Schedule 1: The Child Poverty Commission
117.Schedule 1 sets out the details of the structure and membership of the Commission, including terms of office, staff and facilities.
118.Paragraph 1 enables the Secretary of State to appoint a chair and such other members as he may determine. In addition, it requires Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each to appoint a representative member to the Commission.
119.Sub-paragraph (3) of paragraph 1 enables the Commission, rather than the Secretary of State, to appoint its deputy chair.
120.Paragraph 4 provides that the Secretary of State must consent to the terms of any appointment made to the Commission by a devolved administration.
121.Paragraph 10 provides that the Commission is able to request at any time that the Secretary of State carries out, or commissions others to carry out, research on its behalf, for the purpose of enabling it to perform its functions. If such a request is refused, sub-paragraph (2) requires the Secretary of State to give reasons for the refusal to the Commission.
122.Paragraph 11 enables the Secretary of State to pay members of the Commission, or the organisations they work for.
123.Paragraph 17 states that the Commission must comply with a request for advice made by the Secretary of State under section 10, or by the Scottish Ministers or the relevant Northern Ireland department under section 13. The Commission’s advice must contain reasons for that advice. The advice must be published as soon as reasonably practicable after it has been given.
124.The effect of paragraph 18 is to make the administrative records of the Commission public records for the purposes of the Public Records Act 1958.
125.Paragraph 19 amends Schedule 2 to the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 to add the Commission to the list of bodies which are subject to investigation by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration in the event of maladministration.
126.The effect of paragraph 20 is that members of the Commission are disqualified from membership of the House of Commons and the Northern Ireland Assembly.
