Guest blog by Professor Diana Kloss MBE
This Bill has received its second reading in the House of Commons and now moves to the Committee stage. Its purpose is to examine all the remaining UK regulations that originated in the European Union and any direct EU legislation retained after Brexit in order to decide whether to keep it, in whole or in part, as UK law. This has already been done with, for example, the GDPR, which has been enacted as the UK GDPR, preserving much but not the entire EU Regulation. Occupational health professionals are likely to be most concerned with health and safety regulations and those granting workers’ rights.
- The Bill contains a ‘sunset clause’, that is that all EU-derived secondary legislation (regulations) will cease to have effect on 31st December 2023, unless new regulations are created by ministerial order affirming them in whole or in part. Last June, the government published an interactive dashboard setting out 2,400 retained EU law measures, but since then there have been press reports that another 1,400 pieces of legislation have been discovered. Reviewing all these regulations is a mammoth task and it seems unlikely that it can be completed efficiently by December. The Bill allows Ministers to delay the sunset but only up until 23rd June 2026.
- Many regulations made under the authority of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 are derived from EU directives and fall within the ambit of the Bill. They include the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992, the Workplace (Health Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER) 1998, the Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992, the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 2002, the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002, the Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005, and the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005. As regards dangerous substances both the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 and the Control of Lead at Work Regulations 2002 are derived from EU directives.
- The Working Time Regulations 1998, as amended, are also derived from EU law. They give a legal right to paid holidays and to regular breaks from work, none of which existed in UK law before 1998.
- The Bill does not apply to primary Acts of Parliament, so it does not affect, for example, the Equality Act, much of which originated in European law.
- The Bill provides that decisions of the European Court of Justice interpreting legislation can be departed from by UK higher courts, meaning the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and the High Court.
- Ministers will have power to decide whether regulations will be kept, amended or repealed by making new regulations. This confers power on the executive rather that the legislature and is criticised as reducing the power of the elected representatives of the people in the House of Commons.
- The HSE has pointed out that health and safety regulations can already be made or amended by the Secretary of State by a power given by section 15 Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and, if it is thought that existing regulations need amendment, that power should be used, since it is a procedure of which both government and the HSE have considerable experience.
The need to protect workers against hazards has been recognised in the UK since the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution and enforcement by the HSE and local authorities is vital to protect the health and safety of the workforce.
ROSPA are leading a campaign here.