Two Regulations were made on the 25th of April, one of broad significance to the general public, and the other very specific.
With Friday’s change in emphasis between the restrictions on movement regulations, and the restrictions on events and gatherings, the power of the police to issue fixed penalty notices for the latter is of practical importance. The Fixed Penalty (Amendment) Regulations address a problem I identified in my note on the amendment to the Events and Gatherings Regulations, that the fixed penalty regime appeared to apply only to the offence in Regulation 8(1), and not the new offence in Regulation 8(2). This Regulation applies the fixed penalty notice regime to the Regulation 8(2) offence.
The Provision of Temporary Accommodation Regulations allow the Department of Health and Social Care to secure temporary accommodation for persons who do not have a right to occupy any premises (reg.4,5). If the DHSC concludes that a person has no right to occupy any premises, that person is eligible to be housed: the default is therefore that a person is not eligible under the scheme (reg.6(3)). The person does not need to be a Manx resident, but obviously needs to be present in the Isle of Man (draft license, part A). A person who provides false or misleading information to the DHSC when it is determining whether a person has a right to occupy a property commits an offence punishable by up to 3 months custody and/or a £10,000 fine (reg.6(2)). A person who accepts an offer as a temporary resident must pay a charge for the accommodation, but this may be deducted from a state benefit (reg.8). Accommodation may only be offered on terms set out in a form letter in the Regulations (reg.7): meaning that the law only allows temporary accommodation to be offered in either the Sefton Express Hotel or Athol House Hotel; and that a weekly charge of £192.25 per week including three meals a day be charged. In its current form, therefore, this Regulation is very specific indeed.
Peter Edge's Law Blog. 