4. In regulation 9 of the principal Regulations–
(a)after paragraph (2), there shall be added the following paragraphs:–
“(2A) A local authority shall not, unless they have first complied with the conditions specified in paragraph (2B) below, as well as with the terms of section 9(2) of the Act, undertake functional work other than functional work of the description specified in sub-paragraphs (a), (b), (d) and (f) of paragraph (3) below.
(2B) The conditions mentioned in paragraph (2A) above are–
(a)that the authority shall be satisfied that the amount for the functional work in question to be credited in terms of the written statement required by section 9(2) of the Act is reasonable, having regard to any previous estimate of the cost of the work made by the authority and their knowledge of how much it would be likely to cost for a person other than the authority to carry out the work;
(b)that the authority shall put on public display at their principal office a notice summarising the contents of the statement required by section 9(2) of the Act in respect of the functional work in question; and
(c)where the authority are undertaking the functional work in question after a relevant date and on or before the next relevant date, that they shall by the first of those relevant dates have forwarded to the Secretary of State a statement specifying the number of persons employed by them as at the day falling fifteen days before that relevant date for the purposes of undertaking functional work or works contracts.
(2C) For the purposes of paragraph (2B) above, the following are relevant dates:–
(a)16th December 1996;
(b)15th January 1997;
(c)17th February 1997;
(d)17th March 1997;
(e)15th April 1997;
(f)15th May 1997;
(g)16th June 1997; and
(h)30th June 1997.”; and
(b)in paragraph (3)–
(i)for the words “paragraph (1) above to which the conditions mentioned in paragraph (2) above shall not apply” there shall be substituted the words “paragraphs (1) and (2A) above”;
(ii)at the end of sub-paragraph (a), there shall be added the words “or which is a job to which regulation 7(b) above applies”; and
(iii)for sub-paragraph (f), there shall be substituted the following sub-paragraph:–
“(f)functional work which the authority or body are undertaking after complying with the conditions specified in section 9(4) of the Act.”.