Commentary on Sections
Section 1
10.Section 1(1) gives authority to the Trustees to make a payment of capital to each person who was a wife of a contributing member of the Fund on 13 November 2015. As part of the consultation process, the wives of contributing members were notified of the Trustees’ intention to make such payments and to dissolve the widows’ annuity fund, by letter dated 13 November 2015. These capital payments are based on an actuarial calculation of these persons’ interests in the Fund in lieu of future annuities that they might otherwise have received from the Fund as widows.
11.Section 1(2) provides that these persons, having accepted the capital payments, will no longer be entitled to receive annuity payments should they be widowed.
12.Section 1(3) sets out the timeframe for the payments authorised by section 1(1). They are to be made within a one-month period starting the day after Royal Assent.
Section 2
13.Section 2(1) provides for the transfer of the property, rights, interests and liabilities of the Fund to the new charitable trust.
14.Section 2(2) provides that the property to be transferred is net of the monies paid from the Fund under section 1(1). This section comes into force immediately after the end of the period during which payments authorised by section 1(1) are to be made.
Section 3
15.Section 3 provides that the Fund is dissolved and that the 1813 Act is repealed. This will happen immediately after the end of the period during which the payments authorised by section 1(1) are made and the net Fund assets are subsequently transferred to the new charity.
Section 5
16.Section 5 provides for the commencement of the Act and each section, as explained more fully above, so that each action happens in the appropriate sequence: the Trustees are given power to make payments during the period beginning on the day after Royal Assent and ending a month later; the remaining Fund assets are then transferred to the charity one day after that period has ended; and the Fund is dissolved and the 1813 Act repealed the day after that.
Parliamentary History
17.The following table sets out, for each Stage of the proceedings in the Scottish Parliament on the Bill for this Act, the dates on which the proceedings at that Stage took place, and references to the Official Report of those proceedings. It also shows the dates on which Committee reports and other papers relating to the Bill were published, and gives references to those reports and other papers.
| PROCEEDINGS AND REPORTS | REFERENCE |
|---|---|
| INTRODUCTION | |
| Bill (as introduced) – 20 March 2017 | SP Bill 10 – Session 5 (2017) |
| SPICe briefing on Bill (as introduced) – published 25 April 2017 | SPICe briefing SB 17/28 |
| The objection period ran from 21 March 2017 to 19 May 2017. No admissible objections were lodged. | |
| PRELIMINARY STAGE | |
| (a) Edinburgh Bakers’ Widows’ Fund Bill Committee | |
| 1st Meeting, 10 May 2017 | 1st Meeting, 10 May 2017 |
| 2nd Meeting, 14 June 2017 | 2nd Meeting, 14 June 2017 |
| 3rd Meeting, 28 June 2017 | (Meeting in private) |
| 4th Meeting, 6 September 2017 | (Meeting in private) |
| Preliminary Stage report – published 8 September 2017 | 1st Report, 2017 (Session 5) |
| (b) Consideration by the Parliament | |
| Preliminary Stage debate – 21 September 2017 | Cols 66 – 70 |
| CONSIDERATION STAGE | |
| Edinburgh Bakers’ Widows’ Fund Bill Committee | |
| Consideration Stage proceedings – 1 November 2017 | 5th Meeting, 1 November 2017 |
| FINAL STAGE | |
| Consideration by the Parliament | |
| Final Stage proceedings – 21 November 2017 | Cols 63 – 67 |
| ROYAL ASSENT | |
| 12 January 2018 | Edinburgh Bakers’ Widows’ Fund Act 2018 (asp 1) |
