Ministers have made the Health and Care Act 2022 (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2025 (SI 2025/1312), updating the Schedule to the Down Syndrome Act 2022 so that references match the current NHS structure. The instrument is in force from 12 December 2025 and applies to National Health Service functions exercisable in England.
Regulation 2 replaces two terms in paragraph 2(1) of the Schedule (“Relevant authorities and relevant functions”). “The National Health Service Commissioning Board” is replaced with “NHS England”, and “a clinical commissioning group” is replaced with “an integrated care board”. The Schedule previously listed the Commissioning Board and clinical commissioning groups among relevant NHS bodies.
The update reflects structural changes made by the Health and Care Act 2022. Section 1 renamed the National Health Service Commissioning Board as NHS England, while section 19 established integrated care boards and abolished clinical commissioning groups. This statutory instrument aligns the Down Syndrome Act with those provisions.
The duty within the Down Syndrome Act remains unchanged: relevant authorities must have due regard to the Secretary of State’s statutory guidance when exercising their listed functions. For NHS bodies, the relevant functions are all of their functions so far as exercisable in or in relation to England-now expressly covering NHS England and ICBs.
Geographical extent and application are distinct. The regulations extend to England and Wales, but apply only to NHS functions that are exercisable in England, consistent with the scope of the Schedule they amend.
Parliamentary handling was by the affirmative procedure. The instrument was laid on 21 October 2025 and proceeded as a draft affirmative SI before being made and brought into force in accordance with regulation 1(1).
For NHS England, integrated care boards and system partners, the effect is administrative. Policy documents, templates and governance materials that still reference clinical commissioning groups or the “NHS Commissioning Board” should be updated. The obligation to consider the Down Syndrome statutory guidance when planning or commissioning services continues as before.
This measure forms part of ongoing tidy‑up work following the 2022 Act. Earlier regulations in 2023 (SI 2023/1071) and 2024 (SI 2024/1205) made comparable consequential updates across health legislation, including replacing references to CCGs with ICBs and updating names to NHS England.
Key context: the Down Syndrome Act’s relevant provisions commenced on 18 March 2024. The present amendment ensures the list of NHS authorities mirrors the post‑2022 structure without altering the substance of duties under the Act.