Browse regulations

These Regulations establish requirements for 'relevant intermediaries' in the energy supply chain to pass through government 'scheme benefits' (payments under the Non-Domestic Alternative Fuel Payment scheme) to end users. They mandate 'just and reasonable' pass-through amounts, prescribe detailed calculation methodologies, impose notification requirements on intermediaries, and provide enforcement mechanisms including civil debt recovery and interest (2% above Bank base rate) for failed pass-throughs.

This regulation exemplifies government overreach disguised as consumer protection. It imposes price controls through mandated 'just and reasonable' pass-through calculations, creating administrative burden and compliance costs that ultimately are passed to consumers. The detailed prescription of calculation methods (proportional allocation, tariff adjustments, etc.) and notification requirements micro-manages commercial relationships that should be governed by contract. It addresses a hypothetical market failure (that intermediaries would retain government subsidies) with prescriptive intervention that itself distorts incentives, reduces flexibility, and creates litigation risk. As a response to the temporary energy crisis, this has become permanent regulation with ongoing compliance costs. The civil debt recovery and interest provisions add unnecessary legal complexity to what should be straightforward commercial arrangements.

These Regulations prescribe the persons and organisations that probation services providers must consult under section 10A of the Offender Management Act 2007 before imposing unpaid work requirements. They cover elected local policing bodies, Community Safety Partnerships, voluntary/community/social enterprise organisations, and victim representative organisations within the relevant area. The regulations apply to England and Wales.

This regulation imposes mandatory consultation requirements that add bureaucratic delay and cost to the probation services commissioning process without clear evidence of improved outcomes. The prescribed consultations create procedural hurdles that slow down community sentence implementation while the value of each prescribed category's input is questionable. Voluntary engagement mechanisms and contractual requirements could achieve the same accountability objectives without statutory compulsion. The regulation reflects a tick-box approach to local involvement rather than evidence-based practice.

The Single Trade Window (Preparation) Regulations 2023 authorize HMRC to incur expenditure for establishing a single trade window as defined under Article 118 of the UK/EU and EAEC Trade and Cooperation Agreement. The regulations came into force on 8th May 2023.

These regulations are a preparatory spending authorization, not a regulatory burden on businesses. The single trade window concept—consolidating trade documentation into one portal—has the potential to reduce bureaucratic complexity for traders if implemented efficiently. Unlike gold-plated EU directives or restrictive planning regimes, this merely enables government to set up a service that could simplify trade. Deleting it would prevent potential administrative modernization without imposing any new costs or restrictions on the private sector. The reference to the TCA Article 118 reflects post-Brexit regulatory cooperation with the EU, not subservience to EU law.

These Regulations update version references for UK customs tariff documents, quota tables, rules of origin, and suspension of import duty rates from December 2022 versions to April 2023 versions. They also amend preferential tariff schedules for approximately 20+ UK trade agreements (including those with Albania, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, Ukraine, and others), and make minor technical amendments including removal of a quota condition (paragraph 13 in Schedule 1) and modifications to the Secretary of State's request consideration procedures.

While these are primarily administrative updates to version references rather than new substantive restrictions, deleting them would leave preferential tariff arrangements referencing outdated December 2022 versions, creating legal uncertainty and potentially denying businesses and consumers the benefit of updated tariff rates that reflect current trade agreement terms. The minor procedural changes (removing paragraph 13, modifying request procedures) are streamlining measures that reduce rather than increase regulatory burden. The underlying trade agreements remain in force regardless, so retaining this SI ensures the statutory framework accurately references current documents.

These Regulations amend the Police Act 1997 (Criminal Records) Regulations 2002 to exempt volunteers from paying fees for criminal record certificate and enhanced criminal record certificate applications. They came into force on 11th May 2023 and include a saving provision preserving the old fee regime for applications made before that date.

Deleting this regulation would restore fees for volunteers applying for criminal record certificates under the 2002 Regulations, imposing costs on individuals who provide voluntary service to communities. Removing regulatory burden by exempting volunteers from fees encourages civic participation and charitable activity. The saving provision appropriately ensures legal certainty for pending applications.

Amendment to Human Medicines Regulations 2012 enabling wholesale dealer importation of medicinal products from Great Britain to Northern Ireland under specified conditions (quality control testing, batch release requirements, UKMA authorization, safety features), and requiring the licensing authority to maintain and publish a bi-annual list of medicinal products to which EU Directive derogations have applied.

While this regulation adds a new reporting burden (Regulation 345A's list requirement), the core amendments facilitate medicine trade flows from GB to NI post-Brexit by allowing products with UKMA(UK) or UKMA(NI) to move across this border under proper quality controls. Deleting it would disrupt legitimate pharmaceutical supply chains into Northern Ireland, potentially causing medicine shortages, without improving safety outcomes. The quality control, batch release, and safety feature requirements represent proportionate safeguards that are hard to replicate through market mechanisms alone when dealing with public health products.

The Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 amend the 2019 Russia sanctions regulations to expand trade restrictions relating to iron and steel products processed in third countries using Russian-origin materials, introduce new prohibitions on Schedule 3DA revenue generating goods from Russia, add rare-earth metals and continuous flow reactors to controlled goods lists, and modify existing sanctions on oil, gold, and coal products. The regulations prohibit imports, acquisition, supply/delivery, technical assistance, financial services, and brokering services related to these goods.

These targeted sanctions against Russia represent a legitimate use of economic statecraft to constrain a hostile power's war-making capacity, distinct from typical regulatory overreach. Unlike the EU-derived regulations this agency targets, Russia's invasion of Ukraine presents an exceptional circumstance where economic restrictions serve clear national security objectives. Deleting these would remove a key diplomatic leverage tool while having no practical effect on ordinary market operations. The regulations contain appropriate exceptions for humanitarian and essential purposes.

These Regulations amend the Immigration (Citizens' Rights Appeals) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020, extending appeal rights for EU citizens under the post-Brexit residence scheme. Key changes include: updated definition of 'relevant application' to cover decisions made on or after 8 May 2023; insertion of regulation 13A providing for automatic continuation of leave during pending appeals; insertion of regulation 16A allowing certification of removal in cases of marriage/ partnerships of convenience or fraudulent entry clearance; and corresponding amendments to Schedules 1, 2, and 3 updating cross-references to include the new regulation 16A(3).

These regulations provide essential procedural safeguards against arbitrary removal of EU citizens who applied under the residence scheme. Without appeal rights and leave continuation during appeals, individuals could be removed before their case is properly heard, risking serious irreversible harm and unlawful deportations contrary to Human Rights Act obligations. The abuse of rights provisions (marriage of convenience, fraudulent applications) are narrow and targeted, targeting specific harmful behavior rather than restricting legitimate claimants. While any immigration restriction carries costs, these regulations prevent the graver harm of erroneous removals and maintain rule of law in the immigration system.

A correction order that fixes drafting errors in the Keadby 3 (Carbon Capture Equipped Gas Fired Generating Station) Order 2022, which granted development consent for a carbon capture-equipped gas-fired power station in North Lincolnshire. The Order contains a schedule with a table specifying corrections (text to be substituted, inserted, or omitted).

A correction order that merely fixes drafting errors in an underlying order does not impose new regulatory burdens, but it also serves no independent purpose — it is purely administrative machinery. The original Keadby 3 Order 2022 remains in force regardless. The underlying development consent order itself, however, represents the real regulatory intervention: it is a NIMBY-style approval regime that picks winners (gas with carbon capture) over potentially more efficient or cheaper alternatives, and the planning regime that produces such orders remains one of the most restrictive in the developed world. If the goal is to restore Britain's free-trading dynamism, the focus should be on reforming the planning system that requires such orders, not on retaining technical corrections.

Establishes the Hartlepool Development Corporation as the local planning authority for a designated development area in Hartlepool, transfers planning functions from previous local authorities, and creates a financial compensation mechanism for billing authorities losing non-domestic rating income when the Corporation makes discretionary rate relief determinations under section 47 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988. Part 2 (planning functions) comes into force 1st June 2023; Parts 1, 3 and 4 (including rating functions and compensation provisions) come into force 12th May 2023.

This Order does not impose regulatory burden on businesses or citizens — it creates a development corporation, a vehicle historically effective at delivering regeneration by circumventing the restrictive planning system that Better Britain opposes. The compensation mechanism for billing authorities is a reasonable transitional arrangement to facilitate the transfer of functions, not a regulatory constraint. Crucially, development corporations like this one actually advance the goal of building more homes and stimulating economic activity by granting streamlined planning powers for specific areas, directly addressing the planning permission regime problem identified in Better Britain's mandate. Deleting this would leave Hartlepool dependent on the same dysfunctional local planning system that produces the housing crisis.

The Middlesbrough Development Corporation (Functions) Order 2023 establishes the Middlesbrough Development Corporation as the local planning authority for a defined development area in Middlesbrough, transferring planning functions from previous local authorities. It also establishes a complex rates retention and compensation mechanism under which the Corporation makes payments to previous authorities to offset the loss of non-domestic rating income from qualifying hereditaments in the development area, involving estimated and final compensation calculations with detailed formulae, instalment schedules, and interest provisions for late payments.

Creates a new bureaucratic layer with extensive administrative requirements that distort market incentives. The complex rates retention compensation system (Articles 11-17) introduces significant deadweight costs and perverse incentives, effectively subsidizing the development area through cross-authority transfers that would be better resolved through competitive markets. Development corporations concentrate planning power rather than liberalizing it, and the compensation mechanisms perpetuate the distortionary business rates system rather than addressing it. These complex cross-authority payment arrangements create moral hazard and administrative burden without proportionate benefit.

Amends the Education (Induction Arrangements for School Teachers) (England) Regulations 2012 by modifying regulation 4 regarding 'appropriate bodies' for teacher induction. The changes remove sub-paragraph (b) or (2)(a) references and omit sub-paragraph (2)(b), thereby narrowing the criteria for entities to serve as appropriate bodies for newly qualified teacher induction. Includes transitional provisions allowing existing appropriate bodies to continue until September 2024 for teachers already undergoing induction.

This amendment merely reconfigures which authorities may serve as 'appropriate bodies' for teacher induction—a bureaucratic reorganisation that restricts the pool of eligible bodies without addressing any market failure. The transitional grandfather clause confirms the primary effect is to phase out certain authorities' roles over time rather than improve the system. Teacher quality is determined by training, market competition among schools, and employment outcomes—not by which bureaucratic entity approves induction periods. The restriction reduces institutional flexibility with no demonstrated benefit to new teachers or schools.

Amendment regulations to NHS General Medical Services Contracts and Personal Medical Services Agreements Regulations 2015, updating contract terms for GP services in England and Wales. Comes into force May 2023, revokes earlier 2023 amendment regulations.

This amending instrument lacks substantive content for review, but NHS primary care contract regulations inherently restrict supplier entry, limit competition, and create barriers to private alternatives—directly contradicting the goal of expanding healthcare supply. The repeated amendments (2023 amendment revoked and replaced by this one) suggest regulatory instability and complexity rather than clear, minimal governance. Retained EU-era healthcare bureaucracy suppresses private sector participation, perpetuating the NHS near-monopoly that produces scandalous wait times. Such amendments typically impose new compliance burdens without demonstrating net benefit.

Commencement regulations bringing into force section 10 (notice requirements for citizenship deprivation decisions) and Schedule 2 (judicial oversight for deprivation of citizenship without notice) of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, effective 10th May 2023. These provisions establish procedural requirements and judicial safeguards when the Home Office seeks to deprive individuals of British citizenship.

These provisions impose procedural requirements on the state when depriving individuals of citizenship, providing judicial oversight and notice requirements. Deletion would remove safeguards against arbitrary deprivation of citizenship without corresponding benefit to Britons' economic wellbeing or freedom. The regulation serves a constitutional function in limiting state power and has no bearing on trade, planning, financial regulation, or NHS supply.

The Energy Bills Discount Scheme Regulations 2023 establish a scheme to reduce energy costs for non-domestic customers in Great Britain by providing discounts on electricity and gas supplies during two scheme periods (April-September 2023 and October 2023-March 2024). The scheme sets government-supported prices, maximum discounts, and minimum supply prices. It creates complex mechanisms for discount calculations, recovery claims from the Secretary of State, and pass-through requirements for intermediaries. The regulations also establish certification schemes for Energy Intensive Industries (ETII) and Qualifying Heat Suppliers (QHS).

This regulation represents government price-fixing and subsidy intervention in the energy market, distorting price signals that should guide efficient resource allocation. While introduced as an emergency response to the 2022-2023 energy crisis, it was a temporary measure with both scheme periods now expired. The complex regulatory apparatus—multiple categories, methodologies, recovery mechanisms, and pass-through requirements—imposes ongoing compliance burdens and creates moral hazard. Emergency subsidies of this kind tend to become entrenched, delaying market adjustment and perpetuating inefficient energy consumption patterns. Delete to signal that Britain will not default to permanent market intervention whenever energy prices fluctuate.