The Nature Positive Initiative has launched its State of Nature Indicators and Metrics to help businesses and financial institutions assess their nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities. The framework provides a common approach to measuring changes in nature and assessing whether protection and restoration efforts are improving the state of nature. It covers four core indicators: ecosystem extent, ecosystem condition, species extinction risk and species populations.  Accompanying guidance supports measurement across terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments. The metrics support reporting, disclosure, target-setting and performance tracking, while complementing existing measures of pressures on nature and responses to them. The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures and Science Based Targets Network have integrated the metrics into their frameworks to support more consistent measurement. The Initiative encourages wider adoption and further work to improve biodiversity data, measurement tools and access to technical resources.

Planning analysis: On 1 September 2026, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and Natural England published guidance on the Nature Restoration Fund, using the nature restoration levy, and enforcement action and appeals. It explains how the levy regime under Part 3 of the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 and the Nature Restoration Levy Regulations 2026 is intended to operate for developments in England.

Planning analysis: The draft Nature Restoration Levy Regulations 2026 were laid before Parliament on 18 June 2026. They provide the procedural and enforcement framework for the nature restoration levy under Part 3 of the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 (PIA 2025), enabling developers to use Environmental Delivery Plans (EDPs) to discharge certain environmental obligations by paying a levy to Natural England. The key practical points are the creation of a CIL-style liability and payment regime, the use of pre-commencement controls to secure payment, and significant enforcement powers, including surcharges, interest, stop notices and local land charges.

STOP PRESS: The Trusts and Succession (Scotland) Act 2024 received Royal Assent on 30 January 2024, marking the first review of trusts law in Scotland in over 100 years since the principal legislation, the Trusts (Scotland) Act 1921, was passed. The trusts provisions require secondary legislation from Scottish Ministers to be brought into force whereas the provisions relating to succession law came into effect on 30 April 2024. The main changes to modernise the law are summarised in News Analysis: Trusts and Succession (Scotland) Bill passed. Definitions It is difficult to find a wholly satisfactory definition of ‘trust’, given the range of situations where trusts arise. The trust does not have a legal personality of its own. For practical purposes, a ‘trust’ may be defined as a legal relationship in which the legal title to property is transferred from the truster to a person or persons (the trustee/s) who does not acquire an unlimited right to the property, but who holds it subject to an obligation to apply it in accordance

Constituting the trust In general no trust is created, whatever intention the settlor has manifested, unless legal title is vested in the trustees. This is known as constituting the trust. The trustees must have control of the property. If formalities are required for this transfer, for example in the case of land or shares, then they must be complied with. A trust is completely constituted by the settlor either: • effectively transferring certain property to trustees and declaring the trusts on which the trustees are to hold such property, or • declaring that certain property vested in them is to be held henceforth by them on trust The effect of constitution of the trust The effect of constituting a trust is: • irreversible by the settlor though voluntary, just as a gift once given is binding on the donor and cannot be revoked (unless the settlor has by the terms of the trust, specifically granted themselves or someone else an express power to revoke) • to give beneficiaries enforceable rights in relation

Nature of trusts The trust concept Typically, the settlor is the original owner of property and creates a trust by conveying it to one or more trustees and manifesting an intention that it is to be held on trust for one or more beneficiaries or for the accomplishment of a particular purpose. The trustees become owners at common law and hold the property or rights in trust for the beneficiaries (cestuis que trust) or that purpose. The trustees come under an equitable obligation enforceable by the beneficiaries. No trust is created, whatever the intention of the settlor, unless legal title is vested in the trustee (this is known as constituting the trust). Definition While the trust concept is recognisable, a definition is not so easy. The definition set out in The Law of Trusts and Trustees 10th edition by Underhill and Hayton was adopted by the Court of Appeal in Green v Russell per Romer LJ: 'A trust is an equitable obligation, binding a person (who is called a trustee)

Certainty In order for a settlor to create a private express trust the three certainties must be present: • certainty as to the intention of the settlor to create a trust, known as certainty of words, the trust property being intended to be kept separate from other property of the trustee • certainty as to the property to which the trust is to attach, known as certainty of subject matter • certainty as to persons or 'objects' who are intended to benefit, known as certainty of objects Charitable purpose trusts differ from express trusts for the benefit of persons in respect of the three certainties only in that they do not need to satisfy the certainty of objects, so long as there is a general charitable intention. Certainty of intention of the settlor to create a trust The certainty of intention is satisfied if there is sufficient evidence to show that the settlor or testator clearly intended to create a trust. If the word 'trust' is used, it will normally

This Practice Note outlines the nature of vicarious liability cases, focusing in particular on the relationship between employer and tortfeasor. It considers circumstances in which liability may arise from the fault of an employee, whether or not there is any fault on the part of the employer. Guidance is also provided on vicarious liability claims arising out of negligence or breach of statutory duty, including under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 (PHA 1997). A personal injury claimant will typically be seeking to establish the fault, whether negligence or breach of a statutory duty, of the identified defendant (for instance the employer). However, an alternative route to liability may often be available—that of the vicarious liability of the employer for the acts or omissions of its employee or agent. Nature of vicarious liability Broadly, by virtue of the doctrine of vicarious liability, an employer is liable for an employee’s tortious acts if they were committed in the course or scope of the employee’s employment, or are closely connected with what the employee is authorised by

This Practice Note is an introduction to agency. It describes the essentials of the agency relationship between the principal and the agent including the ways in which an agent is appointed to act on behalf of a principal, the different types of agency appointments, and the authority that an agent has to act on behalf of a principal. Nature of agency Agency is a relationship under which a principal appoints an agent to act under their direction and on their behalf for specified purposes. In business, such purposes are commonly the introduction or conclusion of contracts between the principal and customers or other third parties. The term ‘agent’ is sometimes used loosely in business and may refer to those, eg distributors, whose activities are similar to those of agents but who are not agents in law. In commercial matters, the parties will normally have a written agreement that sets out: • the scope of the agent's authority • the parties' rights and duties • under what circumstances and with what consequences the agency can be terminated

This Practice Note considers distribution arrangements in general and the different types of arrangements that are commonly used. It considers the difference between sole, exclusive, non-exclusive, and selective distribution agreements, and the relationship between the distributor and the manufacturer. The nature of distribution Distribution is an arrangement under which the distributor buys goods from a manufacturer and resells them on its own behalf. By contrast, in an agency agreement the agent does not buy the goods but arranges sales for the manufacturer. For a summary of the differences between agency and distribution, see Practice Note: Agency and distribution compared. Distribution is commonly used where a manufacturer needs help in bringing products to a particular market; for example, in an overseas territory with which the manufacturer is not sufficiently familiar or connected, or where the nature of the products does not require direct contact with the customer. Distribution arrangements may be entered into by wholesalers of products, who are intermediaries selling to other distributors rather than directly to end users. For convenience, this Practice Note will refer

NatureScot has launched a consultation on the Scottish Planning Biodiversity Metric (SPBM). Commissioned by the Scottish Government, the metric provides a consistent, quantitative approach to demonstrating significant biodiversity enhancements under policy 3b of National Planning Framework 4. It uses habitats as a proxy for biodiversity value to calculate biodiversity units and assess development-related losses, compensation and enhancements, helping developers avoid valuable habitats and consider biodiversity early in project design. Adapted from England’s statutory biodiversity metric to reflect Scotland’s environmental and policy context, the SPBM is voluntary, with no plans to legislate for its use. The consultation covers a user guide, calculation tool and habitat condition assessment sheets, alongside a rapid assessment tool for peatland habitats. The consultation closes on 30 November 2026.

MLex has reported that Naturgy Energy Group has paid a fine of €48,000 imposed by the Spanish Data Protection Authority for violating Articles 5.1(f) and 32 of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (EU GDPR). The company had breached the confidentiality of a data subject by accessing personal data without consent, and by sending the client's two invoices via e-mail to an unauthorised party, the regulator said. The initial fine amounted to €80,000, which was reduced when Naturgy decided to make voluntary payment.