Transport Act 1968

Redistribution of activities between Freight Corporation and Railways Board or Scottish Group

7 Transfer schemes by authorities

(1) Subject to subsection (4) of this section, the Railways Board, or the Freight Corporation, or that Board and Corporation acting jointly, may as occasion seems to them to require it make schemes—

(a) for the reorganisation, amalgamation or dissolution of any of the wholly-owned subsidiaries of the authority, or, as the case may be, of either of the authorities, by whom the scheme is made;

(b) for the transfer of any specified property, rights or liabilities, or of all property, rights and liabilities com-, prised in a specified part of their undertaking, from one to another of the following bodies, namely, the Board, the Corporation and any wholly-owned subsidiary of the Board or Corporation.

(2) Subject to subsection (4) of this section, the Freight Corporation and the Scottish Group acting jointly may as occasion seems to them to require it make schemes for the transfer of any specified property, rights or liabilities, or all property, rights and liabilities comprised in a specified part of their undertaking, from one to another of the following bodies, namely, the Freight Corporation, the Scottish Group and any wholly-owned subsidiary of that Corporation or Group; and in relation to a scheme under this subsection any reference in subsection (4) or (5) of this section to the Minister shall be construed as a reference to the Minister and the Secretary of State acting jointly.

(3) Any scheme under subsection (1) or (2) of this section may contain such supplementary, incidental and consequential provision as may appear to the authority or authorities making it to be necessary or expedient.

(4) A scheme under this section shall not come into force unless it has been approved by the Minister or until such date as the Minister may in giving his approval specify; and the Minister may approve a scheme either without modification or with such modifications as, after consultation with the authority or authorities by whom the scheme was prepared, he thinks fit; but without prejudice to his powers under section 8 of this Act the Minister shall not approve any such scheme which makes provision—

(a) for a transfer of any property, rights or liabilities which it appears to him would materially prejudice the proper discharge by /the Railways Board or the Freight Corporation of their respective duties under the Act of 1962 or this Act; or

(b) for altering the proportion of the interests to which that Board and that Corporation respectively are entitled in the company formed by virtue of section 5(2)(a) of this Act.

(5) Where in the case of a scheme made by virtue of subsection (1)(b) or subsection (2) of this section the Minister in approving the scheme under subsection (4) of this section certifies that the scheme is approved as giving effect to conclusions reported under section 45 of this Act or to a direction given under subsection (5) of that section or under section 6(1) of this Act, then, subject to subsection (7) of this section, the property, rights and liabilities in question shall on the date of the coming into force of the scheme be transferred, and by virtue of this Act vest, in accordance with the scheme.

(6) Subject to subsection (7) of this section, in the case of any scheme made by virtue of subsection (1)(b) or subsection (2) of this section to which subsection (5) thereof does not apply, the property, rights and liabilities in question shall on the date of the coming into force of the scheme be transferred, and by virtue of the scheme vest, in accordance with the scheme.

(7) Schedule 4 to this Act—

(a) shall apply to any transfer under subsection (5) of this section; and

(b) shall apply to any transfer under subsection (6) of this section subject to any reference in that Schedule to a vesting by virtue of this Act being construed as a reference to a vesting by virtue of the scheme in question;

and the said subsection (5) or (6) shall have effect subject to the provisions of that Schedule; and in the application of any provision of that Schedule to a transfer affecting the Scottish Group, any reference in that provision to the Minister shall be construed as a reference to the Minister and the Secretary of State acting jointly.

8 Transfer orders by Minister

(1) Subject to subsection (6) of this section, the Minister may by order—

(a) transfer from one to the other any functions of the Freight Corporation or the Railways Board in connection with the carriage of goods, and for that purpose amend any of the enactments relating to those functions ;

(b) make any such provision with respect to, or to any wholly-owned subsidiary of, either of those authorities as is mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (1) or paragraph (b) of subsection (4) of section 7 of this Act.

(2) Subject to subsection (6) of this section, the Minister and the Secretary of State acting jointly may by order make any such provision with respect to, or to any wholly-owned subsidiary of, the Freight Corporation or the Scottish Group as is mentioned in section 7(2) of this Act; and in relation to an order under this subsection any reference in subsection (3) or (6) of this section to the Minister shall be construed as a reference to the Minister and the Secretary of State acting jointly.

(3) Any order under subsection (1) or (2) of this section may contain such supplementary, incidental and consequential provision as may appear to the Minister to be necessary or expedient.

(4) Subject to subsection (5) of this section, in the case of an order under subsection (1) of this section making such provision as is mentioned in section 7(1)(b) of this Act, and in the case of an order under subsection (2) of this section, the property, rights and liabilities in question shall on such date as may be appointed for the purpose by the order be transferred, and by virtue of this Act vest, in accordance with the order.

(5) Schedule 4 to this Act shall apply to any transfer under subsection (4) of this section and that subsection shall have effect subject to the provisions of that Schedule; and in the application of any provision of that Schedule to a transfer affecting the Scottish Group, any reference in that provision to the Minister shall be construed as a reference to the Minister and the Secretary of State acting jointly.

(6) The power to make orders under this section shall not be exercisable so as to cause all or substantially all of the functions of the Freight Corporation in connection with the carriage of goods by land to become functions of the Railways Board or wholly-owned subsidiaries of that Board, or to cause all or substantially all of the functions of the Railways Board in connection with the carriage of goods by rail to become functions of the Freight Corporation or wholly-owned subsidiaries of that Corporation; and before making any order under this section the Minister shall—

(a) consult with the following persons, namely—

(i) the Freight Corporation ;

(ii) in the case of an order under subsection (1) of this section, the Railways Board ;

(iii) in the case of an order under subsection (2) of this section, the Scottish Group ;

(iv) the Freight Integration Council;

(v) such other persons, if any, as the Minister may think fit, and

(b) lay a draft of the proposed order before each House of Parliament,

and the order shall not be made unless the draft thereof so laid has been approved by resolution of each House of Parliament.