The Public Interest Disclosure (Prescribed Persons) (Amendment) Order 2016

Made5th October 2016

Laid before Parliament6th October 2016

Coming into force1st November 2016

The Secretary of State makes the following Order in exercise of the powers conferred by section 43F of the Employment Rights Act 19961.

Citation and Commencement1.

This Order may be cited as the Public Interest Disclosure (Prescribed Persons) (Amendment) Order 2016 and comes into force on 1st November 2016.

Amendments to the Public Interest Disclosure (Prescribed Persons) Order 20142.

In the Schedule to the Public Interest Disclosure (Prescribed Persons) Order 20142—

(a)

in the entry relating to The Bank of England, for the words in the second column substitute—

“Matters relating to—
(a)
the functioning of clearing houses (including central-counterparties);
(b)
inter-bank payment systems;
(c)
securities settlement systems;
(d)
the treatment, holding and issuing of banknotes by the authorised banks (and their agents) under Part 6 of the Banking Act 20093;
(e)
the custody, distribution and processing of Bank of England banknotes under the Bank of England’s Note Circulation Scheme.”;

(b)

in the entry relating to the Food Standards Agency, in the second column, at the end insert “in England, Wales or Northern Ireland.”;

(c)

in the entry relating to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, for the words in the first column substitute “Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy”; and

(d)

at the appropriate places, insert the entries set out in the Schedule to this Order.

Margot James

Minister for Small Business, Consumers and Corporate Responsibility

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

5th October 2016

SCHEDULE

Article 2(d)

First Column Persons and descriptions of persons	Second Column Description of matters
Commissioners nominated under section 15(6) of the Local Government Act 19994.	Matters relating to the exercise of specified functions of a best value authority as directed by the Secretary of State.
Food Standards Scotland5.	Matters which affect the health of any member of the public in Scotland in relation to the consumption of food and matters which concern the protection of consumers in relation to food.
Older People’s Commissioner6.	Matters relating to the rights and wellbeing of older people in Wales.
Qualifications Wales 7.	Matters in respect of which Qualifications Wales exercises functions under the Qualifications Wales Act 20158.
Wales Audit Office9.	The proper conduct of public business; value for money, fraud and corruption in public bodies in Wales.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This order amends the Schedule to the Public Interest Disclosure (Prescribed Persons) Order 2014.

The Employment Rights Act 1996 (the “1996 Act”) provides protection for workers who suffer a detriment or are dismissed as a result of blowing the whistle by making a qualifying disclosure within the meaning of section 43B of the 1996 Act in accordance with any of sections 43C to 43H of that Act. Section 43F of the 1996 Act provides that a qualifying disclosure will be protected if it is made to a prescribed person and relates to matters in respect of which that person is prescribed. The Schedule to the 2014 Order lists the prescribed persons and the matters in respect of which they are prescribed for the purposes of section 43F.

This Order amends the Schedule to the 2014 Order to include some persons not previously included and to amend the description of some persons and matters for which certain persons are prescribed.

A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no significant impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen.