HC Deb 02 July 1965 vol 715 cc144-6W

SCHEME

prepared by the British Railways Board and submitted to the Minister of Transport for his approval in accordance with paragraph 1(5) of the Sixth Schedule to the Transport Act

1. (a) In this Scheme unless the context otherwise requires the Act" means the Transport Act 1962; the Minister" means the Minister of Transport; the Railways Board" means the British Railways Board; the other Boards" means the London Transport Board the British Transport Docks Board and the British Waterways Board; the Boards" means the Railways Board and the other Boards; the Holding Company" means the Transport Holding, Company; participating body" means any of the Boards or the Holding Company; the vesting date" means the first day of January One thousand nine hundred and sixty-three; the records" means all those historical records of the British Transport Commission which were in the custody of their Historical Records Department immediately before the vesting date and were transferred to the Railways Board on the vesting date by Section 31(2)(f) of the Act; the committee" means the joint committee to be established under paragraph 4(a) of this Scheme.

(b) The Interpretation Act 1889 shall apply for the interpretation of this Scheme as it applies for the interpretation of an Act of Parliament.

2. It shall be the duty of the Railways Board under this Scheme:—

  1. (a) subject to the provisions of paragraph 4(f) of this Scheme to preserve the records;
  2. (b) for that purpose to provide and maintain suitable accommodation for the records and to employ an adequate number of suitable persons to have the custody and supervision thereof, and
  3. (c) to afford to each of the other participating bodies reasonable facilities for access to and the use of the records including facilities for the inspection of the records and for the making of copies thereof or taking of extracts therefrom and to permit (subject to such conditions as the committee may recommend) the temporary borrowing of the records or any part thereof by any of the participating bodies.

3. The expenses incurred by the Railways Board in carrying out their duties under this Scheme shall be shared between the participating bodies in such proportions as may be agreed between them from time to time or in the event of disagreement as may be determined by the Minister upon the application of any of them after notice to the others and the Railways Board shall be entitled to recover from the other participating bodies the amounts of their respective contributions as from time to time ascertained in accordance with those proportions.

  1. 4. (a) There shall be established as soon as possible after the coming into operation of this Scheme a joint committee representative of the participating bodies:
  2. (b) The committee shall consist of a chairman who shall be appointed by the Railways Board and eight other members of whom four shall be appointed by the Railways Board and one by each of the other Boards and the Holding Company respectively:
  3. (c) A member of the committee may at any time resign his membership by notice to the participating body which appointed him and each of the participating bodies may at any time remove any member appointed by that body by notice to such member;
  4. (d) The committee may act notwithstanding a vacancy among its members;
  5. (e) The quorum of the committee shall be five (including at least two members appointed otherwise than by the Railways Board) and subject thereto the committee shall determine its own procedure;
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  7. (f) It shall be the duty of the committee to make recommendations in respect of the preservation supervision management control and use of the records and generally in relation thereto (including recommendations as to the disposal of any material which in the opinion of the committee is no longer required to be preserved as part of the records);
  8. (g) Every such recommendation shall be sent to the participating bodies and subject to the provisions of the next succeeding subparagraph it shall be the duty of the participating bodies to give effect thereto;
  9. (h) Effect shall not be given to any recommendation of the committee to which any participating body objects and in respect of which that body shall have given notice in writing specifying the grounds of objection to the other participating bodies within fourteen days of the receipt by that participating body of the recommendation;
  10. (i) If at the expiration of one month from the date of any such notice of objection the objection has not been withdrawn any participating body may apply (after notice to the other participating bodies) to the Minister for a determination of any matters arising out of the objection and the participating bodies shall give effect to the Minister's determination.

5. The Scheme may be cited as the British Transport Historical Records Scheme 1963 and shall come into operation on the 1st day of July 1965.