The city council’s legal services department could work on contracts worth up to £9m, after it was the first local authority in the country to be appointed to work for the NHS.
Beating off competition from some of the highest profile law firms in the country, the city council’s lawyers successfully bid for the Health Trust Europe Legal Services Framework Agreement.
The agreement will see the department provide legal services in employment; contract and commercial; and other law for up to 70 NHS trusts in the Midlands and South East for an initial three years, with an option to extend for 12 months.
In the wake of the tragic death of a UK woman who was injected with liquid silicone for buttock enhancement, the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (
Nose jobs and facelifts were once the preserve of Hollywood A-listers and ageing celebrities. However new figures show that Britons are spending millions of pounds a year on plastic surgery for their pets.
Local authorities should meet part of the cost of using expert witnesses in child protection cases, the Confederation of Independent Social Work Agencies (Ciswa) has stated. Ciswa directors Richard Jack, Philip King and Mark Willis said in an open letter, It has made the proposal because some solicitors “are inclined to avoid using experts who charge above the prescribed rates even where such experts offer a pricing model which is compliant with the rates,” They added: “Worryingly, these solicitors appear tempted to use low fee practitioners who are unlikely to have the requisite expertise to provide the necessary expert opinion in a case. This will expose children to unnecessary risk and [Ciswa] urges solicitors to stand firm in protecting the family justice system.”