View source for December 2009 update

==Caselaw==
===Deprivation of liberty/capacity===
*{{pagesummary|Salford City Council v BJ (2009) EWHC 3310 (Fam)}}
*{{pagesummary|Re Allen (2009) COP 21/7/09}}
*{{pagesummary|GJ v The Foundation Trust (2009) EWHC 2972 (Fam)}}
*{{pagesummary|‎Halilovic v Bosnia and Herzegovina 23968/05 (2009) ECHR 1933}}
===LPA/EPA===
*{{pagesummary|Re Kittle (2009) COP 1/12/09}}
*{{pagesummary|Re Clarke (2009) COP 18/11/09}}
===Aftercare/community care and DDA===
*{{pagesummary|R (Stojak) v Sheffield City Council (2009) EWHC 3412 (Admin)}}
*{{pagesummary|R (Manchester City Council) v St Helens Borough Council (2009) EWCA Civ 1348}}
*{{pagesummary|R (Domb) v London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham (2009) EWCA Civ 941}}
*{{pagesummary|Chief Constable of Lincolnshire Police v Caston (2009) EWCA Civ 1298}}
===Inquests===
*{{pagesummary|R (Lewis) v HM Coroner for the Mid and North Division of the County of Shropshire (2009) EWCA Civ 1403}}
*{{pagesummary|R (P) v HM Coroner for the District of Avon (2009) EWCA Civ 1367}}
*{{pagesummary|‎Hurst v UK 42577/07 (2009) ECHR 1988}}
===Other cases===
*{{pagesummary|R (Cart) v Upper Tribunal (2009) EWHC 3052 (Admin)}}
*{{pagesummary|R (Johnson) v SSJ (2009) EWHC 3336 (Admin)}}
*{{pagesummary|R (Miller) v Independent Assessor (2009) EWCA Civ 609}}
*{{pagesummary|AB v Nugent Care Society (2009) EWCA Civ 827}}
*{{pagesummary|‎Seal v UK 50330/07 (2009) ECHR 806}}
*{{pagesummary|‎MS v UK 24527/08 (2009) ECHR 1762}}
*{{pagesummary|‎West v General Social Care Council (2009) UKFTT 330 (HESC)}}
*{{pagesummary|‎Anam v SSHD (2009) EWHC 2496 (Admin)}}
*{{pagesummary|C v Clinical Director of St Patricks Hospital (2009) IEHC 13}}
*Decisions on permission to appeal given by Supreme Court recently. See [[R (TF and Thompson) v SSHD (2009) EWCA Civ 792]] (sex offender register case - allowed), [[R (P) v SSJ (2009) EWCA Civ 701]] (inquiry into self-harmer in HMYOI - refused), [[R (Miller) v Independent Assessor (2009) EWCA Civ 609]] (quantum of damages for unlawful detention - refused), [[AB v Nugent Care Society (2009) EWCA Civ 827]] (Limitation Act, sexual abuse - refused)

==Legislation==
No new legislation added this month.

==Legal Aid==
*LSC news item: "2010 civil contract: arrangements for billing of disbursements 22-12-2009". When the new contract starts in October 2010, mental health firms will be able to apply for interim payments of disbursements (excluding counsel's fees) where six months have elapsed since (a) the start of the matter and (b) any previous interim payment application. Paragraph 9.50 of the MH specification has been amended accordingly. See [[Legal Aid]]

*CLS News item :"LSC outlines actions following NAO report 17-12-09". Following a slating by the National Audit Office, the LSC have written to all firms. Of relevance to mental health law: on audit, in certain circumstances, they had allowed 2 hours' work without evidence of entitlement, but this practice will cease; firms with high numbers of split cases and multiple matter starts for a single client will be investigated with a view to the recovery of cash; and a reminder was given of the general duties of keeping records to justify claims. See [[Legal Aid#CLS News]]

*CLS News item 16/12/09 "Civil case management - change in contact details". From February 2010, the phone number for all urgent enquiries about civil certificated work is 0300 200 2020; email or post should be used for non-urgent enquiries (legal-enquiries@legalservices.gov.uk for civil legal, finance-enquiries@legalservices.gov.uk for finance, means-enquiries for means queries). See [[Legal Aid#CLS News]]

*This month the LSC have updated their "Where work is processed" document. The old one has been removed from their website so it is not immediately clear what has changed. See [[Legal Aid#Where work is processed]]

==Other documents==
*The Dept of Health have issued guidance on the completion of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards data collation sheet. See [[DH]]

*The Dept of Health have published "The second year of the Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy Service: 2008/2009". See [[IMCA]]

*DH list of supervisory bodies updated again on 18/12/09. See [[DOLS]]

*"MCA update" 18/12/09 email text added. See [[OPG]]

*MoJ consultation added: "Office of the Public Guardian: Amendments to secondary legislation" (17/12/09 to 9/3/10). See [[Consultations]]

*An updated version of "A Practitioner's Guide to Court of Protection Property Procedures" is now available on the OPG website. See [[Court of Protection]]

*In December 2009 "New Horizons" was launched, with politicians' photos, jargon, and it own section on the Dept of Health website. See [[Dept of Health]]

*The Law Commission's consultation document on reform of adult social care law is due to be published in February 2010. See [[Law Commission]] for link to Gazette article

==Website==
*The December 2009 CPD questionnaire is now available, as are the questionnaires for the previous 12 months. Multiple-choice tests are published monthly, stay online for 12 months, and can be taken at any time. <rss-desc>See [http://www.mentalhealthlaw.co.uk/cpd/ CPD scheme] for details</rss-desc>

*The current Mental Health Act 1983 statutory forms are now available on Wikimentalhealth. See [[Mental Health Act 1983 Statutory Forms]]

*On 30/12/09, Wikimentalhealth contained 690 [[Mental health case law|categorised cases]]

*See [[December 2009 chronology]] for this month's changes to the website in date order 

[[Category:Updates]]