Other instruments of Interest
DRAFT COMPANIES ACT 2006 (AMENDMENT) (ACCOUNTS AND
REPORTS) REGULATIONS 2008
DRAFT LARGE AND MEDIUM-SIZED COMPANIES AND GROUPS
(ACCOUNTS AND REPORTS) REGULATIONS 2008
DRAFT SMALL COMPANIES AND GROUPS (ACCOUNTS AND DIRECTORS'
REPORT) REGULATIONS 2008
DRAFT COMPANIES (LATE FILING PENALTIES) AND LIMITED
LIABILITY PARTNERSHIPS (FILING PERIODS AND LATE FILING PENALTIES)
REGULATIONS 2008
DRAFT COMPANIES (TRADING DISCLOSURES) REGULATIONS
2008
27. The Department for Business, Enterprise and
Regulatory Reform have laid a number of affirmative instruments
using powers in the Companies Act 2006. The first three sets
of Regulations listed above implement parts of Directive 2006/46/EC
on company reporting. In particular, the draft Companies Act 2006
(Amendment) (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 implement
the requirement for disclosure of off-balance sheet arrangements
in the notes to the accounts. The Impact Assessment describes
the underlying objective as to improve the transparency of financial
statements and so "reduce the risk of future corporate scandals
such as Parmalat and Enron and the adverse impact on investor
confidence". Among the trading disclosures required of a
company by the final set of Regulations is the inclusion of its
address and other specified details in business letters, order
forms and on its websites.
DRAFT POLICE AND CRIMINAL EVIDENCE ACT 1984 (CODES
OF PRACTICE) ORDER 2008
28. The draft Police and Criminal Evidence
Act 1984 (Codes of Practice) Order 2008 brings into effect a number
of changes to the existing Codes A to E[5].
Chief amongst these are reforms to the arrangements for providing
publicly funded legal advice at police stations. In line with
recommendations of Lord Carter of Coles' review of legal aid,
in straightforward cases, if the detainee cannot contact his own
solicitor within 2 hours then advice from a public solicitor is
to be sought by telephone via the Duty Solicitor Call Centre.
The Call Centre will determine whether legal advice should be
limited to telephone advice or whether a solicitor should attend.
The full details of this scheme are set out in Code C. Other changes
will allow for the police caution to be given in Welsh and will
enable the audio recording of interviews on the secure digital
network to be piloted. The Law Society has expressed some concerns
over the proposals, in particular that the revisions to Code C
may limit the detainee's right to consult his own solicitor at
a later stage, that the police should not be involved in the issue
of payment for legal advice and that the arrangements for digital
recording in Code E do not appear to have an equivalent provision
for producing a sealed master tape of the interview to ensure
the integrity of the evidence.
COURTS-MARTIAL (ARMY) RULES 2007 (SI 2007/3442)
COURTS-MARTIAL (ROYAL NAVY) RULES 2007 (SI 2007/3443)
COURTS-MARTIAL (ROYAL AIR FORCE) RULES 2007 (SI 2007/3444)
29. The Ministry of Defence have laid these three
instruments which they describe as "interim" Rules,
made under older legislation, pending the implementation in 2009
of new Rules made under the Armed Forces Act 2006 ("the 2006
Act"). The instruments are intended to align procedures
and practices for courts-martial across the Services, within the
framework of the three current Service Discipline Acts, in order
to ensure a smoother transition to the new unified Rules under
the 2006 Act.
WASTE ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT (AMENDMENT)
REGULATIONS 2007 (SI 2007/3454)
30. The Department for Business, Enterprise and
Regulatory Reform (DBERR) have laid the Waste Electrical and Electronic
Equipment (Amendment) Regulations 2007 (SI 2007/3454). These make
limited amendments to Regulations laid in 2006 (SI 2006/3289),
which placed obligations on the producers of electrical and electronic
equipment to finance the collection, treatment and environmentally
sound disposal of such equipment when it reaches its end of life.
We reported on the 2006 Regulations in our 7th Report of last
session (2006-07 HL Paper 29), and noted that the Government expected
to be in a position to report to Parliament on the effectiveness
of the Regulations in early 2009. Meanwhile, however, DBERR have
provided the Committee with information on progress so far with
the scheme - the "WEEE system" - and this is printed
at the Appendix.
CIVIL ENFORCEMENT OF PARKING CONTRAVENTIONS (ENGLAND)
GENERAL REGULATIONS 2007 (SI 2007/3483)
REMOVAL AND DISPOSAL OF VEHICLES (AMENDMENT) (ENGLAND)
REGULATIONS 2007 (SI 2007/3484)
CIVIL ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS (WEARING OF UNIFORMS)
(ENGLAND) REGULATIONS 2007 (SI 2007/3485
CIVIL ENFORCEMENT OF PARKING CONTRAVENTIONS (APPROVED
DEVICES) (ENGLAND) ORDER 2007 (SI 2007/3486)
CIVIL ENFORCEMENT OF PARKING CONTRAVENTIONS (GUIDELINES
ON LEVELS OF CHARGES) (ENGLAND) ORDER 2007 (SI 2007/3487)
31. These five instruments, together with the
Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions (England) Representations
and Appeals Regulations 2007 (SI 2007/3482), revise the administration
of civil parking procedures from 31 March and seek to make them
more consistent, by giving authorities outside London powers currently
only held by those in London. The regulations also set out new
clamping procedures, rules for camera enforcement, differential
parking charges depending on the severity of the offence and certain
increased discount periods for fines sent by post.
GREATER LONDON AUTHORITY ELECTIONS RULES 2007 (SI
2007/3541)
32. The Greater London Authority Elections Rules
2007 (SI 2007/3541) make provision for the conduct of the
Mayor of London and London Assembly elections due to take place
in May 2008. The instrument updates and replaces the Rules used
at the last election to reflect changes made by the Electoral
Administration Act 2006. The Rules are part of a package which
also includes the Greater London Authority (Relevant Registration
Officers) Order 2007 (which is not subject to Parliamentary
procedure) and the draft Greater London Authority Elections
(Election Addresses) (Amendment) Order 2008 laid on 9 January.
Members will recall that the House debated and defeated the first
version of these Rules in 2000[6],
concerned at the then lack of provision for election addresses.
These Rules do not alter the existing arrangements for the distribution
of election addresses except to allow candidates to include a
joint description and to allow electronic copies to be supplied
on request, in addition to the underlying duty of the Greater
London Returning Officer to supply a hard copy to the homes of
all those entitled to vote in the Greater London area.
CRIMINAL DEFENCE SERVICE (FUNDING) (AMENDMENT) ORDER
2007 (SI 2007/3552)
33. The Criminal Defence Service (Funding) (Amendment)
Order 2007 (SI 2007/3552) replaces the current remuneration
scheme for services provided as part of the Criminal Defence Service
by solicitors in the Crown Court, with a new graduated fee scheme.
This is in line with the proposals set out in Lord Carter of Coles'
review of the Legal Aid system. The Order makes minor amendments
to the Advocates' Graduated Fee Scheme, contained in Schedule
1 of the 2007 Order, to clarify the provisions on discontinuance
and dismissal and trials lasting over 40 days. It also removes
references to Very High Cost Cases from 14th January 2008, which
on or after that date, will be remunerated in accordance with
contractual arrangements entered into with the Legal Services
Commission.
5 Code A relates to police powers to stop and search;
Code B with police powers to search premises and to seize and
retain property; Code C sets out the requirements for the detention,
treatment and questioning of suspects not related to terrorism:
Code D concerns the main methods used to identify people in connection
with the investigation of offences and the keeping of accurate
and reliable criminal records: Code E deals with the tape recording
of interviews with suspects in the police station. Further information
is given on http://police.homeoffice.gov.uk/operational-policing/powers-pace-codes/pace-code-intro/ Back
6
Draft Greater London Authority Elections (Election Expenses )
Order 2000 and the Greater London Authority Elections Rules 2000
(SI 2000/208), HL Deb 22 February 2000. Back
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