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Higher Education and Research Act 2017

Contents

Territorial extent and application

  1. Section 123 sets out the territorial extent of this Act, that is the jurisdictions which this Act forms part of the law of. The extent of an Act can be different from its application. Application is about where an Act produces a practical effect, disregarding effects that are minor or consequential. The commentary on individual provisions (or groups of provisions) of this Act includes a paragraph explaining their extent.
  2. All provisions of this Act extend to England and Wales and apply to England.
  3. The provisions relating to student complaints also apply in part to Wales.
  4. The provisions on the following topics also extend and apply to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland:
    • the making of arrangements for schemes for rating the quality and standards of higher education (higher education is a devolved matter and these provisions enable the devolved administrations to consent to providers taking part in such schemes established under this Act);
    • enabling the Secretary of State to obtain application-to-acceptance data and sharing that with authorised researchers;
    • research councils (except for provisions which relate exclusively to the functions of Research England) and the establishment of UKRI;
    • co-operation and information sharing and joint working of authorities (these provisions touch on devolved matters).
  5. Amendments to existing legislation relating to the power to make alternative payments also extend to Scotland and Northern Ireland and apply to Wales but do not apply to Scotland or Northern Ireland. Other amendments relating to financial support for students also apply to Wales (but do not extend or apply to Scotland or Northern Ireland). The power to offer student support is a devolved matter.
  6. Some amendments to existing legislation relating to unrecognised degrees also extend to Scotland but do not apply there.
  7. Some amendments to existing legislation relating to powers in relation to the unauthorised use of "university" title also extend to Scotland and Northern Ireland but do not apply there.
  8. Section 83 (an interpretation provision) also applies to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to the extent that it is needed to apply there for the purposes of section 25.
  9. The general provisions in Part 4 also extend to Scotland and Northern Ireland but not all of them will apply there.
  10. In addition, this Act makes a number of consequential amendments to existing legislation. Any amendment, repeal or revocation made by this Act has the same extent within the United Kingdom as the enactment amended, repealed or revoked (see subsection (4) of section 123, which is subject to the exceptions set out in subsections (5) and (6) of that section). Section 54(18) and paragraph 27(2) of Schedule 12 provide for certain amendments to extend or be extended to the Channel Islands, Isle of Man or British overseas territories.
  11. See the table in Annex A for a summary of the position regarding territorial extent and application in the United Kingdom.

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