§
541 Clause 323, page 171, line 9, leave out subsection (3) and insert—
("(3) For purposes connected with any transfers made by virtue of a transfer or pension instrument (including the transfer of rights and liabilities under an enactment) a body or person to which anything is transferred by virtue of the instrument is to be treated as the same person in law as the body or person from which it is transferred, except as otherwise provided in the instrument.")
§ The Commons agreed to this amendment and proposed the following consequential amendment to the Bill—
§
541A Clause 324, page 173, line 28, at end insert—
("( ) Subsections (3) to (5) above do not apply in relation to the transfer of functions, property, rights and liabilities to the extent that the provision by which, or the order or instrument under which, the transfer is made provides otherwise.")
§ Lord WhittyMy Lords, I beg to move that this House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 541A as a consequential amendment to Lords Amendment No. 541.
One of the key principles of transfer is that the transferor and the transferee should generally be considered as the same person in law. This principle applies in various places in the Bill. The amendment corrects a slight inconsistency in that application. In all other cases the same person in law may be disapplied if this is specified in the relevant transfer or pension instrument. This discretion is vital to allow the functions to proceed smoothly—for example, by not transferring to successor bodies any criminal liability incurred by their predecessors.
Amendment No. 541A introduces this discretion to the continuity provisions in the Bill. It will ensure that the same person in law provision is properly applied and that it will be clearly so interpreted by the courts. I commend the amendments to the House.
Moved, That this House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 541A as a consequential amendment to Lords Amendment No. 541.—(Lord Whitty.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.