Details of Provisions
Subsection (1) enables Her Majesty, by Order in Council, to provide for any functions, so far as they are exercisable by a Minister of the Crown in or as regards Scotland, to be exercisable:
by the Scottish Ministers instead of by the Minister of the Crown;
by the Scottish Ministers concurrently with the Minister of the Crown; or
by the Minister of the Crown only with the agreement or, or after consultation with, the Scottish Ministers.
“Functions” include any executive powers or duties, such as the power to grant licences or to pay grants and the duty to maintain registers, and the power to make subordinate legislation.
Where a function is exercisable “concurrently” with the UK Minister this means that both the Scottish Ministers and the UK Minister may exercise that function independently of each other.
Subsection (2) provides that, where an Order transfers a function to the Scottish Ministers or provides that it should be exercisable by them concurrently with the Minister of the Crown (under (a) or (b) above), then any existing requirement that the function can only be exercised with the agreement of, or after consultation with, another Minister of the Crown shall no longer apply to the exercise of the function by the Scottish Ministers, unless the Order expressly provides that it should continue to apply. A requirement to consult a person other than a Minister of the Crown will continue to apply.
This is similar to the effect of section 55 in relation to functions transferred under section 53.
Subsection (3) provides that, where an Order transfers a function to the Scottish Ministers or provides that it should be exercisable by them concurrently with the Minister of the Crown (under (a) or (b) above), then the Order can impose a requirement for the function to be exercisable by the Scottish Ministers only with the agreement of, or after consultation with, a Minister of the Crown or other person.
