The economic secretary to the Treasury, Bim Afolami, has issued a statement on the Overseas Funds Regime (OFR) and the UK’s equivalence assessment of the EEA states. Afolami confirmed that the government has found the EEA states equivalent under the OFR, and does not intend to require the funds assessed to comply with any additional UK requirements as part of this equivalence determination at this time. The government also announced that it intends to consult on whether to broaden the scope of the sustainable disclosure requirements (SDR) to include funds recognised under the OFR.

The Department of Health and Social Care has confirmed that, following consultation, the statutory payment rate pharmaceutical companies must pay on NHS sales of newer branded medicines will rise from 15.5% to 31.3% from 1 July 2025. The adjustment raises the statutory scheme’s average annual payment rate to 23.4% in 2025, with headline rates of 24.3% and 26.0% set for 2026 and 2027 respectively. This move positions the UK’s repayment rates well above those in comparable markets, with Germany and France requiring repayments of 7% and 5.7% respectively.

The UK government has introduced checks to better detect pests and diseases from imported products and improve biosecurity as part of the Border Target Operating Model. Identity and physical checks testing for pests and diseases have been introduced for ‘medium risk’ products which involves visual inspections and temperature. Goods identified as ‘high risk’ will be checked at the border rather than at destination. Previously most imported goods from the EU did not undergo checks when entering the UK.

Law360, London: UK tax authority's loan charge targeting individuals who incurred hefty tax bills after signing up for disguised remuneration schemes, a move critics claim has unfairly hit tens of thousands of contractors.

The UK government has launched its second five-year national action plan on antimicrobial resistance to protect against the risk of drug-resistant infections by 2040. The action plan will ensure the UK is decreasing its use of antimicrobials such as antibiotics, antifungals and antivirals in humans and animals and enhance the surveillance of drug-resistant infections before they emerge and incentivise industry to develop the next generation of treatments. The plan builds on the progress made in the previous five-year national action plan and lessons learned from coronavirus (COVID-19) and lays ambitious goals to drive down inappropriate use of antibiotics and promote further development of new drugs and vaccines.

The UK government has launched a new £11.59m fund, invested over three years, to strengthen partnerships between local councils and civil society to support delivery of more joined-up preventative care and support across communities. The fund is launched alongside a competition to appoint grant recipient(s) to deliver the Local Covenant Partnerships (LCP) Fund. The funding is intended to drive implementation of the government Civil Society Covenant, and will support 15 areas across England to implement new ‘local covenant partnership’ agreements helping to build stronger relationships and drive better outcomes for local communities in areas including mental health, adult social care, women’s refuges and child poverty.

Law360: The new Labour Government said on 17 July 2024 that it will push ahead with draft legislation to toughen up regulation of auditors to help to reduce the risk of corporate failures.

MLex: UK moves to protect prosecutors from deep-pocketed individuals in suspected dirty-money cases could see enforcers becoming braver in taking on Kleptocrats, but history suggests there is unlikely to be a glut of new cases. Figures released last week show that with similar civil orders used to combat suspect cash, just two were applied for in the year up to May 2024, with just one granted.

Law360, London: Those of us who have pressed for years for the reform of whistleblowing law are pleased to see that whistleblowing is now starting to receive the attention it deserves. I take great heart in the knowledge that we now have broad agreement that whistleblowers should be properly protected and that the information they provide should be valued and investigated. But unlocking real change remains a huge challenge.

Launching the Capital Markets Industry Taskforce conference, the economic secretary to the Treasury, Tulip Siddiq, sets out the government’s vision for the future of UK capital markets. Siddiq said the Treasury envisages that the UK capital markets will underpin the mission of sustained and meaningful economic growth.

The UK government has published its response to the consultation on a proposed legislation to create a smokefree generation and tackle youth vaping, which ran from 12 October–6 December 2023. The government took into consideration the responses received and has announced it will work with devolved administrations to ensure that the recommendations and measures are adopted consistently across the UK and there is regulatory alignment. The government will now bring forward legislation to ban proxy sales in line with the change in age of sale legislation and make it an offence for anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 to be sold tobacco products, among other things, to create the first smokefree generation. In addition, the government will introduce regulation to restrict vape flavours and how vapes are displayed in stores, among other actions to reduce the rise in youth vaping.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, HM Revenue and Customs, the National Crime Agency, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation and the Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation have jointly published a collection of sanctions enforcement actions. The collection compiles monetary penalties, prosecution outcomes and disclosure notices imposed by the respective enforcement bodies, alongside case studies and key compliance lessons for industry on the implementation and enforcement of UK sanctions regulations.