A recent judgment of the Court of Appeal is likely to be welcome news for local authority prosecutors and their investigation teams, writes Matt Marsh.

Ben Mills analyses an important ruling on the powers of local authorities to investigate environmental crime.

The High Court has ruled that offering food for sale after its labelled “use by” date is prima facie a criminal offence. Hazel Jackson examines the background to the ruling and looks at its implications.

A London borough recently successfully defended two claims for judicial review of decisions it made against directors of property companies operating, and owners of property, in its area. Simon Kiely, Aleksandra Wolek and Christos Paphiti explain how the ruling will help local authority housing departments and prosecutors.

Howard Lederman considers the principles which apply to the amount of penalties local housing authorities can impose for relevant housing offences, following recent guidance by the Upper Tribunal.

Supplying counterfeit personal protection equipment (PPE), unproven health supplements purported to prevent infection and failure to supply paid for PPE are amongst a number of scams occurring during the COVID-19 crisis, say Cameron Crowe and Sabrina Goodchild, who look at the powers local authorities can use in response.

The government is once again using s.45C of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 to impose distancing measures, writes Charles Holland, as new measures are introduced in Wales.

Charles Holland analyses the regulations issued by the government for the closure of restaurants, cafes, pubs and other leisure venues during the coronavirus outbreak.