Atomic Energy Authority Act 1971

Control and finances of the companies

11 Provisions as to shares in the companies

(1) The Secretary of State may at any time by order made by statutory instrument transfer to himself all or any of the shares in either of the companies which are for the time being held by the Authority ; and any shares transferred by such an order shall vest in the Secretary of State by virtue of the order and without further assurance or other formality.

(2) Any statutory instrument containing an order under subsection (1) of this section shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

(3) In the case of each of the companies the Authority, at any time when any shares in the company are held by them, and the Secretary of State, at any time when any shares in the company are held by him shall so exercise—

(a) all such rights and powers as may be exercisable by the Authority or the Secretary of State, as the case may be, as a member of the company, and

(b) any power to dispose of any shares in the company,

as to secure that the Authority or the Secretary of State will continue to hold shares in the company which in the aggregate (taking any shares held by the Authority together with any shares held by the Secretary of State) will carry more than half of the voting rights exercisable at general meetings of the company.

(4) Subject to section 13 of this Act, where any shares are issued by either of the companies, otherwise than in pursuance of section 7 of this Act, the Secretary of State, with the consent of the Treasury, may subscribe for any such shares and pay for them out of moneys provided by Parliament.

(5) Any dividends or other sums received by the Secretary of State in right of any shares held by him in either of the companies shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund.

12 Loans by Secretary of State to the companies

(1) Subject to the next following section, the Secretary of State may with the approval of the Treasury make loans to either of the companies on such terms as may with the approval of the Treasury be agreed between the Secretary of State and the company to which the loan is made.

(2) The Treasury may issue out of the National Loans Fund to the Secretary of State such sums as are necessary to enable him to make loans under this section.

(3) Any sums received by the Secretary of State by way of repayment of, or interest on, a loan made by him under this section shall be paid into the National Loans Fund.

(4) The Secretary of State shall, in respect of each financial year, prepare in such form and manner as the Treasury may direct an account of sums issued to him under subsection (2) of this section and of any sums to be paid into the National Loans Fund under subsection (3) of this section, and of the disposal by him of those sums respectively, and send it to the Comptroller and Auditor General not later than the end of November in the following financial year; and the Comptroller and Auditor General shall examine, certify and report on the account and lay copies of it, together with his report, before each House of Parliament.

13 Limits on payments under ss. 11 and 12

(1) The aggregate of—

(a) the total amount paid by the Secretary of State or by the Authority, or by both collectively, for shares issued by either of the companies, otherwise than in pursuance of section 7 of this Act, and

(b) the total amount outstanding in respect of the principal of the loans made by the Secretary of State to either of the companies under section 12 of this Act,

shall not, in the case of either of the companies, at any time exceed the limit for the time being applicable to that company in accordance with the following provisions of this section.

(2) For the purposes of this section—

(a) the limit applicable to the Nuclear Fuels Company is £50 million or such greater sum (not exceeding £75 million) as may be specified by an order made for the purposes of this paragraph which is for the time being in force;

(b) the limit applicable to the Radiochemical Company is £5 million or such greater sum (not exceeding £7 million) as may be specified by an order made for the purposes of this paragraph which is for the time being in force.

(3) The power to make orders for the purposes of paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) of subsection (2) of this section shall be exercisable by the Secretary of State with the approval of the Treasury, and shall be so exercisable by statutory instrument; but no such order shall be made unless a draft of the order has been laid before the Commons House of Parliament and approved by a resolution of that House.

14 Accounts of companies to be laid before Parliament

As soon as practicable after the holding of any general meeting of either of the companies, the Secretary of State shall lay before each House of Parliament a copy of any accounts which, in accordance with any requirement of the Companies Acts 1948 to 1967, are laid before the company at that meeting, and of any documents which are annexed or attached to any such accounts.

15 Powers for Authority to provide services and facilities for the companies

(1) The Authority shall have power, at the request of either of the companies, to provide for that company any service or facility which the Authority would have power to provide for the purposes of the Authority's own undertaking.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) of this section, the Authority, with the consent of the Secretary of State and of the Treasury, may enter into an agreement with either of the companies whereby the Authority undertake that, if the company incurs any liability of a description specified in the agreement, the Authority will indemnify the company in respect of that liability.

(3) The terms of any agreement made with either of the companies under subsection (2) of this section shall be such as may, with the consent of the Secretary of State and of the Treasury, be agreed between the Authority and that company.

16 Treatment of transferred assets for purposes of investment grants

(1) Where an asset, or the right to receive an asset, is transferred to one of the companies by virtue of this Act, then for the purposes of Part I of the [1966 c. 34.] Industrial Development Act 1966—

(a) so much of any expenditure incurred by the Authority in providing that asset as is approved capital expenditure in respect of which no payment of investment grant has been made to the Authority shall be treated as having been incurred by the company and not by the Authority;

(b) the asset, if provided for the purposes of the business of the Authority, shall be treated as having been provided for the purposes of the business of the company ; and

(c) where the asset itself is transferred to the company by virtue of this Act, it shall be treated as a new asset if it would have fallen to be so treated if it had remained vested in the Authority.

(2) In this section " investment grant" means a grant under Part I of the [1966 c. 34.] Industrial Development Act 1966 and " approved capital expenditure" has the same meaning as in that Part of that Act.