United Kingdom public service law

United Kingdom enterprise law concerns the ownership and regulation of organisations producing goods and services in the UK, European and international economy. Private enterprises are usually incorporated under the Companies Act 2006, regulated by company law, competition law, and insolvency law, while almost one third of the workforce and half of the UK economy is in enterprises subject to special regulation. Enterprise law mediates the rights and duties of investors, workers, consumers and the public to ensure efficient production, and deliver services that UK and international law sees as universal human rights. Labour, company, competition and insolvency law create general rights for stakeholders, and set a basic framework for enterprise governance, but rules of governance, competition and insolvency are altered in specific enterprises to uphold the public interest, as well as civil and social rights. Universities and schools have traditionally been publicly established, and socially regulated, to ensure universal education. The National Health Service was set up in 1946 to provide everyone with free health care, regardless of class or income, paid for by progressive taxation. The UK government controls monetary policy and regulates private banking through the publicly owned Bank of England, to complement its fiscal policy. Taxation and spending composes nearly half of total economic activity, but this has diminished since 1979.

Since 1980, a large segment of UK enterprise was privatised, reducing public and citizen voice in their services, particularly among utilities. Since the Climate Change Act 2008, the modern UK economy has increasingly been powered by renewable energy, but still depends disproportionately on oil, gas and coal. Energy governance is framed by statutes including the Petroleum Act 1998 and the Electricity Act 1989, which enable government to use its licensing powers to shift to a zero-carbon economy, and phase out fossil fuels. Energy ratepayers typically have rights to adequate standards of supply, and increasingly the right to participate in how their services are provided, overseen by the Oil and Gas Authority and Ofgem. The Water Industry Act 1991 regulates drinking and sewerage infrastructure, overseen by Ofwat. The Railways Act 1993, the Transport Act 1985 or the Road Traffic Act 1988, under the Office of Rail and Road, govern the majority of land transport. Rail and bus passengers are entitled to adequate services, and have limited rights to voice in management. A growing number of bus, energy and water enterprises have been put back into public hands, while in London and Scotland, railways may be wholly publicly run. While, post, telephones and television were the major channels for communication and media in the 20th century, 21st century communications networks have increasingly converged on the Internet. Particularly in social media networks, this has presented problems in ensuring standards of safety, accuracy and fairness in online information and discourse. Like securities and other marketplaces, online networks dominated by multinational corporations, have received increased attention from regulators and legislators as they have become associated with political crisis.

History

*Aristotle, Plato, Roman law and the societas
*Otto von Gierke
* Magna Carta and Lex Mercatoria
* Sidney Webb
*House of Medici, Medici Bank, Pope Leo X (1513–1521), Pope Clement VII (1523–1534), Pope Leo XI (1605)
* Sir Thomas More, ''Utopia'' (1535) and John Locke (1689)
* Bank of England
*South Sea Company
*Port of London Act 1908
*National Insurance Act 1911
* Railways Act 1921
*WA Robson, ‘The Public Corporation in Britain Today’ (1950) 63(8) Harvard Law Review 1321
* Bank of England Act 1946
* National Health Service Act 1946
*Transport Act 1947
*Electricity Act 1947
*Gas Act 1986

General enterprise law

While the 20th century had seen swings from nationalisation and re-privatisation, a general law of enterprise developed where private ownership and markets were generally thought to work by themselves. On top of ordinary principles of commercial law, based on contract, property, tort, and trusts, five main fields of law settled the rights and duties of enterprise stakeholders. First, UK company law determines the constitution, governance and finance of major corporations. Much of the Companies Act 2006 concerns the duties of company directors, and the rights of members, who are usually registered as holding share capital. Equity investment mostly derives from people saving for retirement in mutual funds, life insurance and pensions. Second, UK labour law structures the rights of employees and their representative unions against the management of an enterprise. Employees are entitled to a minimum floor of rights, and to rights of voice through collective bargaining or occasionally votes at work in their enterprise. Third, competition law, which is closely coordinated with EU law aims to protect consumers' and the public interest in choice in markets, particularly where enterprise is privately owned. Fourth, UK insolvency law determines the relative rights of creditors when an enterprise can no longer pay its debts when they fall due. Fifth, within the framework of UK constitutional law, the government's fiscal policy sets powerful incentives for the arrangement of enterprise. In particular, tax policy alters enterprise incentives for arranging corporate groups, the level and distribution of incomes, dividend returns to shareholders, consumer prices, and trading conditions. All enterprises are subject to general duties under UK environmental law and criminal law.

Corporate governance

*Companies Act 2006 ss 21, 112, 168 and 284, company constitutions, amendment, voting rights and removal of directors
*Model Articles, Sch 3, paras 3 and 34, model articles for public companies
*Companies Act 2006 ss 170–177, 260–263 and 419 (directors’ duties, derivative claims, report)
*Pensions Act 2004 ss 241–243, right of pension beneficiaries to nominate pension trustees
*Charities Act 2006

Labour rights

*''Autoclenz Ltd v Belcher'' 011UKSC 41, minimum wage and working time claims
*Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 ss 179, 219, 224, 244 (collective agreements not legally binding, immunity from damages for collective action in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute, no secondary action, meaning of a trade dispute)
* ECHR article 11
*'' RMT v United Kingdom'' 014ECHR 366, secondary action
* Health and Safety Executive

Competition and consumers

*TFEU arts 101 and 102
*Competition Act 1998 ss 2–3, 18–19 and Sch 3, prohibition of abuse of a dominant position and collusion
*TFEU arts 106(2) and 345, state aid and neutrality to public ownership
*'' Albany International BV v Stichting Bedrijfspensioenfonds Textielindustrie'' (1999) C-67/96
*Public procurement
* State aid
*Consumer Rights Act 2015
*Sale of Goods Act 1979
*Consumer cooperative
*Consumer Protection Act 1987
*Environmental Protection Act 1990

Insolvency

*Insolvency Act 1986 ss 175-176A and Sch 6, preferential rights in insolvency for employees and pensions
*''Re Spectrum Plus Ltd'' 005UKHL 41, interpretation of a ‘floating charge’
*Insolvency Act 1986 Sch B1, paras 3, 14, 22 and 36, governance in administering insolvent companies

Specific enterprises

While many sectors of the economy function under general rules of enterprises alone, specific enterprise laws developed where "free markets" were seen as inadequate to protect consumer or public interests. In enterprises that concerned central social and economic rights, were "network" or " natural monopolies", for "public goods", or where significant capital investment was necessary, the UK law developed specific rules. Usually, a combination of public ownership, positive rights of voice for users or citizens, or sector-specific regulators emerged. These regulate the rights of exit, basic standards, and voice of stakeholders, beyond investors of capital or labour.

Education

The Universal Declaration, the International Bill of Human Rights and the European Social Charter say that "everyone" has the right to education, and that primary, secondary and higher education should be made "free", for instance "by reducing or abolishing any fees or charges" and "granting financial assistance". Historically, the UK guaranteed free childhood, higher and adult education, and gave grants until the late 20th century. However, it maintained a private fee-paying school system, dependent on parents paying money (also called "independent" or "public" schools, after the Public Schools Act 1868). Following this model, the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998 re-instated tuition fees for university. Although the evidence suggests that fees deter and disadvantage poorer people, university fees were raised to £9250 a year from 2017 in England and Wales. Scotland remained tuition free. University and school finance and governance remains a patchwork system across the UK, without any coherent approach.

Universities have three main sources of finance. First, universities may generate income through endowment trust funds, accumulated over generations of donations and investment. Second, under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 there are funding councils paid for through general taxation for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. For England and Wales, the Secretary of State appoints twelve to fifteen members and the chair, of which six to nine should be academics and the remainder with "industrial, commercial or financial" backgrounds. Funds are administered at the funding councils' discretion but must consult with "bodies representing the interests of higher education institutions" such as the University and College Union and Universities UK. Further, there are seven research councils ( AHRC, ESRC, MRC, etc.) which distribute funds after peer review of applications by academics conducting research. Third, and most controversially, most funding comes from charging students fees. After the Second World War, tuition fees in the UK were effectively abolished and local authorities paid maintenance grants. The Education Act 1962 formally required this position for all UK residents, and this continued through the expansion of university places recommended by the Robbins Report of 1963. However, over the 1980s and 1990s, grants were diminished, requiring students to become ever more reliant on their parents' wealth. Further, appointed in 1996, the Dearing Report argued for the introduction of tuition fees because it said graduates had "improved employment prospects and pay." Instead of funding university through progressive tax, the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998 permitted £1,000 fees for home students. In England, this rose to £3,000 in the Higher Education Act 2004, and £9,000 after the Browne Review in 2010 led by the former CEO of oil corporation BP. In 2017, the limit on fees was £9,250 for students in England, £9,000 in Wales, and £3,805 in Northern Ireland. Until "Brexit", the same rates applied for EU students, who could be discriminated against under EU law, but after 2020 EU students were charged at international fee rates. By contrast, the Scottish government resolved not to introduce tuition fees for students under 25. For English universities, the Higher Education Act 2004 enables the Secretary of State to set fee limits, while universities are meant to ensure "fair access" by drafting a "plan" for "equality of opportunity". There is no limit on international students fees, which are often double or triple home student fee rates, and universities aim to boost international student numbers to get more fees. A system of student loans is available for UK students through the government-owned Student Loans Company. Means-tested grants were also available, but abolished for students who began university after August 2016. Students typically qualify for loans (or previously grants) if they have been resident for three years in the UK. As the UK is in a minority of countries to still charge tuition fees, increasing demands have been made to abolish fees on the ground that they burden people without wealthy families in debt, deter disadvantaged students from education, and escalate income inequality.

Governance of universities is set by each university's constitution, typically deriving from an Act of Parliament, a royal charter or an Order in Council issued by the Privy Council. The most progressive models support a high degree of voice for staff and students. Reforms were first put into law after the Oxford University Commission of 1852 stated it must reverse "successive interventions by which the government of the University was reduced to a narrow oligarchy." For example, since the Cambridge University Act 1856 set its rules in law, Cambridge University's statutes require that its Regent House (mostly full-time university members) elects its governing body, the 23 member council. Four members are elected by heads of colleges, four by professors and readers, eight by other academic fellows, three by students, four by a "grace" (a vote) of the whole Regent House. Other universities have a broad variety of governance structures, although if there is not a special statute or constitution, the highly minimalist rules are set by the Education Reform Act 1988. This says that university governing bodies with constitutions issued by the Privy Council should have between 12 and 24 members, with up to thirteen lay members, up to two teachers, up to two students, and between one and nine members co-opted by the others. Universities are subject to both judicial review and students may enforce rights through contract law since universities are seen as having both an equally "public" and "private" nature. In a leading case of '' Clark v University of Lincolnshire and Humberside'' a student claimed that she should not have received a third class degree after her computer crashed, she lost an assignment, and was forced to rush a new one. The Court of Appeal held that her application for both breach of contract and judicial review should not be struck out because there could be a good case to hear, so long as it did seek to overturn "issues of academic or pastoral judgment" where "any judgment of the courts would be jejune and inappropriate". However, the shorter time limit of three months in judicial review was more appropriate than six years in contract. Cases which have sought to challenge academic judgment for failing students are typically bound to fail, as grading with a fair process is in the bounds of academic judgment. In '' Buckland v Bournemouth University'', where the university management interfered with the academic assessment of student grades, this founded a right for a professor to claim he was constructively and unfairly dismissed. All access to education must be free from unlawful discrimination under the Equality Act 2010. The Higher Education Act 2004 provides for a complaints procedure to be followed in universities.

;Schools
There are at least five different kinds of school: comprehensive schools that are publicly owned and run, grammar schools in some counties that have selective admissions, academies that are mainly public but enable some private contributions and governance, and private fee-paying schools that depend on charging parents money for tuition. Some schools also apply for " specialist" status if they focus on particular curriculum topics.
* Labour of Children, etc., in Factories Act 1833
*Public Schools Act 1868, following the Clarendon Commission removed charity schools from government or education department oversight, and now the main UK private schools
*Elementary Education Act 1870, five to twelve-year-olds, school boards providing universal primary education
* Education Act 1902, abolished 2,568 school boards and instituted 328 local education authorities in their place, following the '' Cockerton judgment''
*Education (Provision of Meals) Act 1906, introduced free school meals
*Education (Administrative Provisions) Act 1907, medical services
*Education Act 1918, school leaving age raised to fourteen years, maximum class size of thirty
* Education Act 1944, attempted foundation of a tripartite secondary school system, every child got free school meals, until 1949 when it was 2.5 pence
* Education Reform Act 1988, schools could remove themselves from LEA oversight and become "grant-maintained" by central government, headteachers getting financial control, academic tenure abolished, national curriculum with key stages, league tables
*Education Act 1996, teacher training, and opt-out from students' unions
*School Standards and Framework Act 1998, thirty infant pupil class size limit, replaced "grant-maintained schools" with "foundation status" meaning money is channelled from central government through the LEA, restrictions on selection
*Learning and Skills Act 2000 and Education Act 2002 and Academies Act 2010, allowed for academies outside national curriculum and autonomy over teacher pay
*Education Act 2005, Ofsted inspections
*Education and Inspections Act 2006, trust schools
* General Teaching Councils and code

;Libraries
*Museums Act 1845
*Public Libraries Act 1850
* British Library Act 1972

Health and care

Like education, there is a universal right to "health and well-being" including "medical care and necessary social services". The National Health Service, founded in 1946, has consistently been seen as one of the most important aspects of the UK's constitution, and goes considerably beyond international human rights standards. Its founding principle, that everyone should receive health care free, as a right, is usually seen as politically "untouchable", and is consistently rated as the UK's most popular institution. However, the details of funding and governing health have been volatile and contested. The UK has among the world's highest life expectancy (82.8 years in 2015), but spends a relatively low amount of money on its service (9.7 per cent of GDP in 2016). Since the Health and Social Care Act 2012 changed its governance, health care expenditure rose dramatically without visible health gains.Between 2012 to 2013, from 8.5% to 9.9% of GDP, or US$3069.7 per capita to US$3613.1, calculated by the OECD at 2010 prices
stats.oecd.org
/ref> The National Health Service is funded directly by the UK Treasury from general taxation, which requires no citizen to buy insurance, or pay upfront costs (except for capped, and means tested prescription charges for medicines, dental and optical service in England. Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland scrapped prescription charges). According to the NHS Constitution for England art 1(2), "Access to NHS services is based on clinical need, not an individual’s ability to pay". Health care is a devolved matter, but each country of the UK organised its health system following the model in the proposals of the landmark ''Beveridge Report'' of 1942. The Beveridge model of health provision, common to countries like Denmark, Sweden or Greece, removed the requirement of contributions by workers under the National Insurance Act 1911. Insurance systems continue in countries like France, Germany, or the United States. As the UK government bears the cost of health care, and the potential to profit from people being ill is eliminated, the government has a strong incentive to improve public health with measures like the Public Health Act 1961, the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, or the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

National Health Service governance has seen three phases of change. While the NHS Constitution states patients and staff should be "involved" and "engaged", the actual right of stakeholders to vote has been slow. First, and originally, the NHS Act 1946 created a system of 14 regional hospital boards that would pay for staff, buildings and equipment at hospitals, and gave grants to local health authorities in each council which ran health centres overseen by "executive councils". The Minister of Health (with Whitehall civil servants) appointed the regional boards, while executive councils and local health authorities were medical professional representatives (though not necessarily elected), local government and Minister appointees. In 1973, regional hospital boards were renamed regional health authorities, and 90 area health authorities plus 205 district health authorities took over from the more numerous local health authorities, while the government aimed to give stakeholders more direct voting rights in all. Second, from the NHS and Community Care Act 1990 health authorities had to predict and account for their spending, and contract for their purchases of medical services from NHS trusts, which would compete among one another to sell health services. This did not yet mean that private companies could also compete, although the NHS (Private Finance) Act 1997 enabled the Secretary of State to approve " private finance initiative" schemes to borrow money for, or lease, the building and running of health facilities from private contractors (e.g. Telereal Trillium Ltd, Innisfree Ltd or HSBC Infrastructure Co Ltd). From 1995 to 2006 a new NHS Executive was created to manage the NHS in England, but was reabsorbed into the Department of Health. The executive or department oversaw strategic health authorities (28 reduced to 10), and primary care trusts (303 reduced to 101) which provided health services, and bought or "commissioned" "secondary care" health services (e.g. from a specialist doctor). From 2003, NHS foundation trusts were created, which could borrow money without Department of Health approval. Under the National Health Service Act 2006 Schedule 7, its "council of governors" must have a constitution where at least three governors (but under half) must be elected by the foundation trust's employees, at least one by nearby local authorities, one by a university (if any) in the area. A trust's constitution is free to enable residents, employees or patients to vote, although the law does not fix rules. Third, instead of enabling NHS Foundation Trusts to take purchasing in-house, the Health and Social Care Act 2012 set up around 200 clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to replace primary care trusts. CCGs are funded and mediated by NHS England. According to the HSCA 2012, a clinical commissioning group is a "body corporate" that should buy services, with members who can set pay for themselves. A CCG must include at least six members (many came from abolished primary care trusts, general practitioners or private business), with one person qualified in accounting or finance, a nurse, a secondary care specialist, and two lay people who understand finance and the local area. Two central features of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 were that section 75 required commissioning was subjected to competition law (i.e. CCGs are potentially unable to cooperate to bargain down drug company prices, etc.), and section 165 enabled NHS foundation trusts to derive up to 49% of their income from private work. In theory, clinical commissioning groups are meant not to discriminate, seek the best "value for money" and avoid conflicts of interest when buying services. However, the enforcement of the prohibition on conflicts of interest requires costly judicial review, while derivative claims by patients or staff are excluded without membership. Although CCGs are under a duty to "involve" patients and the public in decision-making, those stakeholders can be ignored because unlike in NHS foundation trusts they have no right to vote. The Care Quality Commission and a subordinate Healthwatch England network is meant to inspect and maintain standards.

Although rights to vote are lacking, patients have some rights to bring claims in court over levels of service. First, the Secretary of State for Health is meant to improve the "physical and mental health of the people" and "have regard to the need to reduce inequalities" in health. These duties, however, are difficult to enforce in practice because the courts give wide discretion to ministers in judicial review. Second, it is possible to sue in tort for medical negligence if operations go wrong. This is controversial because (unlike New Zealand's Accident Compensation Corporation) claims require litigation, and substantial sums of money go to lawyers, instead of the person who is harmed and withdraws resources for other NHS patients. Third, challenges can be brought over the refusal to provide treatment, although they are unlikely to succeed. For instance, in ''R (B) v Cambridge Health Authority'' parents claimed their 11-year-old girl should receive a second bone marrow transplant for myeloid leukemia, even though doctors said success was 20% likely and would cause "considerable suffering". Although Laws J held that refusal was inadequate, Sir Thomas Bingham MR held the health authority acted rationally and fairly. After the case, because of the tabloid campaign, a donor paid for £75,000 in private treatment, but the operation failed. By contrast in ''R (Coughlan) v North and East Devon HA'' Mrs Coughlan successfully claimed to remain at the "Mardon House" care home after an accident left her tetraplegic and she was promised it was a "home for life". Lord Woolf MR held in judicial review that the promise generated a "legitimate expectation" that was "equivalent to a breach of contract in private law", which could not be unilaterally withdrawn, even if the Secretary of State was concerned about cost. Further, in ''R (Ann Marie Rogers) v Swindon Primary Care Trust'' Sir Anthony Clarke MR held that a primary care trust's reasons for refusing Rogers Herceptin treatment for breast cancer were inadequate. This drug was yet not approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, but simply stating Rogers' case was not "exceptional" (as other people were refused the drug) was not a reason in itself, and its decision was therefore irrational. Within the European Union, British residents also have the right to move to other member states for treatment and be reimbursed if NHS waiting lists happen to be unreasonably long, assessed by objective criteria. For example, in ''R (Watts) v Bedford Primary Care Trust'', Mrs Watts paid £3900 for a hip replacement operation in France after the NHS waiting lists were 4 to 6 months, and successfully claimed that she should be reimbursed by the NHS. But these rights to move for health and be reimbursed by the NHS may be removed if the UK leaves the EU and the single market. No charges can be applied by the NHS to people who are "ordinarily resident" in the UK, although controversially the Conservative government introduced a "duty" on hospitals and health services to charge overseas visitors if they fall sick. Given the tiny number of cases, most health services refused to charge patients even when they could, because of disproportionate bureaucratic cost, and compassion. Another issue of migration, is that a deportation of an illegal migrant is very unlikely to be delayed by ill-health. In '' N v United Kingdom'', the European Court of Human Rights held that a citizen of Uganda had no right under ECHR article 3 to delay deportation, even though health treatment for HIV/AIDS was highly unlikely there. The UK, however, has the option at any time to improve its service beyond the minimum standards of human rights.

;Social care
*Social care in the United Kingdom, Social care in England, Social care in Scotland
*Care Standards Act 2000, the elderly and disabled
*National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990
*Children Act 1989 and orphanages
*Health and Social Care Act 2008

Banking

UK banking has two main parts. First, the Bank of England administers monetary policy, influencing interest rates, inflation and employment, and it regulates the banking market with HM Treasury, the Prudential Regulation Authority and Financial Conduct Authority. Second, there are private banks, and some non-shareholder banks (co-operatives, mutual or building societies), that provide credit to consumer and business clients. Borrowing money on credit (and repaying the debt later) is important for people to expand a business, invest in a new enterprise, or purchase valuable assets more quickly than by saving. Every day, banks estimate the prospects of a borrower succeeding or failing, and set interest rates for debt repayments according to their predictions of the risk (or average risk of ventures like it). If all banks together lend more money, this means enterprises will do more, potentially employ more people, and if business ventures are productive in the long run, society's prosperity will increase. If banks charge interest that people cannot afford, or if banks lend too much money to ventures that are unproductive, economic growth will slow, stagnate, and sometimes crash. Although UK banks, except the Bank of England, are shareholder or mutually owned, many countries operate public retail banks (for consumers) and public investment banks (for business). The UK used to run Girobank for consumers, and there have been many proposals for a "British Investment Bank" (like the Nordic Investment Bank or KfW in Germany) since the financial crisis of 2007–2008, but these proposals have not yet been accepted.

The Bank of England provides finance and support to, and may influence interest rates of the private banks through monetary policy. It was originally established as a corporation with private shareholders under the Bank of England Act 1694, to raise money for war with Louis XIV, King of France. After the South Sea Company collapsed in a speculative bubble in 1720, the Bank of England became the dominant financial institution, and acted as a banker to the UK government and other private banks. This meant, simply by being the biggest financial institution, it could influence interest rates that other banks charged to businesses and consumers by altering its interest rate for the banks' bank accounts. It also acted as a lender through the 19th century in emergencies to finance banks facing collapse. Because of its power, many believed the Bank of England should have more public duties and supervision. The Bank of England Act 1946 nationalised it. Its current constitution, and guarantees of a degree of operational independence from government, is found in the Bank of England Act 1998. Under section 1, the bank's executive body, the court of directors is "appointed by Her Majesty", which in effect is the prime minister. This includes the governor of the Bank of England (currently Mark Carney) and up to 14 directors in total (currently there are twelve, nine men and three women). The governor may serve for a maximum of eight years, deputy governors for a maximum of ten years, but they may be removed only if they acquire a political position, begin to work for the bank, are absent for over three months, become bankrupt, or "is unable or unfit to discharge his functions as a member". This makes removal hard, and potentially judicially reviewable. A sub-committee of directors sets pay for all directors, rather than a non-conflicted body like Parliament. The Bank's most important function is administering monetary policy. Under the Bank of England Act 1998 section 11 its objectives are to (a) "maintain price stability, and (b) subject to that, to support the economic policy of Her Majesty’s Government, including its objectives for growth and employment." Under section 12, HM Treasury issues its interpretation of "price stability" and "economic policy" each year, together with an inflation target. To change inflation, the Bank of England has three main policy options. First, it performs "open market operations", buying and selling banks' bonds at differing rates (i.e. loaning money to banks at higher or lower interest, known "discounting"), buying back government bonds (" repos") or selling them, and giving credit to banks at differing rates. This will affect the interest rate banks charge by influencing the quantity of money in the economy (more spending by the central bank means more money, and so lower interest) but also may not. Second, the Bank of England may direct banks to keep different higher or lower reserves proportionate to their lending. Third, the Bank of England could direct private banks adopt specific deposit-taking or lending policies, in specified volumes or interest rates. The Treasury is, however, only meant to give orders to the Bank of England in "extreme economic circumstances". This should ensure that changes to monetary policy are undertaken neutrally, and artificial booms are not manufactured before an election.

Outside the central bank, banks are mostly run as profit-making corporations, without meaningful representation for customers. This means, the standard rules in the Companies Act 2006 apply. Directors are usually appointed by existing directors in the nomination committee, unless the members of a company (invariably shareholders) remove them by majority vote. Bank directors largely set their own pay, delegating the task to a remuneration committee of the board. Most shareholders are asset managers, exercising votes with other people's money that comes through pensions, life insurance or mutual funds, who are meant to engage with boards, but have few explicit channels to represent the ultimate investors. Asset managers rarely sue for breach of directors' duties (for negligence or conflicts of interest), through derivative claims. However, there is some public oversight through the bank licensing system. Under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 section 19 there is a "general prohibition" on performing a "regulated activity", including accepting deposits from the public, without authority. The two main UK regulators are the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority. Once a bank has received authorisation in the UK, or another member state, it may operate throughout the EU under the terms of the host state's rules: it has a "passport" giving it freedom of establishment in the internal market. Since the Credit Institutions Directive 2013, there are some added governance requirements beyond the general framework: for example, duties of directors must be clearly defined, and there should be a policy on board diversity to ensure gender and ethnic balance. If the UK had employee representation on boards, there would also be a requirement for at least one employee to sit on the remuneration committee, but this step has not yet been taken.

While banks perform an essential economic function, supported by public institutions, the rights of bank customers have generally been limited to contract. In general terms and conditions, customers receive very limited protection. The Consumer Credit Act 1974 sections 140A to 140D prohibit unfair credit relationships, including extortionate interest rates. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 sections 62 to 65 prohibit terms that create contrary to good faith, create a significant imbalance, but the courts have not yet used these rules in a meaningful way for consumers. Most importantly, since ''Foley v Hill'' the courts have held customers who deposit money in a bank account lose any rights of property by default: they apparently have only contractual claims in debt for the money to be repaid. If customers did have property rights in their deposits, they would be able to claim their money back upon a bank's insolvency, trace the money if it had been wrongly paid away, and (subject to agreement) claim profits made on the money. However, the courts have denied that bank customers have property rights. The same position has generally spread in banking practice globally, and Parliament has not yet taken the opportunity to ensure banks offer accounts where customer money is protected as property. Because insolvent banks do not, governments have found it necessary to publicly guarantee depositors' savings. This follows the model, started in the Great Depression, the US set up the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, to prevent bank runs. In 2017, the UK guaranteed deposits up to £85,000, mirroring an EU-wide minimum guarantee of €100,000. Moreover, because of the knock-on consequences of any bank failure, because bank debts are locked into a network of international finance, government has found it practically necessary to prevent banks going insolvent. Under the Banking Act 2009 if a bank is going into insolvency, the government may (and usually will if "the stability of the financial systems" is at stake) pursue one of three "stabilisation options". The Bank of England will either try to ensure the failed bank is sold onto another private sector purchaser, set up a subsidiary company to run the failing bank's assets (a "bridge-bank"), or for the UK Treasury to directly take shares in "temporary public ownership". This will wipe out the shareholders, but will keep creditors' claims intact. One method to prevent bank insolvencies, following the "Basel III" programme of the international banker group, has been to require banks hold more money in reserve based on how risky their lending is. EU-wide rules in the Capital Requirements Regulation 2013 achieve this in some detail, for instance requiring proportionally less in reserves if sound government debt is held, but more if mortgage-backed securities are held.

Gas, oil and coal

Coal, oil and gas remain part of the UK's energy sources, despite the pollution and climate damage they cause. Before the industrial revolution, energy and heating needs were served mainly by burning timber. The development of the steam engine, particularly after James Watt's patents in 1775, and rail transport led coal to be the UK's dominant energy source, now governed under the Coal Industry Act 1994. The development of the internal combustion engine in the late 19th century, led to a gradual displacement of coal by oil and gas. In the 21st century, because of critical threat of climate damage caused by human beings burning coal, oil and gas (or any fossil-fuel-released carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases), the UK is trying to shift to energy based on zero-carbon: wind, hydro or solar based power. In 2015, the UK's energy consumption was 47% petroleum, 29% natural gas, 18% electricity and 5% other, but the growth of renewable electricity, and the introduction of electric vehicles is increasingly rapid. Under the Climate Change Act 2008, the UK government is bound to ensure there is a 100% reduction of carbon emissions compared to 1990 levels, when the Kyoto Protocol was drafted. A difficulty is that the Kyoto Protocol measures countries' production, rather than final consumption, and fails to account for the UK's consuming greenhouse gas intensive products that are imported from countries with lower standards (e.g. China, Russia, or the US), unless there is a border carbon tax. The elimination of carbon emissions is meant to prevent the damage from extreme weather, flooding and coastlines going under the sea. The scientific community takes the view that, while the oil, gas or coal industry still provides energy, it must be phased out.

Although both coal and oil production were publicly owned in the past, coal, oil and gas extraction is performed today by private corporations under government licence. The largest entities include BP, Shell, but also now joined by entirely foreign firms such as Apache, Talisman, CNR, TAQA or Cuadrilla. This means that ordinary UK company law (or US corporate law) sets the governance rights of oil and gas corporations, with board of directors invariably removable only by shareholders (typically large asset managers). Under the Petroleum Act 1998 section 2, rights of land ownership do not equate to rights to oil and gas (or hydrocarbons) underneath. In ''Bocardo SA v Star Energy UK Onshore Ltd

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