These Regulations officially bring the entirety of the Paternity Leave (Bereavement) Act 2024 into force on 29th December 2025, activating the amendments made to the Employment Rights Act 1996 that introduce provisions for paternity leave when a mother or a person expecting to adopt a child dies.

These Regulations amend Part 1A of Schedule 6B to the Enterprise Act 2002, establishing specific conditions under which a foreign power that controls or influences a newspaper owner via a state-owned investor is exempt from merger control prohibitions.

The amendments replace previous conditions by requiring state-owned investors holding directly between 5% and 15% of shares or voting rights in a newspaper owner to issue a qualifying notification to the Secretary of State and publish specified information online within 14 days of acquisition to qualify for the exception, while also limiting the total aggregate holding by state-owned investors across all foreign powers to 15%.

These Regulations, made under the Education Act 1996 and Education and Skills Act 2008, establish mandatory duties for schools in England regarding the recording and reporting of incidents where a member of staff secludes, restrains, or immobilizes a pupil outside of a disciplinary penalty; specifically, they require maintained schools to record such incidents and provide copies to parents, allowing for records to be withheld if disclosure risks the pupil's significant harm, while also amending standards for independent and non-maintained special schools to introduce equivalent requirements and simultaneously revoking a previous version of these regulations issued in error.

These Regulations establish the framework for ensuring marine equipment placed on board UK ships complies with relevant international safety and pollution prevention standards, replacing the 2016 regulations and associated EU exit amendments; they define the roles and responsibilities of manufacturers, importers, distributors, approved bodies (for UK conformity approval), and nominated bodies (for type approval), and lay out detailed conformity assessment procedures, enforcement powers including ship detention, and consequential amendments to related maritime legislation.

These Regulations, made by the Secretary of State under the Automated Vehicles Act 2024, specify the first set of provisions from that Act that will come into force on 1st January 2026.

Specifically, they activate sections strengthening laws against tampering with vehicle equipment (including software) and fitting unsuitable parts, and they also activate sections that grant the Secretary of State power to regulate the restriction of certain terms, the collection and protection of information, and other administrative procedures, though these latter powers are currently only active for the purpose of making subsequent regulations.

These Regulations amend the Procurement Act 2023 to incorporate the procurement obligations stemming from two international agreements: the Strategic Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with Kazakhstan and the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with Iraq.

The amendments specify these treaties as 'specified international agreements' under Schedule 9 of the 2023 Act, granting treaty state suppliers reciprocal treatment under certain conditions, excluding procurements regulated by the Welsh Ministers.

Furthermore, the instrument modifies the 2024 Commencement and Saving Provisions Regulations to ensure consistency, allowing the procurement chapters of these new agreements to apply to procurements still governed by the retained 2015 and 2016 procurement legislation, with transitional rules protecting procurements already underway.

These Regulations establish comprehensive, mandatory procedures for schools in England, effective from 1st April 2026, requiring school staff to keep written records of every incident where a pupil is secluded, restrained, or immobilized, and mandating that these records (with specified safeguarding exceptions) are supplied to the pupil's parents as soon as practicable; the rules also amend the standards for independent and non-maintained special schools to enforce equivalent recording and reporting duties concerning seclusion, restraint, and use of force incidents.

This Order, presented to His Majesty in Council on December 10, 2025, exercises powers under the Government of Wales Act 2006 to amend Schedule 9A, which lists devolved Welsh authorities.

It officially removes the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales and the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales from the list, inserting the Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru in their place, reflecting prior legislative changes concerning electoral bodies and remuneration functions in Wales, and takes effect on January 8, 2026.