Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984

Part I — Administrative Provisions

General administration

Authorities administering Act

1

• (1) In this Act “ local authority ” means any of the following—

• (a) a district council;

• (b) in England, a county council for an area for which there is no district council;

• (c) in Wales, a county council or county borough council;

• (d) a London borough council;

• (e) the Common Council of the City of London;

• (f) the Sub-Treasurer of the Inner Temple and the Under Treasurer of the Middle Temple;

• (g) the Council of the Isles of Scilly.

• (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (3) A local authority having jurisdiction in any part of a port health district (including the London port health district) shall not discharge in relation to it any functions which are functions of the port health authority.

• (4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Port health districts and authorities

Port health districts and authorities

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• (1) In this Act, “port” means—

• (a) a port as appointed for the purposes of the enactments for the time being in force relating to customs or excise other than the Port of London, or

• (b) the Port of London.

• (2) In this Act, subject to section 8(2)

below, “riparian authority”, in relation to a port of a port, means—

• (a) any local authority whose district, or any part of whose district, forms part of, or abuts on, that port or part of a port, and

• (b) any conservators, commissioners or other persons having authority in, over or within that port or part of a port.

• (3) Subject to the provisions of this section, the Secretary of State may be order made by statutory instrument constitute a port health district either—

• (a) consisting of any area, being a port or part of a port other than the Port of London, or of two or more such areas, or

• (b) consisting of such an area, or of two or more such areas, together with so much (being either the whole or any part or parts) of the district or districts of one or more riparian authorities as (not being comprised in that area or any of those areas, as the case may be) is specified in the order.

• (4) An order under this section constituting a port health district may either—

• (a) constitute one riparian authority the port health authority for the district, or

• (b) constitute a joint board, consisting of representatives of two or more riparian authorities, to be the port health authority for the district.

• (5) A joint board so constituted a port health authority shall be a body corporate by such name as may be determined by the order constituting the port health district:

• (6) Where the Secretary of State proposes to make an order under this section, he shall give notice of the proposal to every riparian authority who will under the order be liable to contribute to the expenses of the port health authority.

• (7) If, within 28 days after notice has been given to any such riparian authority under subsection (6) above, they give notice to the Secretary of State that they object to the proposal and the objection is not withdrawn, any order made by the Secretary of State which will impose any such liability on that authority shall be subject to special parliamentary procedure.

• (8) All expenses of, and incidental to, the constitution of a port health district shall be payable by the port health authority.

• (9) So far as those expenses are expenses incurred by the Secretary of State, their amount as certified by him shall be recoverable by him from the authority as a debt due to the Crown.

Jurisdiction and powers of port health authority

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• (1) An order under section 2 above constituting a port health district—

• (a) shall confer on the port health authority jurisdiction over all waters and land within the port health district, and

• (b) may assign to the port health authority any of the functions, rights and liabilities of a local authority under any enactment relating to public health, waste disposal or the control of pollution, whether passed before or after, and whether or not contained in, this Act.

• (2) Any such order may also assign to the port health authority any of the functions, rights and liabilities—

• (a) of a food authority under the Food Safety Act 1990;

• (b) of a local authority under Part I of the Slaughterhouses Act 1974, or

• (c) of a local authority under any of the following provisions of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976—

• (i) section 16 (power of local authorities to obtain particulars of persons interested in land),

• (ii) section 32 (power of local authorities to execute works outside their areas),

• (iii) section 41 (evidence of resolutions and minutes of proceedings etc.).

• (3) section 241 of the Local Government Act 1972 (which enables any of the provisions of that Act to be applied to a joint board of which the constituent members are local authorities) shall apply in relation to a port health authority constituted under section 2 above, notwithstanding that it may consist of a single local authority or may be a joint board of which not all the constituent members are local authorities.

General provisions as to orders constituting port health districts and authorities

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• (1) An order under section 2 above may contain such incidental, consequential and supplementary provisions as appear to the Secretary of State to be necessary or proper for bringing it into operation and giving it full effect, and in particular, but without prejudice to the generality of this subsection, provisions—

• (a) for the settlement of any differences arising in consequence of the operation of the order between districts or other areas,

• (b) for the transfer of property and liabilities, and the making of any such adjustment of accounts or apportionment of liabilities between districts or other areas as may be rendered necessary by the operation of the order, and

• (c) as to the persons by or to whom any money found to be due is to be paid, and the raising of such money.

• (2) Where the Secretary of State proposes to make an order amending or revoking any such order, he shall give notice of his intention of the port health authority concerned and to every authority which is, or under the proposed order will be, a constituent authority.

• (3) If, within 28 days after notice has been given to any such authority, they give notice to the Secretary of State that they object to the proposal and the objection is not withdrawn, any order made by the Secretary of State shall be subject to special parliamentary procedure.

• (4) Where by virtue of subsection (7) of section 2 above or subsection (3) above an order under that section (not being an order made on the application of a local authority) is subject to special parliamentary procedure—

• (a) section 240 of the Local Government Act 1972 (which relates to the procedure for making such orders) shall have effect as if, for references to the applicants for the order and to the application for the order, there were substituted respectively references to the Secretary of State and to the order proposed to be made by him, and

• (b) the expenses incurred by the Secretary of State in connection with the making and confirmation of the order shall be paid by such council, or by such councils in such shares, as he may direct, and the amount of those expenses as certified by him, or the amount of any share of them so certified, shall be recoverable by him from the council liable for the expenses or share as a debt due to the Crown.

• (5) Any reference in this Act to an order constituting a port health district shall be construed as including a reference to any order made under this section for the amendment of the original order.

Financial provisions as to port health authorities

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• (1) Subject to the provisions of the order constituting a port health authority under section 2 above, the authority shall have the like powers of borrowing for the purposes of their functions under the order as a local authority have for the purposes of their functions under this Act.

• (2) Any expenses incurred by a joint board constituted by such an order shall be defrayed by the constituent districts in such proportions and in such manner as may be determined by or in accordance with the order.

• (3) For the purpose of obtaining payment from constituent districts ... of the sums to be contributed by them, such a joint board shall issue precepts to the local authority of each district concerned, stating the sum to be contributed by the authority and requiring the authority, within a time limited by the precept, to pay the sums mentioned in it to the port health authority, or to such person as the port health authority may direct.

• (4) Any sum mentioned in a precept issued under this section by a joint board to a local authority shall be a debt due from that authority, and may be recovered accordingly, ....

Port of London

Extent of Port of London

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In this Act, “the Port of London” means the port of that name appointed for the purposes of the enactments relating to customs or excise, together with all such waters between—

• (a) the seaward limit of the port as so established, and

• (b) imaginary straight lines drawn from latitude 51° 37” 00’ north, longitude 0° 57” 19’ east (Foulness Point in the county of Essex) to latitude 51° 46” 05’ north, longitude 1° 20” 32’ east (Gunfleet Old Lighthouse) and thence to latitude 51° 26” 36’ north, longitude 1° 25” 30’ east and thence to latitude 51° 24” 55’ north, longitude 0° 54” 21’ east (Warden Point in the county of Kent),

as immediately before the coming into force of the Territorial Sea Act 1987 were within the territorial waters of Her Majesty’s dominions.

Port health district and authority for Port of London

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• (1) For the purposes of this Act—

• (a) the Port of London, together with

• (b) so much (being either the whole or any part or parts) of the district or districts of one or more riparian authorities as (not being comprised in the Port of London) may be specified in an order made by the Secretary of State,

shall be a port health district (in this Act referred to as “the London port health district”), and the Common Council of the City of London shall be the port health authority for that district.

• (2) The Secretary of State may by order confer on the port health authority for the London port health district (in this Act referred to as “the London port health authority”) jurisdiction over all waters and land within that port health district.

• (3) The Secretary of State may by order assign to the London port health authority any of the functions, rights and liabilities—

• (a) of a local authority under any enactment to which this paragraph applies,

• (b) of a local authority under any local statutory provision (within the meaning of the London Government Act 1963) continued in force by section 87 of that Act (which relates to certain local statutory provisions in force immediately before the 1st April 1965 which were not repealed or revoked by that Act),

• (c) of a local authority under any provision of Part II of Schedule 11 to that Act (which re–enacted with modifications certain enactments about public health in London), or

• (d) of a food authority under any provision of the Food Safety Act 1990.

• (4) Subsection (3)(a) above applies to the following enactments, that is to say—

• (a) the Public Health Acts 1875 to 1925;

• (b) the Public Health Act 1936;

• (c) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (d) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (e) the Clean Air Act 1993;

• (f) the Public Health Act 1961;

• (g) the Control of Pollution Act 1974;

• (h) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (i) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (j) this Act except section 46.

• (k) the Building Act 1984 (other than Parts III of Schedule 3).

• (l) Part I of the Environmental Protection Act 1990;

• (m) Part III of the Environmental Protection Act 1990;

• (n) regulations under section 2 of the Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1999.

• (5) The Secretary of State may by order extend to all waters and land in the London port health district any provision under which functions, rights and liabilities may be assigned by an order under subsection (3) above, or any instrument made under any such provision, in so far as it would not otherwise so extend.

• (6) The power to make an order under this section shall be exercisable by statutory instrument.

Supplementary provisions as to London port health district

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• (1) Section 4 above has effect in relation to an order under section 7 as it has effect in relation to an order under section 2 above.

• (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Inland and coastal waters

Vessels in inland or coastal waters

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Part II — Control of Disease

General

Notifiable diseases

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Cases of notifiable disease and food poisoning to be reported

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Fees for certificates under s. 11

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Regulations for control of certain diseases

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• (1) Subject to the provisions of this section, the Secretary of State may, as respects the whole or any part of England and Wales, including coastal waters, make regulations—

• (a) with a view to the treatment of persons affected with any epidemic, endemic or infectious disease and for preventing the spread of such diseases,

• (b) for preventing danger to public health from vessels or aircraft arriving at any place, and

• (c) for preventing the spread of infection by means of any vessel or aircraft leaving any place, so far as may be necessary or expedient for the purpose of carrying out any treaty, convention, arrangement or engagement with any other country.

• (2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) above, the Secretary of State may by any such regulations apply, with or without modifications, to any disease to which the regulations relate any enactment (including any enactment in this Act) relating to the notification of disease or to notifiable diseases.

• (3) Regulations made under this section may provide for—

• (a) the signals to be displayed by vessels or aircraft having on board any case of epidemic, endemic or infectious disease,

• (b) the questions to be answered by masters, pilots and other persons on board any vessel or aircraft as to cases of such disease on board during the voyage or on arrival,

• (c) requiring persons alighting from aircraft to answer questions pertaining to their state of health or their contact with infection,

• (d) the detention of vessels or aircraft and of persons on board them,

• (e) the duties to be performed in cases of such diseases by masters, pilots and other persons on board vessels or aircraft,

and may authorise the making of charges and provide for the recovery of such charges and of any expenses incurred in disinfection.

• (4) Subject to section 14 below, regulations made under this section—

• (a) shall specify the authorities, whether county councils, county borough councils, local authorities, port health authorities, ... Local Health Boards, Special Health Authorities ... , National Health Service trusts or NHS foundation trusts, by whom they are to be enforced and executed, and

• (b) may also provide for their enforcement and execution by officers of customs and excise,

but, in so far as they apply to officers of customs and excise, the regulations shall require the consent of the Commissioners of Customs and Excise.

• (5) Subject to section 14 below, the following persons, that is to say—

• (a) authorised officers of any such authority as is specified by the regulations in accordance with subsection (4)(a) above, and

• (b) officers of customs and excise,

shall have power to enter any premises, vessel or aircraft for the purpose of executing, or superintending the execution of, regulations under this section.

• (6) The power to make regulations under this section shall be exercisable by statutory instrument, which shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

• (7) Any expenses incurred by a county council under this section shall, if the Secretary of State by order so directs, be defrayed as special expenses charged on such part of the county as may be provided by the order, but such an order may be revoked or varied by a subsequent order.

Application of s. 13 to aerodromes

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• (1) In relation to aerodromes for the time being vested in or under the control of the Secretary of State ... . . . , and in relation to persons and aircraft arriving at or departing from any such aerodromes—

• (a) subsection (4) of section 13 above shall have effect as if, for paragraph (a) of that subsection, there were substituted the following paragraph—

(a) may provide for their enforcement and execution by officers designated for that purpose by the Secretary of State, and

,

• (b) so much of that subsection as requires the consent of the Commissioners of Customs and Excise shall not apply in relation to aerodromes for the time being vested in or under the control of the Secretary of State ..., and

• (c) subsection (5) of that section shall have effect as if, for paragraph (a) of that subsection, there were substituted the following paragraph—

(a) officers designated in accordance with subsection (4)(a) above (as modified by section 14(1)(a) below, and