UPDATE (22/2/22): As announced by the Prime Minister on 21 February 2022, the Cabinet Office has published the government’s COVID-19 Response: Living with COVID-19, which sets out the government plan to remove the remaining coronavirus (COVID-19) domestic legal restrictions in England from 24 February 2022. For more information, see: LNB News 22/02/2022 8 and News Analysis: Coronavirus (COVID-19)—How should employers respond to the scrapping of self-isolation rules?. This Practice Note has been archived and is no longer maintained. This Practice Note has been archived and is no longer maintained. It reflects the position under the COVID-19 Response: Autumn and Winter Plan 2021 and the Cabinet Office guidance on how to stay safe and help prevent the spread between 30 November 2021 and 23 February 2022. For information on the position from 24 February 2022, see Practice Note: Living with coronavirus (COVID-19) in the workplace from 24 February 2022 [Archived]. See also Precedents: • Policy—Coronavirus (COVID-19) workplace safety [Archived] • Coronavirus (COVID-19) safety—policy schedule—offices and contact

UPDATE (22/2/22): As announced by the Prime Minister on 21 February 2022, the Cabinet Office has published the government’s COVID-19 Response: Living with COVID-19, which sets out the government plan to remove the remaining coronavirus (COVID-19) domestic legal restrictions in England from 24 February 2022. For more information, see: LNB News 22/02/2022 8 and News Analysis: Coronavirus (COVID-19)—How should employers respond to the scrapping of self-isolation rules?. For information on the position from 24 February, see Practice Note: Living with coronavirus (COVID-19) in the workplace from 24 February 2022 [Archived]. This Practice Note has been archived and is no longer maintained. This Practice Note has been archived and is no longer maintained. It reflects the position under the COVID-19 Response: Autumn and Winter Plan 2021 and the Cabinet Office guidance on how to stay safe and help prevent the spread before the 24 February 2022 changes. For information on the position from 24 February 2022, see Practice Note: Living with coronavirus (COVID-19) in the workplace from 24 February 2022 [Archived]. This

Welcome to the 11 April 2024 highlights from the Immigration team, which provides links to key news stories from the last week, as well as a round-up of new and updated content in Immigration.

The Council of the EU has adopted its position on the Regulation for compulsory licensing for crisis management. The Regulation aims to construct an EU-wide framework which will serve as an alternative in crises (eg a pandemic or natural disaster) when voluntary agreements are not available, and will ensure an appropriate territorial reach of compulsory licensing to cover cross-border supply chains. The Union compulsory licence will be linked to crisis instruments, such as the internal market emergency and resilience act  and will only be granted after the activiation of an emergency. The Council's negotiating mandate also restructures the process of granting a compulsory licence to protect intellectual property rights-holders and ensures that a right-holder is remunerated  when a license is granted to a licensee during a crisis.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has published data on deaths reported to coroners in 2020 in England and Wales. As the dataset spans the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the MoJ warns that caution should be exercised when comparing the statistics to those from previous years as the Coronavirus Act 2020 introduced temporary easements to death management and affected the way deaths have been reported to coroners. The data shows that, in 2020, the number of deaths reported was lowest since 1995, deaths in state detention were up by 18% as compared to 2019, 7% more inquests opened, and 34% of all registered deaths were reported to coroners. In addition, it has taken on average 27 weeks to complete and inquest, while 30,900 inquest conclusions were recorded, amounting to a 1% decrease from 2019.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published its Occasional Paper 67 which evaluates liquidity in the UK corporate bond market. The report utilises updated MiFID II (Directive 2014/65/EU)transaction data from 2018 to 2024 to examine market liquidity, dealer inventory risk, and yield spreads during a period of significant economic disruption. It documents a marked deterioration in liquidity immediately following the onset of coronavirus restrictions in 2020, followed by a prolonged phase of persistent challenges from mid-2021 to mid-2023 amid rising inflation and increased interest rates. Despite these adverse conditions, the analysis indicates a strong recovery in 2023 and 2024, as reflected by rising transaction volumes, enhanced liquidity measures, and reduced yield spreads. The study also addresses the impacts of Brexit, pandemic-related disturbances, and central bank interventions, providing a basis for informed regulatory policy designed to improve market transparency and resilience.

The Welsh Government unveiled a substantial £52.1m investment in general practice for the 2024-2025 General Medical Services (GMS) contract. This represents the largest annual investment in GMS since the pandemic. The package includes a 6% pay uplift for GPs, £12.7m for staff pay expenses, and a £23m one-off practice stabilisation payment. The agreement also introduces improvements to GP access, including enhanced NHS Wales App functionality and new contractual requirements for GPs to identify and record patient frailty and ethnicity data. Additionally, the learning disabilities annual health check will become part of unified services within the GMS contract, and changes to the coronavirus (Covid-19) anti-viral treatment pathway have been agreed upon. These measures aim to strengthen the sustainability of general practice and improve service accessibility across Wales.

The Law Society has reported on HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) decision to extend its timeline for court reform to March 2025. HMCTS is extending its timeline to consider organisational capacity, pressures on operations, feedback from staff and partners, long-lasting impacts of the pandemic, outstanding cases and the rising cost of living. The extension aims to increase efficiency and functionality of existing technology and provide a more consistent service. The Law Society noted that it had previously warned of the importance of rushing development and said that extension of plans may result in a longer development process but that costly errors and reworking will be avoided. HMCTS will be revising the Common Platform and is focused on enhancing the existing system and improving stability. Regarding the civil, family and tribunal programme, HMCTS will continue to deliver its key 2024 priorities. HMCTS will continue to improve the resilience, reliability, accessibility, comfort and environmental impact of court and tribunal buildings.

The National Crime Agency (NCA), in collaboration with NHS England, has charged two men as part of an investigation into the creation and online sale of fraudulent coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccination records. 26-year-old Waqas Hanif and 29-year-old Touqir Nasir, both from Luton, face charges under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and Fraud Act 2006. The investigation centres on the alleged creation of nearly 2,000 fraudulent records at a Luton health centre between June and October 2021. Authorities suspect organised criminals recruited healthcare professionals to produce these records, enabling unvaccinated individuals to circumvent travel restrictions. The NCA also seized £145,000 from a safety deposit box in connection with the case. The charges underscore efforts to maintain the integrity of the UK's pandemic response and healthcare system.

This week's edition of Life Sciences weekly highlights includes news that the Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal upholding the finding that the marketing authorisation of a Parkinson’s disease treatment was for a single active ingredient and not for a combination of active ingredients (Newron Pharmaceuticals v Comptroller), as well as, news that the British pharmaceutical industry recommended measures to be implemented in the Spring Budget on 6 March 2024, the DHSC announced £10m funding for eight innovative medtech companies and the HRA published its response to proposed revisions to the Declaration of Helsinki. Also included is news that the UK, Australia and Canada are collaborating to pilot a Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) Single Inspection Program and the industry body representing EU Notified Bodies recommended lowering the device risk classification of coronavirus (COVID-19) diagnostic tests post-pandemic, among other news about EMA updated guidance and an ASA ruling finding breach for an ADHD product’s FaceBook ad.

This week's edition of Corporate Crime weekly highlights includes analysis of the lack of focus on financial crime in the political parties’ manifestos and of how the Labour Party plans to create a new coronavirus (COVID-19) corruption tsar to recoup public money lost in fraud and failed contracts during the pandemic. Also included is news of the FCDO’s updated guidance on Russian sanctions as well as 50 new sanctions designations and specifications targeting Russia, of a construction company fined £2.345m after an employee drowned in a river and that the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences (Scotland) Act 2024 received Royal Assent thereby automatically exonerating wrongly convicted Scottish sub-postmasters. All this, and more, in this week’s Corporate Crime highlights.

PI & Clinical Negligence analysis: Claims by factory workers for contracting COVID-19 during the pandemic have been reinstated as a result of a successful appeal of the decision to grant summary judgment to the defendant. Although recognising that the claimants faced ‘an uphill task’ to succeed on the claims, the appeal was allowed. The court held that the judge misunderstood the case on causation that the claimants put forward and fell into the well-known trap of conducting a mini-trial of the issues. This case can help practitioners decide whether to launch an application for summary judgment and how much evidence is required to satisfy the test in CPR 24.3(a). Written by Jasmine Murphy, barrister, at Gatehouse Chambers.