Schedules
Schedule 1: Infected Blood Compensation Authority
Part 1 - Constitution
- Part 1 of the Schedule provides for the Infected Blood Compensation Authority’s (IBCA) governance arrangements. It includes details of the membership of the ICBA and the process for appointments, including the appointment of the Chair, and sets out the IBCA’s financial and reporting obligations.
Membership
- The IBCA is to consist of between three and six executive members including a Chief Executive, and between four and seven non-executive members including the Chair, who will together form the IBCA Board. Therefore the minimum number on the IBCA board will be 7, with a maximum of 13. The IBCA must seek to ensure they have more non-executive than executive members, as far as this is practicable.
Appointment of non-executive members
- The Chair will be appointed by the Secretary of State or the Minister for the Cabinet Office, as will the following three appointments of non-executives, with any subsequent appointments made by the Chair. It is a requirement that staff of the IBCA may not hold a non-executive post.
Appointment of executive members
- The executive members are to be appointed by the Chair, except for the interim Chief Executive as set out below. The executive members will be members of the IBCA’s staff.
Appointment of members: eligibility
- The Secretary of State or Minister for the Cabinet Office, through secondary legislation, can set criteria which subsequent members of the IBCA would have to meet before being appointed. These regulations can provide that someone must cease to be a member of the IBCA if they no longer meet this criteria.
Terms of membership
- This provides that the terms of employment for IBCA members will be in accordance with the terms of their appointment, i.e. as per any contractual agreement, however such terms must be read subject to the provisions of the Schedule.
- Further provisions are set out relating to members vacating office, including resignation and becoming a member of the IBCA’s staff. An IBCA member may be removed from office by the Chair, and the Chair may be removed by the Secretary of State or Minister for the Cabinet Office.
Non-executive members: payments
- The IBCA is required to arrange for the payment of any non-executive member appointed by the Chair, to include remuneration, pensions, allowances or gratuities, as determined by the Chair. Where the non-executive member was appointed by the Secretary of State or Minister for the Cabinet Office, the IBCA must arrange for their payment as determined by the Secretary of State or the Minister for the Cabinet Office.
Staffing
- The IBCA is required to employ staff on such pay, terms and conditions as it may determine, subject to the approval of the Secretary of State or Minister for the Cabinet Office as to the policy on remuneration and ancillary payment provisions.
Interim chief executive
- An initial interim chief executive may be appointed by the Secretary of State or the Minister for the Cabinet Office, until the substantive chief executive is appointed by the Chair. The interim chief executive is able to incur expenditure and has the authority to take action in the name of, and on behalf of, the IBCA.
Committees and sub-committees
- The IBCA can appoint committees and sub-committees as it considers necessary. Such committees may consist of either IBCA staff or otherwise. Where a member of a committee is not an existing IBCA staff member, the IBCA can elect to pay them remuneration or any other allowances, as appropriate.
Procedure
- The IBCA is able to determine its own procedures and the procedures of any committee or sub-committee. The validity of any proceedings of the IBCA or its committees will not be affected by any membership vacancies.
Exercise of functions
- The IBCA must exercise the functions conferred on it effectively, efficiently and economically, placing the IBCA under the same duty of economy and efficiency as other public bodies in the health service. The IBCA can delegate authority to carry out its functions to any of its members, any of its committees or any authorised member of its staff.
Funding
- The Secretary of State or the Minister for the Cabinet Office must fund the IBCA as is needed to compensate the beneficiaries of the compensation scheme. They must also pay any other sums as reasonably required for the IBCA to operate effectively, which may be made subject to conditions.
- The Secretary of State or the Minister for the Cabinet Office may also make regulations imposing conditions on the IBCA’s use of any repayments it receives under section 50(5) claw back provisions.
Annual report
- The IBCA must publish an annual report on how it has exercised its functions, to be sent to the Secretary of State or the Minister for the Cabinet Office, who must in turn lay the same before Parliament.
Accounts and audit
- The IBCA is required to keep proper accounts and prepare a statement of accounts in each financial year. It is required to prepare these accounts in the form, with the content, and using methods and principles, determined by the Secretary of State or the Minister for the Cabinet Office. The IBCA must send its annual accounts to the Secretary of State or the Minister for the Cabinet Office and the Comptroller and Auditor General as soon as is practicable at the end of the relevant year. The Comptroller and Auditor General is responsible for examining, certifying and reporting on the accounts and for laying copies of the audited accounts (and his report on them) to the Secretary of State to be laid before Parliament.
Provision of information
- The Secretary of State or the Minister for the Cabinet Office may require the IBCA to furnish information concerning its functions, and the IBCA is required to provide the same, on request.
Status
- The IBCA and its members and employees are not to be regarded as servants or agents of the Crown, nor civil servants, and will not enjoy any status, immunity or privilege of the Crown. The IBCA’s property will not be regarded as property of, or property held on behalf of, the Crown.
Seal and evidence
- The IBCA’s seal must be countersigned by any member of the IBCA or any other person authorised for that purpose for it to be authenticated. Any documents which appear to have been correctly executed on behalf of the IBCA will be considered as executed by the IBCA, unless proven otherwise.
- These terms will not apply to any documents which require specific execution as per the law of Scotland, which will not be deemed as executed by virtue of compliance with this provision.
Supplementary powers
- The IBCA is conferred with ancillary powers to take any actions it considers necessary, subject to such action being in connection with its functions.
Part 2 - Transfer schemes
Power to make transfer schemes
- The Secretary of State may make one or more transfer schemes in connection with the transfer of property, rights and liabilities of a relevant person or body so as to allow the ICBA to carry out its functions, as the Secretary of State or the Minister for the Cabinet Office consider appropriate. Further limitations are included as to who constitutes a "relevant person", what may be transferred and what the transfer scheme may provide for are included within these provisions.
Tax treatment of transfer schemes
- The Treasury are given a power to make regulations to vary the tax position for the transfer schemes, including providing that tax may not apply, or the standard tax position may be modified.
Part 3 – Amendments
- This Part provides for consequential amendments to other legislation required as a result of the Infected Blood provisions of the Act, meaning these various enactments to apply in relation to the IBCA.
- Schedule 1 to the Public Records Act 1958: This will place obligations on the IBCA to properly protect and preserve records;
- Schedule to the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960: This adds the IBCA to the list of public bodies whose meetings must be open to the public, subject to the terms and exceptions of the Act;
- Schedule 2 to the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967: This brings the IBCA under the remit of the Commissioner and allows for complaints to be made and investigated, adding a further layer of accountability;
- Schedule 1 of the House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975: This prohibits any sitting MPs from membership to the IBCA board, or disqualifies members of the board from being a sitting MP;
- Schedule 1 of the Northern Ireland Assembly Disqualification Act 1975: This similarly disqualifies any sitting members of the IBCA board from membership of the Northern Ireland Assembly;
- Schedule 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000: This puts the IBCA in scope of freedom of information requests and oversight by the Information Commissioner; and
- Schedule 19 to the Equality Act 2010: The public sector equality duty in section 149 will apply to the IBCA. This duty applies to public bodies listed in Schedule 19 of the Act, under which the heading "Health, Social care and social security" is amended to include the IBCA.
