Browse regulations

Amends the Child Benefit (General) Regulations 2006 to update the definition of 'approved training' for Northern Ireland, substituting the program names 'PEACE IV Children and Young People 2.1' and 'Training for Success' for prior program references.

This is a routine administrative amendment updating outdated program names to current ones. Deletion would create confusion about which Northern Ireland training programs qualify as 'approved training' for Child Benefit purposes, potentially causing administrative errors and benefit disruptions without any regulatory relief. No regulatory burden exists here—only a technical update to maintain accurate reference to existing government programs.

Commencement regulations bringing into force on 18th May 2017 specified provisions of the Scotland Act 2016 Part 1 (constitutional arrangements), including sections on elections (3-5), electoral registration digital service (6), election expenditure (7), Local Government Boundary Commission functions (8), devolved competence functions (9), consequential amendments (10), super-majority requirements (11), and scope to modify the Scotland Act 1998 (12). Section 9 commences after the other sections.

This is a procedural commencement regulation that merely activates statutory provisions already authorized by Parliament through the Scotland Act 2016. It imposes no regulatory burden, creates no new restrictions on businesses, and has no connection to EU-derived regulations, gold-plating, City of London competitiveness, NHS monopolies, or planning restrictions. Deleting it would simply prevent already-enacted democratic provisions from taking effect, leaving Scotland's electoral framework in legal limbo.

This Order abolishes existing wards of the London Borough of Redbridge and replaces them with 22 new wards, referencing a map held by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England to define boundaries. It specifies the number of councillors to be elected to each ward and establishes when the changes take effect (for electoral proceedings immediately, for other purposes at the 2018 ordinary day of election).

Deletion would create an unworkable legal vacuum in local electoral administration. Without defined ward boundaries, the London Borough of Redbridge would have no lawful mechanism for conducting councillor elections. This is a routine administrative reorganisation based on technical boundary reviews, imposing no economic regulatory burden, no restrictions on trade or business, and no gold-plating of EU rules. Britons would be worse off without it because democratic governance requires clear electoral geography to function.

This Order established a time-limited electoral registration pilot scheme in England and Wales (July 2017 - July 2018) that modified the annual canvass process by allowing registration officers to contact residents via form, visit, telephone, or electronic means rather than requiring the standard mandated method. The Order specified a single contact attempt requirement and extended to certain district/borough and county borough areas.

This Order has already ceased to have effect as of 6th July 2018 — it is a spent, time-limited pilot that expired over seven years ago. While the pilot permitted more flexible contact methods (a minor deregulation), it was never made permanent and remains on the statute book as inert law. Keeping defunct regulations clutters the statute books and creates confusion. Furthermore, electoral registration canvassing can be conducted under existing regulations without this pilot framework, meaning its deletion would restore the pre-pilot regulatory position which already functioned adequately.

The Combined Authorities (Finance) Order 2017 establishes the financial framework for mayoral combined authorities and combined county authorities in England. It sets out how mayors' costs are met through council tax precepts, establishes procedures for mayoral draft budget notification, review, and approval by combined authorities (including veto mechanisms requiring two-thirds majority), creates the mayor's general fund for receipts and expenditure, and contains transitional provisions particularly for Greater Manchester Combined Authority regarding PCC and fire and rescue precept arrangements.

This Order perpetuates regional central planning through combined authorities, concentrates fiscal power at the regional level away from constituent councils, and creates inflexible bureaucratic budget approval processes requiring two-thirds majorities for veto overrides. The council tax precept mechanism distorts local taxation while funding these regional bodies. The Order also creates differential treatment for Greater Manchester, establishing regional favoritism. Transitional provisions locking in arrangements for 2017-2018 elections merely entrench existing regional bodies without democratic legitimacy. A free Britain would see these functions devolved to smaller, more competitive jurisdictions or provided through market mechanisms rather than regional authorities with compulsory tax-raising powers.

This Order establishes the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), transfers waste disposal functions from GMWDA to GMCA (effective April 2018), grants Mayoral development corporation powers, establishes voting arrangements for local transport plans, creates political balance requirements for committees, and sets up an independent remuneration panel for Mayor's allowances. It applies modifications to multiple acts (1989, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2009, 2011) and creates consent requirements for various exercises of functions.

This Order creates a new regional bureaucratic layer with concentrated powers over planning, waste disposal, transport, and economic development. The GMWDA abolition removes a specialized body and transfers its monopoly to GMCA. Mayoral development corporations grant sweeping government powers to designate areas and override normal planning processes. Political balance mandates for committees and centralized consent requirements constrain local democratic flexibility. The 'earn back' fiscal mechanisms distort local government finance. This represents government expansion, not liberation from EU-era bureaucracy.

These Regulations amend the Social Security Contributions (Intermediaries) Regulations 2000 and their Northern Ireland equivalent to substitute a new definition of 'public authority'. The definition references Freedom of Information Act definitions and specifies which primary-healthcare providers (particularly dental service providers) are considered public authorities for purposes of intermediary taxation rules (IR35). The regulation ensures consistent interpretation across different legislative frameworks by cross-referencing Schedule 1 of the FOIA 2000 and related Scottish provisions.

While IR35 itself imposes costs on flexible working arrangements, this regulation merely provides technical definitional clarity cross-referencing established FOIA definitions. Deleting it would create regulatory uncertainty and inconsistent application of existing law. The alignment with FOIA definitions avoids creating a separate, potentially conflicting bureaucratic definition. The targeted inclusion of specific dental service providers reflects existing legal distinctions and maintains consistency across legislative regimes rather than adding new regulatory burden.

Income tax exemption for non-UK residents performing duties in connection with the UEFA Champions League Final 2017 held in Cardiff on June 3, 2017. Covers employees and contractors of non-UK football clubs, UEFA officials, national football association officials, and UEFA contractors. The specified period is June 1-5, 2017. Exemption does not apply to contracts entered into or amended after the final commenced.

This regulation is inherently time-limited to a single past event (UEFA Champions League Final 2017) and is now wholly obsolete — the specified period has passed and the final has been completed. As policy, such targeted tax exemptions for specific sporting events distort normal tax principles and represent government picking winners rather than applying uniform rules. If such exemptions are deemed desirable for future events, they should be enacted as temporary measures with automatic sunset clauses rather than permanent statutory instruments that remain on the books indefinitely after their practical purpose has expired.

This Order treats 'Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham' as another name for Al-Qa'ida (already listed in Schedule 2 to the Terrorism Act 2000), thereby ensuring the proscription restrictions continue to apply to this organisation regardless of which name it operates under. It is a technical measure to close a circumvention loophole.

Without this order, Al-Qa'ida could evade proscription under the Terrorism Act 2000 simply by rebranding as Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham. The underlying proscription of Al-Qa'ida reflects Parliament's determination that this organisation poses an existential threat requiring criminal sanctions for membership and support. While one may critique proscription regimes on civil liberties grounds, deleting this closure would directly undermine the stated purpose of existing law without any corresponding benefit — Al-Qa'ida would remain dangerous but legally unpursutable under its new name. This is a narrow technical closure, not new substantive restriction.

Consequential amendments to the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 (fingerprinting conditions) and the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (Schedule 1 Part 1). The regulations update legal aid provisions to reflect the new 'immigration bail' regime under the Immigration Act 2016, expanding and reorganising civil legal services coverage for immigration detainees, and modifying advocacy provisions in Part 3 by omitting certain paragraphs.

These are purely consequential amendments updating existing legal aid and procedural provisions to reflect the Immigration Act 2016's new 'immigration bail' framework. They do not expand regulatory burden but merely reorganise existing provisions into clearer categories. Removing them would create legal uncertainty and gaps in the legal aid framework for immigration detainees, potentially causing greater harm through due process failures. The changes to advocacy provisions remove unnecessary restrictions, marginally improving efficiency.

Designates specific voluntary schools in England as having a religious character and specifies the relevant religion or denomination for each school. Schools with religious character can legally operate faith-based admissions criteria, religious governance, and religious education according to their tenets.

This Order grants government-sanctioned special legal status to designated religious schools, creating a privileged regulatory category that distorts educational markets. It enables faith-based admissions discrimination and religious governance advantages that secular schools cannot access, restricting parental choice and competitive alternatives. The designation process itself involves the state determining which religious denominations are 'official' — an intrusion into voluntary association. A genuinely free market in education would allow any school to serve any community without requiring state designation to unlock special legal exemptions.

The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2017 amends the 2015 Order to create a new 'Class AA' permitted development right allowing drinking establishments (pubs) to expand food provision and vice versa without full planning permission. It removes prior approval requirements for certain pub change-of-use applications and streamlines associated planning conditions. The changes took effect 23rd May 2017, with transitional provisions for applications in progress.

This amendment LIBERALISES planning controls rather than restricting them. It creates new permitted development rights, reduces bureaucratic prior approval requirements, and makes it easier for property owners to adapt their premises to market conditions. Britons are better off with this regulation because it: (1) reduces regulatory burden on pub businesses seeking to diversify, (2) lowers transaction costs for legitimate commercial adaptations, (3) preserves private property rights by expanding what owners may do without government permission. Deleting this would restore more restrictive rules that harm pub owners and consumers alike.

Amends the Town and Country Planning (Compensation) (England) Regulations 2015 by inserting reference to 'AA' classes alongside existing Classes in regulation 2(c). This is a minor technical amendment to expand which permitted development classes are covered by the compensation framework.

This regulation does not create any new burden itself but is part of the broader planning compensation regime. Compensation requirements in planning law create perverse incentives, distort development decisions, and add administrative complexity. They effectively make the state liable for certain planning decisions, which can chill legitimate planning control and create contingent liabilities. The amendment merely expands the scope of an existing framework that constrains property rights and adds friction to the planning system. A dynamic free-trading Britain would not need such elaborate compensation mechanisms for planning decisions.

These Regulations (SI 2017) specify the UK-Ireland bilateral Agreement on Mutual Recognition of Driving Disqualifications (made 30 Oct 2015) for the purposes of Chapter 1 of Part 3 of the Crime (International Co-operation) Act 2003, enabling cross-border recognition of driving bans between the UK and Ireland.

Britons would be worse off if deleted because disqualified drivers from Ireland could lawfully drive in the UK (and vice versa), undermining the purpose of driving disqualifications and creating a road safety hazard at the border. This regulation does not add regulatory burden — it is a recognition mechanism that facilitates free movement of persons between the UK and Ireland while ensuring road safety enforcement is effective across jurisdictions. Without it, a regulatory gap would exist that could be exploited by dangerous drivers.

The Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) (England, Wales and Scotland) Regulations 2017 amends the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 by adding over 30 substances to Schedule 1, which designates controlled drugs subject to the strictest requirements (including regulations 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 23, 26, and 27). The added substances include various benzodiazepine analogs (e.g., Adinazolam, Bromazolam, Clonazolam, Etizolam), phenidate derivatives (e.g., Ethylphenidate, 4-Fluoroethylphenidate), and other novel psychoactive substances. Schedule 1 classification indicates no recognized legitimate medical use and imposes stringent controls on production, supply, and possession.

Prohibition creates the very black markets it purports to eliminate — these substances will be produced and sold by criminal enterprises with no quality controls, no consumer safety standards, and violent enforcement competition, while legitimate medical research is suppressed. The state's ability to 'list' substances is inherently reactive and perpetually behind the creation of new analogs, making prohibition a whack-a-mole exercise that enriches criminal networks without reducing drug-related harm. As Friedman noted, prohibition raises prices and concentrates supply in the most dangerous hands.