Received from Inclusion London :-
Hi all,
1) Below is an update from the solicitors:
The five clients represented by Deighton Pierce Glynn and Scott-Moncrieff & Associates filed papers in the Court of Appeal on 14 May 2013 to start the process of appealing the decision by the judge in the ILF judicial review. The first stage is for a single judge to consider the application for permission to appeal; this usually takes six to eight weeks. If this is refused, there is sometimes the possibility to re-apply for permission at an oral hearing. If permission is granted, sometimes it is only granted on some of the grounds argued.
The legal arguments raised by the clients are that the judge did not explain his ruling properly, there was no evidence the minister had met the public sector equality duty and no evidence that the consultation had been open and candid, as required by law. The appeal also argues that the judge was wrong to rely on the White Paper (the proposed social care bill) becoming law, as part of his reasoning. The appeal is limited to what was wrong legally with the judgment in the judicial review; it cannot bring in new evidence or new legal arguments.
If permission is granted, on any or all of the grounds, the court has been asked to have the appeal hearing itself by the end of October 2013. The judge should have decided whether to give the clients permission to appeal by mid-July and at the same time have decided how quickly the case will be heard; another update will be provided after that.”
2) Inclusion London and DPAC have been contacted back by Anne McGuire and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services for meetings following our letters
3) Questions were asked within the House of Lords about future funding for ILF users and the response was that nothing is known until the spending review: http://jennymorrisnet.blogspot.co.uk/
Kate has done some more filming and we are planning a film screening to highlight the impact of the closure of the ILF on 25th June, the eve of the spending review, in partnership with Shape Arts with performances from Sophie and Penny. We have no budget for travel but if any member of this group would like to attend please let me know as places will need to be reserved.
5) The Care Bill has begun its journey through Parliament. This is very relevant for the ILF. The All Party Parliamentary Groups on Local Government and Disability published their report last week from their joint inquiry into social care (Promoting Independence, Preventing Crisis). Lords like Jane Campbell think this has great potential (http://disabilitynewsservice.com/2013/05/care-bill-is-culmination-of-25-years-campaigning-for-independent-living/) but without funding for social care campaigners don’t see how it can be. The Inclusion London Policy and Campaigns Forum have asked for Inclusion London to work on a campaigns strategy around the care Bill and for us to set up a meeting with Lords about it.
6) We have put out a call out for information and evidence to show how the closure of the ILF to new applicants has already impacted on disabled people. I think this is going to be really important when making our arguments for the above. If anyone has information to share on this please get in touch.
Best wishes,
Ellen Clifford
Campaigns and Communications Officer
Inclusion London
ellen.clifford@inclusionlondon.co.uk
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