Parliament (Joint Departments) Act 2007

Parliament (Joint Departments) Act 2007

2007 CHAPTER 16

Introduction

1. These Explanatory Notes relate to the Parliament (Joint Departments) Act 2007 which received Royal Assent on 19th July 2007. They have been prepared by the authorities of the House of Commons and the House of Lords in order to assist the reader in understanding the Act. They do not form part of the Act and have not been endorsed by Parliament.

2. The notes need to be read in conjunction with the Act. They are not, and are not meant to be, a comprehensive description of the Act. So, where a section or part of a section does not seem to require any explanation or comment, none is given.

Background and Summary

3. The two Houses of Parliament are not corporate bodies. The Parliamentary Corporate Bodies Act 1992 (c.27) established a corporate body for each House (‘the Corporate Officer of the House of Lords’ and ‘the Corporate Officer of the House of Commons’) to hold property, make contracts and perform other functions for the purposes of the respective Houses.

4. The arrangements for the administration of each House are entirely separate, although there are instances where common services are provided (for example, works and estate services are provided for both Houses by the House of Commons; and the Parliamentary Archives service for both Houses is provided by the House of Lords). In each case, the House that benefits from, but does not provide, the service makes an appropriate financial contribution.

5. As the need for shared services has grown, both Houses now wish to be able to make new arrangements for the provision of particular joint services to both of them, through a unified management structure under the direction of an official who is accountable to both Houses. In 2006 the House of Commons Commission and the House Committee of the House of Lords established, on a provisional basis within the House of Commons and with staff loaned to it from the House of Lords, a joint department for information and communications technology.

6. In order to facilitate new arrangements of this kind on a permanent basis, the Act enables the two Corporate Officers to act together, subject to the approval of the House of Commons Commission and of the House of Lords on the recommendation of its House Committee, in establishing joint departments of both Houses and conferring functions on them, and makes provision for related matters such as the employment of staff, and the transfer of staff from each House, to work in a joint department.

Territorial Extent

7. The Act extends to the whole of the United Kingdom.

Commentary on Sections

Section 1 – Joint Departments of the Houses of Parliament

8. Section 1 is concerned with the establishment (subsection (1)) of, and allocation of functions (subsection (2)) to, joint departments of the two Houses, and with the powers of the Corporate Officers in relation to them, which include powers to divide, amalgamate or abolish any of them (subsection (3)), and to hold land and other property, and enter into contracts, in connection with a joint department (subsection (4)).

Section 2 – Exercise of functions of the Corporate Officers

9. Section 2 requires that the Corporate Officers must exercise their functions jointly in relation to joint departments (subsection (1)). Any exercise by the Corporate Officers of their power to establish, divide, amalgamate or abolish a joint department, or to allocate to it such functions as would change the overall character of the services it provides, must be approved by the House of Commons Commission, and by the House of Lords on the recommendation of its House Committee or any successor committee (subsections (2) to (4)).

Section 3 – Staff

10. Section 3 provides for the appointment of staff to a joint department. They are to be appointed by the Corporate Officers under a contract of employment (subsection (1)), and their pay and other conditions of service are to be broadly in line with those for staff in the Home Civil Service (subsection (2)(a) and (b)). Their pensions and similar benefits are to be in line with the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme, unless provision for such pensions and benefits continues to be made under their existing pension scheme (subsections (2)(c) and (3)).

Section 4, and the Schedule – Staff transfers

11. Section 4 gives effect to the Schedule, which makes provision about the transfer of staff to and from a joint department, with a view to ensuring that the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (S.I.2006/246) (‘TUPE’) apply to transfers of staff under the Act, in so far as those Regulations would not apply in any event (paragraph 1). In particular, paragraphs 3 to 6 of the Schedule are concerned with ensuring that, where staff have been designated for the purpose by a House authority (defined in paragraph 2 to mean the House of Commons Commission or the Corporate Officer of the House of Lords) or by the Corporate Officers, the conditions for the application of TUPE (for instance, that the transfer of an undertaking has occurred) are treated as satisfied, in so far as any of them may not in fact be satisfied in the case of that staff member.

12. Paragraph 3 is concerned with the transfer of a person employed in a House department (defined in paragraph 2 as a department of either House) in connection with a function of the House department which is allocated instead to a joint department. It provides that the re-allocated function is to be treated as transferred from the House authority to the Corporate Officers, and that transfer is to be treated as the transfer of an undertaking. A person employed in connection with the function is to be treated as employed in the undertaking immediately before the transfer if he is designated by the House authority for the purposes of the change (defined in paragraph 2 to mean the change in allocation of the function).

13. Paragraph 4 is concerned with the case where a joint department is allocated a function which has not previously been exercisable by a House department. Where a person employed in a House department is designated by his House authority for the purposes of the allocation of the function, then, the function is to be treated as transferred from the House authority to the Corporate Officers, and that transfer is to be treated as the transfer of an undertaking. The designated person is to be treated as employed in the undertaking immediately before its transfer.

14. Paragraph 5 provides that, where a function exercised by a joint department is to be allocated instead to a House department, the re-allocated function is to be treated as transferred to the House authority from the Corporate Officers, and that transfer is to be treated as the transfer of an undertaking. A person who is employed in the joint department in connection with the function and who has been designated by the Corporate Officers for the purposes of the change in the allocation of the function is to be treated as employed in the undertaking immediately before the transfer (even though that person may not necessarily have been employed in connection with the exercise of the function in relation to that House).

15. Paragraph 6 is concerned with cases where a function ceases to be allocated to a joint department but is not allocated to a House department. In that event, the Corporate Officers may designate either or both of the House authorities and the function is then treated as transferred from the Corporate Officers to the House authority of whichever House is designated, or (where both House authorities are designated) it is treated as comprising a function which is transferred to each of them. That transfer is to be treated as the transfer of an undertaking, and a person who is employed in the joint department in connection with the function and has been designated by the Corporate Officers for the purpose of its transfer to the House authority concerned is to be treated as employed in the undertaking immediately before the transfer.

Section 5 – Application of enactments

16. Section 5 is concerned with the application of statutory provisions in the context of a joint department, irrespective of when the relevant provision was enacted (subsection (3)).

17. Subsection (1) provides that enactments are to apply to staff in a joint department in the same way as they apply to staff in the House of Lords. Such enactments as apply to staff in the House of Lords (for instance, the Race Relations Act 1976 (c.74)) usually apply in the same way as they apply to other employees generally.

18. Subsection (2) provides that things done by, on behalf of or in relation to a joint department are to be treated as done by, on behalf of or in relation to each House, for the purposes of any enactment which applies to either House.

Commencement

19. The Act came into force when it received Royal Assent on 19th July 2007.

Hansard References

The following table sets out the dates and Hansard references for each stage of this Act's passage through Parliament.

Stage	Date	Hansard reference
House of Lords
Introduction	23rd January 2007	Vol. 688  Col. 1004
Second Reading	1st March 2007	Vol. 689  Cols. 1725 - 1731
Committee	20th March 2007	Vol. 690  Cols. 1204 - 1209
Report	16th April 2007	Vol. 691  Col. 11
Third Reading	24th April 2007	Vol. 691  Cols. 560 - 561
House of Commons
Introduction	24th April 2007	Bill 94  2006-2007
Second Reading Committee	7th June 2007	Second Reading Committee Hansard
Second Reading	19th June 2007	Vol. 461  Col. 1351 (formal)
Remaining Stages	17th July 2007	Vol. 463  Cols. 244 - 253

Royal Assent – 19th July 2007	House of Lords Hansard Vol. 694 Col. 363
	House of Commons Hansard Vol. 463 Col. 429