Legislation has taken effect from 18 July to grant local authorities new powers to respond to a serious and imminent threat to public health and to prevent COVID-19 transmission in a local authority’s area. These regulations include powers for local authorities to: > restrict access to, or close, individual premises > prohibit certain events (or types of event) from taking place > restrict access to, or close, public outdoor places (or types of outdoor public places) following procedural requirements set out in the Regulations and covered below. This guidance provides clarity to local authorities on how to implement the Regulations and to support those impacted by any intervention made under them. To make a direction under these Regulations a local authority needs to be satisfied that the following 3 conditions are met: > the direction responds to a serious and imminent threat to public health in the local authority’s area > the direction is necessary to prevent, protect against, control or provide a public health response to the incidence or spread of infection in the local authority’s area of coronavirus > the prohibitions, requirements or restrictions imposed by the direction are a proportionate means of achieving that purpose Before making a direction, local authorities will need to gather sufficient evidence to demonstrate that these tests have been met. This evidence may come from a range of sources, including information provided to the local authority from local experts, through the Local Resilience Forum, from NHS Test and Trace (including the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC)), from Public Health England (PHE) and from other sources. A local authority must consult with the director of public health, and assess whether the conditions for taking action have been met. It must have regard to any advice given to it prior to issuing a direction, or to revoke such a direction. A local authority should also consult the police prior to issuing a direction, and any neighbouring police forces if the direction prohibits, requires or restricts access to a premise, event or public outdoor place that is situated against a Local Resilience Forum boundary. Local authorities should be clear about why they are taking directive action and communicate this clearly to the Secretary of State, the person(s) to whom the direction applies and, where appropriate, those impacted by the direction. Regulation 3 also allows the Secretary of State to direct a local authority to issue a direction where the Secretary of State considers the conditions above have been met, and can also direct a local authority to revoke an existing direction (with or without a replacement direction) where the above conditions are no longer met. Any direction issued by a local authority under the Regulations will need to state the date and time on which the prohibition, requirement or restriction comes into effect, and the date and time on which it will end. This should include the basis on which the three conditions are met and why a specific prohibition, requirement or restriction is necessary. A local authority must review a direction it has issued under the Regulations at least every seven days and determine whether the three conditions for making the direction continue to be met. If at any stage the threshold for restrictions is no longer met (there is no longer a serious and imminent threat to public health, or the measures are not deemed to be necessary and proportionate to prevent or control the incidence or spread of infection in the local authority’s area), the direction should be immediately revoked or replaced with a direction which meets the threshold set out above. Prior to issuing a direction, local authorities must have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) as set out in section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 and should consider carrying out an equalities impact assessment to determine whether the measure may disproportionately affect people with protected characteristics. Identifying disproportionate impact would not prohibit a local authority from taking action, but this should be balanced against the wider public health risk in a local authority’s area, and mitigations should be considered and implemented wherever possible. Those directly impacted by any direction under these Regulations, including the owner or occupier of premises or event organiser against whom a direction applies, will have the right of appeal to a local magistrate and may make representations to the Secretary of State. (source: www.gov.uk/)