Paragraphs 58 and 59: Payments out of the Welsh Consolidated Fund
872.Paragraph 58 provides that section 124 has effect, until the first First Minister is appointed under the Act, as if the reference to the Welsh Ministers etc. or the Assembly Commission were references to the old Assembly. This gives a legal basis for sums to be paid out of the Welsh Consolidated Fund to meet expenditure of the old Assembly.
873.Paragraph 59 makes transitional provision in respect of certain minor amendments made to other Acts, in Schedule 10 of the Act . Those amendments come into force on 1st April 2007. They provide that, where the Welsh Ministers are guaranteeing certain loans, the sums required for fulfilling the guarantee will be charged on the Welsh Consolidated Fund, rather than on the UK Consolidated Fund, and that sums required by the Welsh Ministers for the making of payments under Part 3 (Non-Domestic Rating: Distribution) of Schedule 8 to the Local Government Finance Act 1988 will be charged on the Welsh Consolidated Fund. Paragraph 59 operates so that, until the Welsh Ministers come into existence at the end of the initial period, sums required for fulfilling guarantees given by the old Assembly under the provisions in question, or for making payments which that Assembly is required to make under Part 3 of Schedule 8 to the Local Government Finance Act 1988 will also be charged on the Welsh Consolidated Fund.
