Schedule 1: The Parliamentary Works Sponsor Body
Part 1: Members of the Sponsor Body
Membership
- Paragraph 1 makes provision relating to the membership of the Sponsor Body. It sets out the minimum and maximum number of parliamentarians and external members who can be appointed to the Sponsor Body. It provides that the number of Parliamentary members must always be greater than the number of external members.
External members: appointment
- Paragraph 2 makes provision concerning the process for selecting and appointing the chair of the Sponsor Body. The chair must be an external member. He or she must be appointed by the House Commissions on merit, on the basis of fair and open competition. An appointment does not take effect until it is confirmed by a resolution of both Houses.
- Paragraph 3 makes provision concerning the process for selecting and appointing external members of the Sponsor Body other than the chair. They will be appointed by the Sponsor Body on merit, on the basis of fair and open competition. An appointment will not take effect until it is confirmed by a resolution of each House.
- A member of either House of Parliament, a member of either of the House Commissions, a Government Minister, or a director of the Delivery Authority (other than a non-executive director) may not be appointed as an external member of the Sponsor Body. This includes the chair.
Parliamentary members: appointment
- Paragraph 4 makes provision for appointing Parliamentary members. Sub-paragraph (1) provides that a member of either of the House Commissions, a Government Minister, a director of the Delivery Authority (other than a non-executive director), or a member of the Estimates Commission may not be appointed as a Parliamentary member. The appointment of a Parliamentary member will not take effect until it is confirmed by a resolution of the House from which that member is drawn.
Terms of appointment: general
- Paragraphs 5, 6 and 7 make general provision as to the terms on which members of the Sponsor Body will be appointed and hold office. Paragraph 6 provides that a member of the Sponsor Body must be appointed for a fixed term of no more than three years. There is therefore some flexibility to make appointments of different lengths. Further, those responsible for making such appointments must be mindful not to make appointments which all end at the same time.
Appointment of initial external members
- Paragraph 8 provides that persons who are external members of the shadow Sponsor Body, including the Chair, immediately before Section 2(1) comes into force are to be automatically appointed as the first Chair and external members of the Sponsor Body. Appointments under paragraph 8 are to be treated as if they had been made under paragraph 2 (in respect of the Chair) and paragraph 3 (in respect of all other external members). Appointments made under paragraph 8 must be confirmed by a resolution of each House of Parliament within one month of section 2(1) of the Act coming into force.
- A Chair appointed under paragraph 8 will have fixed term of 3 years. All other external members appointed under paragraph 8 will have a fixed term of 3 years beginning on the day that the shadow Sponsor Body was established. The shadow Sponsor Body was established in July 2018.
Remuneration for external members
- Paragraph 9 provides that the Sponsor Body may pay remuneration to external members of the Sponsor Body. However, no similar provision is made in relation to Parliamentary members. Members of the House of Commons will not receive any remuneration additional to that received as MPs. Members of the House of Lords will receive the usual attendance allowance, but no more.
Code of conduct
- Paragraph 10 requires the Sponsor Body to issue a code of conduct for its members. The code must incorporate the ‘seven general principles of public life’ set out in the First Report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life (Cm 2850) (or such other similar principles as the Sponsor Body chooses to adopt) and must require members to disclose their interests.
Resignation, suspension and removal
- Paragraphs 11, 12 and 13 make self-explanatory provision for the circumstances in which members of the Sponsor Body, including the chair, may resign or be suspended or removed, and the procedures to give effect to their resignation, suspension or removal.
Interim chair
- Paragraph 14 makes provision for the appointment of an interim chair of the Sponsor Body by the House Commissions in certain circumstances. Only an external member can be appointed as interim chair.
Part 2: Powers, procedure, reporting etc.
Status
- Paragraph 15 makes clear that the Sponsor Body and its members and staff are not Crown servants, and that the Sponsor Body does not enjoy the immunities and privileges of the Crown.
Powers
- Paragraph 16 provides that the Sponsor Body may do anything that it wishes to do in order to carry out its functions, or that is incidental or conducive to the carrying out of those functions. This may include (for example) entering into contracts, outsourcing some of its support functions, employing staff, or setting up advisory panels.
Staff
- Paragraph 17 requires the Sponsor Body to appoint a Chief Executive Officer, who will be part of the Sponsor Body’s staff. The Sponsor Body may determine the Chief Executive Officer’s terms of appointment, but must do so with regard to the desirability of keeping those terms and conditions broadly in line with those applying to staff in the House of Commons Departments.
- The Sponsor Body may appoint and dismiss staff and set their terms of engagement. Again, the Sponsor Body is required to have regard to the desirability of keeping the terms and conditions broadly in line with those applying to staff in the House of Commons Departments.
- Paragraph 18 provides that the Sponsor Body’s staff will be entitled to participate in civil service pension schemes.
Transfer of property etc. to the Sponsor Body
- Paragraph 19 creates a power for one or more transfer schemes to be made, allowing parliamentary staff (who will staff the shadow Sponsor Body), and other property and rights and associated liabilities, to be transferred to the Sponsor Body for the purposes of the Parliamentary building works. In respect of transferring staff, the transfer schemes must make equivalent provisions where the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (S.I 2006 / 246) do not apply. Before making a transfer scheme, the Leader of the House of Commons or the Leader of the House of Lords or both Leaders acting jointly (depending on which House(s) the property, rights or liabilities are being transferred from) must consult the Corporate Officer of the House of Commons and/or the Corporate Officer of the House of Lords (depending on which House(s) the property, rights or liabilities are being transferred from). The property, rights and liabilities which can be transferred are those that the Sponsor Body considers are necessary in connection with the Parliamentary building works.
Committees
- Paragraph 20 provides that the Sponsor Body may establish committees, and that those committees may establish sub-committees. The Sponsor Body’s committees and sub-committees may include people who are neither members nor staff of the Sponsor Body.
Delegation
- Paragraph 21 allows the Sponsor Body to delegate its functions to any of its members, committees, sub-committees, or staff. In practice, the Sponsor Body is likely to reserve certain matters to itself for collective decision, such as approving the Delivery Authority’s proposals relating to the Palace restoration works, the approval of budgets, and any decision to exercise intervention rights under the programme delivery agreement.
Delegation and contracting out of pension functions
- Paragraph 22 provides that the Minister for the Civil Service can delegate pension functions to the Chief Executive Officer of the Sponsor Body, and sets out the limits in relation to sub-delegation.
Procedure
- Paragraph 23 allows the Sponsor Body to regulate its own procedures, and those of its committees and sub-committees. Sub-paragraph (2) makes it clear that proceedings of the Sponsor Body will not be invalidated by member vacancies or defective appointments.
- Paragraph 24 makes provision for the quorum for a meeting of the Sponsor Body. The quorum is five members, including at least two external members and two Parliamentary members. The Clerk of the Parliaments and the Clerk of the House of Commons, or their representatives, may attend and participate in such meetings. A temporary chair may be appointed in respect of a particular meeting, in the absence of any appointed chair. (For the avoidance of doubt, such a temporary chair is not an ‘interim chair’, for which separate provision is made at paragraph 14).
Accounts and audit
- Paragraph 25 requires that the Sponsor Body keep proper accounts and records, and makes provision relating to the Sponsor Body’s accounts, the procedure for the audit of those accounts and the appointment of the Sponsor Body’s Chief Executive Officer as its accounting officer. The Sponsor Body must prepare a statement of accounts for each financial year in accordance with directions given to it by the Treasury. The Sponsor Body must then send a copy of its statement of accounts for a financial year to the Comptroller and Auditor General as soon as practicable after the end of that year. The Comptroller and Auditor General must examine and certify the statement of accounts, and send a copy of the certified statement together with a report to the Sponsor Body. Finally, the Sponsor Body must lay before Parliament a copy of the certified statement and of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report.
- Paragraph 26 provides that the Sponsor Body must nominate a member of its staff to be accounting officer in the event that the Chief Executive Officer cannot perform this function, or the position of Chief Executive Officer is vacant.
Report
- Paragraph 27 requires the Sponsor Body to publish and lay before Parliament a report at least once a year on the carrying out of the Parliamentary building works and the progress that has been made towards their completion. Such a report must include information about persons awarded contracts in respect of those works, in particular information about their size and the areas in which they operate.
Documentary evidence
- Paragraph 28 provides that the application of the seal of the Sponsor Body must be authenticated by the signature of any member of the Sponsor Body, or another person who has been authorised for that purpose. A document which has been duly executed in this way can be received in evidence and is taken to be validly executed or signed, unless the contrary is shown. This will enable third parties to have certainty as to the provenance and legality of documents issued and sealed by the Sponsor Body, and to ensure that the Sponsor Body’s seal is not applied without proper authority. These provisions do not extend to Scotland.
Freedom of information
- Paragraph 29 provides that the Sponsor Body is to be treated as a public authority for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This means that the Sponsor Body will have to introduce a publication scheme explaining how it intends to handle information in its possession, as well as being obliged to consider requests for information in accordance with the provisions of that Act.
