The Bank of England (BoE) is consulting on its approach to determining commercially reasonable payments for contracts subject to a statutory tear up in CCP resolution. Within the CCP resolution regime, one stabilisation option allows the BoE to ‘tear up’ (or terminate) one or more contracts cleared by the CCP in the affected clearing service. This consultation paper sets out the BoE’s proposed approach to determining the commercially reasonable value of contracts subject to a statutory tear up. Responses are sought by 4 October 2024.

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has published a report on financial resources and tools for central counterparty (CCP) resolution. It includes a new standard which aims to ensure that resolution authorities have ready access to a set of resolution-specific financial resources and tools, as well as any unused recovery resources, to support the orderly resolution of a CCP. The standard also requires that adequate liquidity, loss-absorbing and recapitalisation resources and tools are available to maintain the continuity of a CCP’s critical functions and mitigate adverse effects on financial stability should resolution become necessary.

The Council of the EU has published the final compromise text of the proposed Regulation and Directive amending the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EU EMIR) and related EU legislation. The amendments to EMIR aim to improve EU clearing services by addressing the financial stability caused by EU clearing members and clients being exposed to systemically important third-country central counterparties (CCPs). They also want to make clearing services and European CCPs more efficient and competitive. The amendments also relate to the treatment of concentration risk towards CCPs and the counterparty risk on centrally cleared derivate transactions.

The European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) and the Council of the EU have reached a provisional agreement on a review of the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EU EMIR) and Directive. The deal addresses the financial stability risks caused by EU clearing members and clients being exposed to systemically important third-country central counterparties (CCPs). They also want to make clearing services and European CCPs more efficient and competitive. The deal needs to be formally adopted by Parliament and Council before it can come into force.

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The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has announced that Michael Stone's murder convictions will again be reviewed following a request from his representatives. Stone was sentenced to life imprisonment at Nottingham Crown Court in 2001 for the murders of Dr Lin Russell and her six-year-old daughter as well as the attempted murder of Dr Russell’s nine-year-old daughter. The CCRC has highlighted that previous reviews found no credible evidence or argument that raised a possibility of the convictions being quashed. The CCRC has however noted that it is not unusual for different reviews of a case to focus on different aspects of the case.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) Chair Dame Vera Baird KC has directed His Majesty's Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) to conduct a comprehensive inspection of the commission's entire casework system, commencing January 2026. The inspection forms part of Baird's broader review of the CCRC for the Secretary of State for Justice, aimed at providing assurance over the commission's processes for reviewing suspected miscarriages of justice.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has published the report by Chris Henley KC into the organisation’s handling of the Andrew Malkinson case, which was shared with Malkinson in May 2024. The report, which was commissioned by the CCRC, contains nine recommendations. All recommendations have been accepted and the CCRC has outlined work already underway to implement them.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has referred a further sub postmaster’s conviction to the Crown Court amid concerns about the discredited Horizon computer system. Sub postmaster, Navneet Kishore, pleaded guilty to the theft of £52,560 in June 2009 at South Western magistrates’ court and was sentenced to 50 weeks imprisonment suspended for 12 months and a supervision requirement for 12 months including a curfew order. The CCRC has now referred 71 cases involving Post Office convictions to the courts.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has reported that it does not believe that there is any real possibility that the Court of Appeal would overturn Robin Garbutt’s murder conviction. Garbutt was convicted of the murder of his wife in 2011 and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 20 years. Although the CCRC does not usually make public comment on it's work, the media interest in the case due to the context of the Post Office Horizon scandal, has led it to state that, as the majority of Garbutt’s application to the CCRC focused on the Horizon scandal, and as the figures from the Horizon system were not essential to his conviction for murder, any argument for appeal centred around the Horizon scandal would not assist Garbutt and the appeal would likely not be upheld. Other issues concerning scientific evidence were also considered by the CCRC, but it has now made the final decision not to refer Garbutt's case for an appeal.

The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) has announced that, following the retirement of the CCS’s current Chief Executive Officer Simon Tse’s in summer 2024, Sam Ulyatt will join the CCS as the new Chief Executive Officer.

The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) has revealed significant changes to its procurement timeline and agreement structures. The implementation of new procurement regulations has been postponed from 28 October 2024 to 24 February 2025. In response, several agreements originally slated for the new regulations will now proceed under the Public Contract Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015), SI 2015/102, including RM6361, RM6310, RM6353, and RM6360. Additionally, multiple agreements have been extended, with some receiving six month extensions (eg., RM6123, RM6168) and others nine month extensions (eg., RM6100, RM1043.8). The Procurement Act 2023 will not apply retroactively, resulting in a period where agreements will operate under both PCR 2015 and the new Act. These adjustments aim to ensure service continuity and provide certainty for stakeholders during the transition period.