Section 31 sets out the territorial extent of the Act, which describes the jurisdictions in which the Act will form part of the law. The extent of an Act can be different to its application. Application is about where the Act produces a practical effect rather than where it forms part of the law.
	The Act extends and applies to England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
	There is a convention that Westminster will not normally legislate regarding matters that are within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament, Senedd Cymru or the Northern Ireland Assembly without the consent of the legislature concerned. Legislative consent was sought and obtained from the Scottish Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly.
	The table in Annex A provides an overview of the territorial extent and application of the Act’s Sections.
	A permissive extent clause is included in the Act which would enable part or all the Act to be extended to any of the British Overseas Territories in the future.
	The UK Government engaged the Crown Dependencies (the Isle of Man, Bailiwick of Jersey and the Bailiwick of Guernsey) regarding the inclusion of a permissive extent clause which would enable all or part of the Act to be extended to those jurisdictions in the future. The Isle of Man consented to the inclusion of this Section, and this is reflected in Section 31of the Act.
Territorial extent and application