Instruments of interest
Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) (Revocation) (England, Wales and Scotland) Regulations 2022 (SI 2022/559)
8.These Regulations revoked a controlled drug licensing requirement made at the end of last year,4 the day before they were due to come into effect, because the Home Office had discovered that the substance to be licensed, Gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), is used much more widely by industry than at first realised.
9.The original estimate of 65 businesses affected reflected information from trade associations about businesses importing or using the pure substance. Subsequent discussions with the Alliance of Chemical Associations indicated that at least 7,500 companies that use GBH in diluted or blended forms in either products or processing would be affected by the licensing requirement, which meant that the licensing requirement would not be practicable. We are astonished at the magnitude of this oversight. The House may wish to note the case as an illustration of the need for government departments to consult thoroughly when formulating legislation to ensure that the impacts of proposed changes to the law are properly assessed. Concerns also remain that, although certain formulations of these chemicals remain controlled drugs which cannot be lawfully sold for human ingestion, they are still finding their way to the street for illicit use. The Home Office is about to re-consult on an alternative way of restricting the illicit uses of the substance, and we urge the Government to act as quickly as possible to resolve the situation.
Education (Information About Individual Pupils) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 (SI 2022/599)
10.This instrument expands the range of data that is collected in schools about particularly vulnerable children as part of the School Census, the Department for Education’s (DfE) primary source of pupil level information in England. This includes:
- Additional information to that currently collected in relation to children in state care, to capture specifically whether a child has been adopted outside of England or Wales. According to DfE, this is to ensure greater visibility of these pupils, so that they are provided with the same level of tailored support as those adopted within England and Wales. It is also intended that this new information will be included in the calculation of the pupil premium, which provides additional funding to improve education outcomes for disadvantaged pupils in schools in England.
- Additional information about whether a pupil is, to the knowledge of the school, a young carer and who has identified the pupil as such. This is to raise the visibility of young carers in the school system and enable DfE to obtain evidence on the young carer population, including evidence on attendance and absenteeism, educational progress and attainment, in order to improve educational support for these pupils.
- Mandatory collection of two sets of data which are currently provided voluntarily, and which will enable DfE to understand why and how pupils are being placed solely on the school roll of Pupil Referral Units and Alternative Provision Academies,5 and why and how schools are placing pupils in education provision outside of the school.
11.We note that the Explanatory Memorandum (EM) provided with this instrument uses a standard description of the instrument’s territorial extent and application. We take the view that this may not be sufficiently clear for a lay reader who may not be familiar with the terms used or with the devolution of education policy in the UK, and that the EM would therefore have benefited from a clearer explanation of the fact that the additional information will only be collected from schools in England.
Allocation of Housing and Homelessness (Eligibility) (England) and Persons Subject to Immigration Control (Housing Authority Accommodation and Homelessness) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2022 (SI 2022/601)
Allocation of Housing and Homelessness (Eligibility) (England) and Persons Subject to Immigration Control (Housing Authority Accommodation and Homelessness) (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2022 (SI 2022/626)
12.SI 2022/601 enables local authorities in England to treat as eligible for housing and homelessness assistance persons in the UK who have limited leave to remain granted in accordance with the Appendix Ukraine Scheme of the immigration rules and who applied for that leave from within the UK. This will bring access to benefits and services for this particular group in line with others from Ukraine who applied from outside the UK under the Ukraine Extension Scheme and Ukraine Family Scheme.
13.We note that the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has had to lay a correcting instrument, SI 2022/626, a week after laying SI 2022/601. The correction means that the changes will come into force on 10 June, as originally intended, rather than on 22 June 2022, as incorrectly provided for in SI 2022/601. DLUHC says that the intention had always been for the changes to come into force at the earliest opportunity because of the need to provide support to those unable to return to Ukraine, and that it is considering introducing further checks to ensure that such errors do not occur again in future.
National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2022 (SI 2022/614)
Health Protection (Notification) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 (SI 2022/616)
14.SI 2022/616 makes “monkeypox” a notifiable disease in England with immediate effect. This means doctors are required to notify the relevant local authority when they have reasonable grounds for suspecting a patient has monkeypox and that laboratories are required to notify the United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) when monkeypox virus has been identified in a sample. Although the system has already identified over 300 confirmed cases, the increased incidence of this formerly rare virus has prompted the Department of Health and Social Care to increase vigilance on the grounds that swift collection and analysis of data enables the UKHSA to trace contacts, interrupt transmission and contain the disease. The Devolved Administrations are also monitoring the situation.
15.SI 2022/614 exempts foreign visitors to the UK from having to pay any charges if they seek diagnosis and treatment of monkeypox through the NHS. Until recently, cases were only seen in remote parts of Central and West Africa but have now been identified in a number of European countries, with some cases being transmitted through the community rather than linked to travel to countries where the disease is endemic. This instrument also came into effect the day after it was laid in order to minimise any risk to public health from overseas visitors failing to come forward for treatment due to the prospect of being charged.
4 Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) (England, Wales and Scotland) Regulations 2021 (SI 2021/1427).
5 According to the Department for Education, Pupil referral units (PRUs) teach children who are not able to attend school and may not otherwise receive suitable education, for example because they have an illness, have been excluded or are a new starter waiting for a mainstream school place. PRUs that convert to academy status become Alternative Provision Academies.