential of legal AI: From the outset, our partnership with Legora has been more than just a collaboration, it’s been a catalyst for innovation. In this article we discuss how we’ve taken a strategic approach to deploying legal AI across our services and solutions, starting with high-volume operations to build a strong foundation for scalable, intelligent automation. View >

“Plan Mexico”: Mexico’s strategy to promote nearshoring and attract foreign investment: In this article, we discuss how the global momentum around Nearshoring - the relocation of foreign companies to Mexico - has gained increasing significance. This phenomenon has not only become a recurring topic in international, political and commercial dialogues but also presents a unique opportunity for Mexico to leverage its strategic geographic and geopolitical position, along with its competitive advantages over other countries. View >

DWF Data Protection Insights – August 2025: In this article, we provide our round-up of the top data protection and cyber security stories looking back at August 2025, together with practical advice on what we are seeing in practice. View >

Action on violence against women and girls: In this article, the UK Government’s response to violence against women and girls is examined, highlighting rising crime rates, intersectional vulnerabilities, and recent legislative efforts such as Raneem’s Law, deepfake regulation, and the Take Back Our Streets initiative. Employers and local authorities are urged to support survivors through safe leave, training, and zero-tolerance policies. The article also stresses the role of education, cultural change, and allyship in tackling the root causes of VAWG and promoting a safer, more inclusive society. View > 

Other news:

Department for Business and Trade: Northern Ireland science and tech industries boosted by over £30 million from UK Industrial Strategy. View >

Homes England: £120 million regeneration boost to transform Newcastle’s last major brownfield site into new neighbourhood with up to 2,500 homes. View >

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Environmental reforms to break planning system gridlock. View > 

Scottish Government: Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes confirmed that more than £2.5 million has been allocated to support almost 80 organisations delivering regeneration projects, to realise the economic potential of Scotland's communities. View > 

Sector Events 

Look out for details of our upcoming webinars and events: 

Belfast Insight Evening – 17 September 2025

Calling all future lawyers, join us in Belfast to find out more about DWF and our upcoming opportunities.

Registration link > 

Public Inquiries – the need for Candour and Public Accountability – 17 September 2025

This webinar will provide an update on the Public Authority (Accountability) Bill and how it has been used in recent Public Inquiries into various failings and cover-ups of the past. The speakers will provide key insights into their experiences of the varied approach to candour and how far it goes beyond just the public sector.

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Navigating Data Breach Claims – 24 September 2025

This in-depth training session will focus on data breach claims, designed to equip you with the knowledge and strategies needed to effectively manage and respond to both pre-action and issued data breach claims.

Registration link >

In case you missed it:

Lessons learned from the Procurement Act 2023 – 6 months on

Colin Murray, Partner, was joined by Alex Eaton, Associate, and Beena Kabir, Divisional Legal Director (Serco), to co-host a webinar focused on the early lessons learned following the implementation of the Procurement Act 2023.

This webinar provided practical insights from the perspectives of the procurement practitioner, a strategic supplier to Government and the lawyer.

July insights into developments in data protection

In this webinar, our data protection experts discussed:

• Privacy activism – what have pressure groups been up to?
• CJEU decisions – where have the courts landed in key data protection judgments?
• Supervisory authority action – what has the landscape been for regulatory enforcement action?
• Developments in the law – what is next for AI regulation and UK data protection law reform?
• Looking forward – how do these developments impact your plan of action?