Browse regulations

Amendment to the Branded Health Service Medicines (Costs) Regulations 2018, modifying payment percentages and applicable periods for the statutory scheme requiring pharmaceutical companies to pay a percentage of branded medicines revenue to the NHS. Key changes include adjusting the payment percentage from earlier rates to 14.3% for July-Dec 2022, 24.4% for 2023 onwards, and 17.7% for the same period in paragraph (1B).

This regulation imposes mandatory payment obligations on pharmaceutical companies supplying branded medicines to the NHS, effectively a sector-specific levy. Such cost extraction schemes distort market incentives, increase administrative burden, and may drive investment away from the UK pharmaceutical sector. The scheme creates uncertainty through frequent retrospective amendments to payment percentages, harming business planning. While it raises NHS revenue, this could be achieved more efficiently through general taxation rather than targeted extraction from one industry, which risks creating monopolistic dynamics and reducing supply of life-saving medicines to the UK market.

The Wireless Telegraphy (Mobile Repeater) (Exemption) Regulations 2022 exempt mobile repeater devices from licensing requirements under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006, provided they comply with detailed technical specifications including power limits across multiple frequency bands (703-733 MHz, 832-862 MHz, 880-915 MHz, 925-960 MHz, 1710-1785 MHz, 1805-1880 MHz, 1920-1980 MHz, 2110-2170 MHz, 758-788 MHz, 791-821 MHz), system gain limits (max 100 dB or BSCL-30 dB), oscillation detection requirements, indoor use restrictions, uplink noise power limits (-70 dBm/MHz), intermodulation product limits, and compliance with ETSI standards and IR2102.2. The regulations establish a comprehensive technical framework governing device installation, operation, and use to prevent undue interference to spectrum users.

These regulations impose detailed technical mandates on mobile repeater devices that restrict consumer choice and increase costs without clear evidence of market failure. The detailed power limits, system gain formulas, oscillation detection timing requirements, and technical specifications represent regulatory micro-management that could be addressed through product liability law if devices cause genuine harm. The indoor use restriction and narrow exemption conditions limit competition and innovation in mobile coverage solutions. Such regulations may serve to protect incumbent mobile network operators from third-party competition rather than genuinely protecting the public interest from interference, which would be better addressed through general interference liability rules.

Amendment Regulations 2022 updating version references in the Customs (Additional Duty) (Russia and Belarus) Regulations 2022, specifically updating the definition of 'relevant Additional Duties Document' to version 1.1 for both Belarusian and Russian specified goods originating from those countries.

These regulations impose additional tariffs on Russian and Belarusian goods, raising costs for UK consumers and businesses. Such protectionist measures reduce consumer choice, increase prices, and act as a stealth tax on British households already facing cost-of-living pressures. While motivated by geopolitics, tariff regimes on entire nations are blunt instruments that harm ordinary citizens rather than targeted regimes, and the economic burden falls on UK consumers rather than achieving meaningful diplomatic leverage.

These Regulations amend the Education (Information About Individual Pupils) (England) Regulations 2013 to: (1) update the SEND Code of Practice reference date; (2) add data collection requirements for pupils previously in 'overseas state care' and adopted from overseas; (3) require schools to identify and record 'young carer' status; (4) create new reporting requirements for pupils receiving education provision outside school premises (alternative provision, exclusions, SEND provision); and (5) establish data reporting requirements for Pupil Referral Units and Alternative Provision Academies.

These regulations impose significant new administrative burdens on schools and local authorities without demonstrated improvement in pupil outcomes. The requirement to track and report on 'young carer' status, overseas state care history, and detailed alternative provision information consumes resources that could be directed to actual education delivery. The regulations add to the compliance burden facing schools while the evidence that such data collection improves outcomes for vulnerable children is weak. This exemplifies how bureaucratic data-gathering expands without proper cost-benefit analysis, contributing to the overall regulatory overload afflicting Britain's education system.

These Rules amend election nomination procedures by adding section 81A references to consent rules and substituting updated 'Form of Candidate's Consent to Nomination' in the Local Elections (Principal Areas), Local Elections (Parishes and Communities), and Greater London Authority Elections Rules. The changes are administrative in nature, updating nomination forms to reflect current qualification provisions.

This regulation is purely administrative, updating election nomination forms to reference section 81A of the Representation of the People Act 1983 (likely a qualification provision). It imposes no economic costs, does not restrict business activity, regulate markets, or impose compliance burdens on commercial enterprises. As election administration machinery governing candidate paperwork rather than economic activity, deletion would create confusion and procedural gaps without advancing free-market objectives. Britons are not worse off economically from this administrative update.

These Regulations amend the Allocation of Housing and Homelessness (Eligibility) (England) Regulations 2006 and the Persons Subject to Immigration Control (Housing Authority Accommodation and Homelessness) Order 2000 to add new eligibility classes (Class N, Class O, Class FAB) for Ukrainian nationals who have limited leave to remain under Appendix Ukraine Scheme of the Immigration Rules. The regulations extend housing authority accommodation and homelessness assistance eligibility to qualifying Ukrainian refugees while explicitly excluding those subject to 'no public funds' conditions.

While these regulations represent government control over housing allocation based on immigration status, deleting them would harm Ukrainian refugees who have fled war and are now in the UK with limited legal status. Removing this eligibility pathway could leave vulnerable persons without access to emergency housing support, potentially causing destitution. The humanitarian costs of deletion—particularly for war refugees—outweigh the regulatory simplification gains, and this specific amendment does not represent the broader gold-plating or regulatory overreach that characterises the retained EU laws Better Britain seeks to address.

These Regulations amend the British Nationality (General) Regulations 2003, British Nationality (British Overseas Territories) Regulations 2007, and Immigration and Nationality (Fees) Regulations 2018 to implement provisions of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022. They establish application procedures and requirements for new citizenship pathways under sections 4K, 4L, 17A-I of the British Nationality Act 1981, including provisions for registration based on historical legislative unfairness, public authority acts/omissions, or exceptional circumstances. They also add statelessness provisions, good character requirements for applicants aged 10+, parental consent requirements for minors, and set fees (e.g., £1,126 for section 4L applications).

These regulations implement secondary procedures for citizenship pathways created by primary legislation (the Nationality and Borders Act 2022). While any regulatory burden warrants scrutiny, deleting these would merely remove procedural frameworks without eliminating the underlying statutory provisions. The application requirements—demonstrating entitlement, statelessness, or exceptional circumstances—are standard administrative safeguards that prevent arbitrary decisions. Without these procedures, applicants would have no clear mechanism to exercise rights Parliament has already granted. The fees, while substantial, reflect administrative costs and do not appear excessive for processing complex nationality determinations involving historical wrongs.

These Regulations amend the Building Regulations 2010 to impose stricter fire safety requirements on external walls and specified attachments of buildings in England. Key changes include: new definitions for 'relevant metal composite material' (effectively banning certain aluminum panels with combustible cores), 'specified attachment' (balconies, solar shading devices, solar panels), and fire classification standards; requiring materials in external walls to meet European Classification A2-s1, d0 or A1; imposing a ban on relevant metal composite materials in external walls; and creating exemptions for fibre optic cables, materials near ground level, and certain balcony floor layers. The regulations arise from post-Grenfell fire safety concerns.

While this regulation adds compliance costs and restricts material choices, the consequences of inaction were demonstrated by the Grenfell disaster — 72 people died. The regulation addresses genuine information asymmetries and externalities in the housing market: builders have no incentive to internalize fire safety risks when buyers cannot easily assess building materials. Without this framework, leaseholders and occupants bear catastrophic risk they cannot contract around. The exemptions for solar shading devices at low heights, balcony floor layers with imperforate substrates, and fibre optic cables show proportionate scoping. Deletion would leave residents in towers with combustible cladding and no mandatory remediation pathway — a cost not captured in compliance budgets but devastating in human terms.

These Rules amend service court procedures to apply special measures from the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 to military courts (Court Martial, Service Civilian Court, Court Martial Appeal Court). They introduce protections for vulnerable witnesses including: child witnesses receiving automatic video recorded evidence provisions, sexual offence complainants receiving special measures, domestic abuse and modern slavery victims receiving protections, and video recorded cross-examination procedures. The Rules extend these protections to service proceedings that would otherwise lack such provisions.

Without these Rules, vulnerable witnesses (children, sexual offence victims, domestic abuse survivors) appearing before service courts would lose statutory protections with no equivalent alternative. The special measures framework prevents re-traumatisation of witnesses, improves evidence quality, and ensures fair proceedings. Deletion would create a two-tier system where civilian victims receive protections unavailable to military personnel and their families. While additional regulatory complexity exists, the protective purpose addresses genuine failures in how vulnerable individuals are treated in criminal proceedings, and this regulatory vehicle is the mechanism by which Parliament's intended protections actually reach service court participants.

These regulations establish variable speed limits on the M56 Motorway between Junctions 6 and 7. They define how variable speed limits operate: drivers must comply with the speed shown when they pass a speed limit sign, or the speed shown 10 seconds before if higher, unless they subsequently pass a different speed limit sign or a national speed limit sign. The regulations reference the 1982 Motorways Traffic Regulations and 2016 Traffic Signs Regulations for definitions and technical specifications.

While any speed restriction warrants scrutiny, this regulation is narrowly targeted to a specific road section and implements variable limits that respond to real-time conditions—an approach that actually improves upon blanket speed limits by reducing speed differential and smoothing traffic flow. Deleting it would simply revert to fixed speed limits or create regulatory ambiguity. The externalities of high-speed motorway driving (risk to other road users) provide legitimate justification for speed governance, and no competitive market failure or supply restriction is created.

These Regulations amend Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 543/2011 to add all EU member states to Annex 4 as approved third countries for fruit and vegetable exports to Great Britain. They recognise official authorities and inspection bodies in each EU state responsible for pre-import conformity checks to marketing standards.

This is a retained EU law enacted wholesale post-Brexit without parliamentary scrutiny. It codifies EU marketing standards and bureaucratic structures into British law, perpetuating the EU's regulatory framework for fruit and vegetables rather than establishing independent British trade policy. The undifferentiated listing of all 27 EU member states prevents individual assessment of trading relationships and locks in EU administrative structures. While it facilitates trade, it does so by surrendering regulatory autonomy to Brussels-derived rules — precisely the bureaucratic burden Brexit was meant to shed.

Amends multiple retained EU regulations to extend transitional deadline from 1 July 2022 to 1 January 2024 for marketing standards in agricultural products, organic product labelling, hops certification, and related import arrangements. Primarily affects Great Britain.

While these regulations derive from EU frameworks that impose marketing standards costs, this instrument merely extends existing transitional deadlines. Deleting it would not eliminate the underlying regulations or their costs, but would create legal uncertainty by reverting to an already-expired deadline (1 July 2022), disrupting businesses that have relied on the extended timeline. The costs here stem from the substantive regulations themselves, not from this administrative timing amendment. However, the underlying EU-derived marketing standards regime should be reviewed separately for gold-plating and regulatory burden.

This Order amends the Football (Offences) (Designation of Football Matches) Order 2004 to include the Football Association Women's Super League and Football Association Women's Championship among designated football competitions, and updates the reference from Scottish Football League to Scottish Professional Football League. Designated matches are subject to specific football offences provisions.

This amendment extends a football-specific regulatory designation to women's football leagues without evidence of a distinct problem requiring state intervention beyond what general public order law already addresses. The original 2004 Order reflected post-Hillsborough concerns about hooliganism at men's football; applying the same designation to women's football patronizingly assumes similar disorder patterns exist or that women's matches require the same restrictive regime. If public order concerns exist at specific venues or events, general laws suffice. Singling out women's football for special regulatory designation lacks justification and may actually harm the development of the women's game by treating it as a potential disorder problem rather than a sport to be celebrated. The update to Scottish Professional Football League is merely a factual correction that could be achieved through administrative guidance rather than statutory instrument.

Amends the Cremation (England and Wales) Regulations 2008 by substituting regulation 18 (Certificate of Coroner) with expanded circumstances allowing coroners to issue cremation certificates, and updates the associated Cremation 6 form in Schedule 1. The changes clarify when coroners can certify cremations without further investigation.

While this regulation does expand the circumstances under which a coroner may issue a cremation certificate, deletion would not improve Britons' welfare. The certification requirements prevent cremation where foul play, insurance fraud, or other harms might otherwise occur. Without such verification, families could be denied answers about deaths, and criminal activity could be concealed. The regulation achieves a legitimate public safety objective that would be difficult to replicate through market mechanisms or private ordering, given the irreversible nature of cremation.

Amendment to Coroners (Investigations) Regulations 2013 that updates terminology in regulation 17, replacing 'post-mortem examination' references with broader 'investigation' language, allowing cause of death to be established through any means during an investigation rather than specifically via post-mortem.

This amendment is procedural and actually reduces bureaucratic burden by allowing coroners to conclude investigations when cause of death becomes clear through any investigative method, not just post-mortem. Removing it would revert to a more restrictive regime requiring specific post-mortem findings. No economic or market distortion exists — this is purely administrative procedure for death investigations.