Section 151: Power to specify public authorities
Effect
488.Schedule 19, which lists public bodies subject to the public sector equality duty, comprises three Parts. This section enables a Minister of the Crown to make an order amending any of those Parts. The changes might consist in adding a new body or removing an existing body, or moving a body from one Part of the Schedule to another. It also enables the Welsh Ministers and the Scottish Ministers, with the consent of a Minister of the Crown, to amend Parts 2 and 3 of the Schedule respectively, which list relevant Welsh and Scottish bodies subject to the duty.
489.Relevant Welsh and Scottish bodies (as defined in section 157) cannot be added to Part 1 of the Schedule. They must be included in Parts 2 and 3 respectively. Nor can cross-border Welsh and Scottish bodies (as defined in section 157) be added to Part 1. Only a Minister of the Crown has the power to amend the Schedule in relation to cross-border Welsh and Scottish bodies. They must be added to what will become a new Part 4, which will be created when the first cross-border body is added to the Schedule.
490.The power to add to the Schedule can only be used where the person exercising the power considers that the person being added is exercising at least one public function. This means that a wholly private company could not be added unless it were carrying out what the person exercising the power considered to be a public function. Orders cannot be made under this section to apply the duty to those functions and people who are excluded from application of the duty by the provisions of Schedule 18 that relate to judicial functions, Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales and the General Synod.
Examples
A Minister of the Crown may decide that a new public body which has just been created should be included in the Schedule, and add it to the appropriate Part.
A public body might cease its devolved activities, and so a Minister of the Crown might move it to Part 1 of the Schedule from another Part of the Schedule.
