Department of Health

Website of the Department of Health

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Legislation

Mothers with children in waiting room

This section details all publications about primary and secondary legislation relating to the Department of Health, the National Health Service and social care in England.

Acts and Bills

Useful information relating to DH about UK Acts of Parliament (public and local) and their explanatory and guidance notes.

Regulatory impact assessment

Structured documents published with regulatory proposals and new legislation to assist informed public debate.

Health assessments

The consideration of health impact assessment (HIA) in the Government’s impact assessment process is mandatory. This means that health and wellbeing are designed into national policy.

Directions from the Secretary of State

Instructions issued by the Secretary of State (or in some cases Strategic Health Authorities) to other NHS bodies under powers in NHS legislation.

Statutory instruments

Secondary legislation that consists of an order, regulations, rules or a scheme and are made under powers conferred by primary legislation.

Additional links

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Related links

Government Draft Legislative Programme

Get advance sight of planned government legislation, and then let us know what you think.

Ordering publications

Contact details for obtaining hard-copy DH publications.

Help viewing PDFs

Useful tips to ensure you get the most from PDFs and the free Reader program. Topics covered include accessibility, troubleshooting and searching files.

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