July Newsletter

Tax and Spending  

• A Budget Responsibility Bill will ensure any government making significant and permanent tax and spending changes will be subject to an independent assessment by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)
• A Pension Schemes Bill will introduce new rules and requirements for private sector pension schemes
• A new bill will allow the Crown Estate to borrow from the government to invest in new infrastructure projects, an idea suggested under the previous Conservative administration

Housing and Planning

• A Planning and Infrastructure Bill will unlock more housing and infrastructure across the country, speeding up and streamlining the planning process
• A Renters’ Rights Bill will ban no fault evictions and extend a series of building safety rules
• A draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill will curb ground rent for existing leaseholders

Energy and Infrastructure

• A new state owned energy investment and generation company, GB Energy, will be created by the Great British Energy Bill
• A National Wealth Fund Bill will set up a new fund to invest £7.3bn over five years in infrastructure and green industry
• A Water (Special Measures) Bill will make the bosses of private water companies personally liable for lawbreaking and give the Water Regulator new powers to ban bonuses

Employment

• An Employment Rights Bill will ban the “exploitative” use of zero hours contracts and introduce various new workers’ rights promised, ahead of the election
• A Race Equality Bill will extend the right to make equal pay claims under the Equality Act to ethnic minority workers and disabled people and bring in new pay reporting requirements for bigger firms

Transport

• A Passenger Railway Services Bill will allow the government to re-nationalise nearly all passenger rail services, when existing contracts expire
• A new body to oversee track and trains, Great British Railways will be established by a separate Railways Bill
• A Better Buses Bill will allow a wider range of local leaders to take over responsibility for running bus services
• A High Speed Rail Bill (previously tabled to build the now scrapped northern leg of the HS2 rail link, will bring in powers to build new rail infrastructure in northern England

Crimes and Borders

• A Crime and Policing Bill will give police new powers to tackle antisocial behaviour and make assaulting shopworkers a specific crime
• The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill published in draft form by the Conservatives, will enact Martyn’s Law, requiring large venues to put in place procedures to deal with the threat of terrorism
• A new Victims, Courts and Public Protection Bill will introduce new rules requiring offenders to attend sentencing hearings and to strip parental rights from child sex offenders
• A Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill will allow police to use counter-terror powers to tackle gangs smuggling migrants into the UK

Health and Education

• Labour will introduce a gradual ban on smoking by bringing back the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, first announced under Rishi Sunak
• A Mental Health Bill will tighten rules on sectioning people and change the rules on care for people with learning difficulties
• A Children’s Wellbeing Bill will force councils in England to have and maintain Children Not in School registers for home-educated children and introduce free breakfast clubs in all primary schools in England
• The Skills England Bill will set up a new arms-length body of the same name to boost and regionalise training
• A draft Conversion Practices Bill will introduce new restrictions on “abusive” practices intended to change people’s sexual orientation or gender identity
• Although a specific Bill is not mentioned, the speech said ministers would bring in measures to remove the VAT exemption on private school fees

Technology

• A Digital Information and Smart Data Bill will allow people to use digital ID to buy age restricted products and for matters like pre-employment checks
• A Cyber Security and Resilience Bill will set out new rules designed to protect critical infrastructure from attackers

Constitutional Measures

• An English Devolution Bill will streamline the process to transfer more powers to elected mayors in combined council areas and offer much greater devolution to all parts of England
• A new Bill will phase out the remaining hereditary peers sitting in the House of Lords
• A separate Bill will prolong measures designed to boost the number of female bishops in the House of Lords that are due to expire next year
• A Hillsborough Bill will place a legal duty of candour on public servants and authorities, aiming to address a defensive culture prevalent across much of the public sector

Other Bills

• Another law halted because of the election, the Football Governance Bill will set up a regulator for the top five divisions of men’s football
• There is also a Bill to set up an Armed Forces Commissioner, with powers to inspect faulty kit and military accommodation

This month’s Clear Vision positive thought:
‘Life is 10% what happens to you

and 90% how you react to it’

For more information about any of the above, including Labour’s King’s Speech, please get in touch.