Explanatory note

These Regulations, which extend to England and Wales, apply where a Minister is authorised under or by virtue of specified provisions to recover his costs in connection with the holding of an inquiry.

The Regulations specify a standard amount which may be charged for each day on which the inquiry sits or the person appointed to hold the inquiry is otherwise engaged on work connected with it. The amount is £160 per day up to and including the 31st of March 1989; and £210 per day thereafter.

Provisions repealed by the 1986 Act specify maximum amounts which a Minister may recover in respect of the services of officers engaged on an inquiry. These specified amounts are now £105 per day in the case of inquiries under section 250(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 (see S.I. 1980/1612) and smaller amounts in other cases.

Transitional provisions are made as respects the application of section 42 of the 1986 Act, and consequently as respects the application of these regulations, by the Housing and Planning Act 1986 (Commencement No. 12) Order 1988 (S.I. 1988/1787). The effect is that the standard daily amount specified by these Regulations is not payable in relation to any inquiry which opens before the date when they come into force or, in a case where an inquiry is fixed but does not take place, if the date for the inquiry was notified to the principal parties before the commencement of these Regulations.