24 July 2025
Tech-Driven, Ethically Bound: New FRC and ICAEW Guidance on AI Use in the Accountancy Sector
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital tools are rapidly transforming the accountancy sector with promises of enhanced efficiency, insight and audit quality. Embracing this innovation wave however, does not come without risk, and regulators are increasingly alert to the ethical implications. The FRC has very recently issued new guidance on the use of AI in audit, coinciding with the ICAEW’s new technology-centred revisions to its Code of Ethics, which came into force on 1 July 2025. Responsible and ethical use of AI is now therefore no longer optional, but a regulatory expectation.
19 June 2025
Statutory interpretation and “wild camping”: Supreme Court upholds the right to wild camp on the Dartmoor Commons
In Darwall and another v Dartmoor National Park Authority [2025] UKSC 20 (21 May 2025), the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the public’s right to “wild camp” on the Dartmoor Commons (“the Commons”). Although the judgment only concerns Dartmoor, which is subject to specific legislation, it has rekindled a wider debate about public rights of access to nature across England and Wales.
24 April 2025
‘Freedom of Speech in Parliament’
Freedom of speech in Parliament is a key element of parliamentary privilege, protecting MPs and Lords from legal consequences for what they say in debates.
1 April 2025
Recognising and Responding to Early Warning Signs in the Public Sector
The Committee on Standards in Public Life, an independent body which advises the Prime Minister on arrangements for upholding ethical standards of conduct, has marked its 30th anniversary by issuing a report relating to the need for better recognition by public sector bodies of early warning signs.
26 February 2025
Are we ruled by lawyers or politicians?
The success or failure of a Government seldom turns on a legal principle, but there is a question as to whether this could happen in the case of this Labour Government. Why? Because the Prime Minister and the Attorney General, both eminent lawyers, have drawn a line in the sand with their absolute commitment to compliance with the ‘rule of law’.