Office of Public Sector Information
PART I continued
(1) The Secretary of State may enter into any such agreement with another person as he thinks fit for the purpose of accepting or imposing contractual obligations with respect to, or to anything connected with, any or all of the following matters, that is to say—
(a) the manner and circumstances in which his powers by virtue of section 12 above are to be exercised; and
(b) the property, rights or liabilities to which any proposed restructuring scheme relates.
(2) An agreement under this section may, in particular, provide for the making of payments to the Corporation or the Secretary of State (by way of consideration or otherwise) in respect of anything created or transferred in accordance with a restructuring scheme.
(3) An agreement under this section may also contain provision in pursuance of which the Secretary of State binds himself as to the manner and circumstances in which he will exercise his power to give directions under section 11(7) above.
(4) The consent of the Treasury shall be required for the making of an agreement under this section.
(5) Any sums received by the Secretary of State in pursuance of an agreement under this section shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund.
(1) It shall be the duty of the Corporation and of the Authority to furnish the Secretary of State with all such information and other assistance as he may require for the purposes of, or in connection with—
(a) the making of any restructuring scheme or of any agreement under section 13 above; or
(b) the exercise of any of his powers in relation to any such scheme.
(2) The assistance that may be required under this section in relation to the making of any scheme or agreement includes—
(a) assistance required by the Secretary of State in connection with the exercise of any power conferred on him by section 26(6) below; and
(b) the taking of any step which the Corporation has power to take for the purpose of facilitating the implementation of any proposals of the Secretary of State which involve the inclusion of anything in the scheme or agreement or otherwise relate, in connection with the making of the scheme or agreement, to the Corporation’s undertaking.
(3) The obligations of the Corporation under this section shall include a duty to secure, so far as practicable, that its subsidiaries furnish all such information and assistance as the Secretary of State may require for the purposes of, or in connection with, the making of any such scheme or agreement, or the exercise of any such power, as is mentioned in subsection (1) above.
(4) A duty under this section to furnish information or assistance, or to secure that it is furnished, shall be performed within such period after the requirement giving rise to the duty as the Secretary of State may allow.
Schedule 3 to this Act (which makes provision as to the financial structure of the companies and related matters) shall have effect in relation to successor companies.
(1) The following provisions of this section shall apply separately in relation to every successor company which is limited by shares.
(2) As soon as he considers it expedient, and in any case not later than six months after the date when the company ceases to be wholly owned by the Crown, the Secretary of State shall by order fix a target investment limit in relation to the aggregate of the shares in the company which are for the time being held by any of the following, that is to say, the Treasury, the Secretary of State or any nominee of the Treasury or the Secretary of State (“the Government shareholding”).
(3) The target investment limit for the Government shareholding in the company shall be expressed as a proportion of the voting rights which are exercisable in all circumstances at general meetings of that company (“the ordinary voting rights”).
(4) The first target investment limit fixed under this section for the Government shareholding in the company shall not exceed, by more than one half of one per cent. of the ordinary voting rights, the proportion of those rights which is carried by the Government shareholding in the company at the time when the order fixing the limit is made.
(5) The Secretary of State may from time to time by order fix a new target investment limit for the Government shareholding in the company in place of the one previously in force under this section; but—
(a) any new limit must be lower than the one it replaces; and
(b) an order under this section may be revoked only by an order fixing a new limit.
(6) It shall be the duty of the Treasury and of the Secretary of State so to exercise—
(a) their powers under paragraph 3 of Schedule 3 to this Act and any power to dispose of any shares in the company held by either of them, and
(b) their power to give directions to their respective nominees,
as to secure that the Government shareholding in the company does not carry a proportion of the ordinary voting rights exceeding any target investment limit for the time being in force under this section.
(7) Notwithstanding subsection (6) above but subject to subsection (8) below, the Treasury or the Secretary of State may take up, or direct any of their respective nominees to take up, any rights for the time being available to them or him, or to that nominee—
(a) as an existing holder of shares in or other securities of the company; or
(b) by reason of the rescission of any contracts of sale of any such shares or securities.
(8) If, as a result of anything done under subsection (7) above, the proportion of the ordinary voting rights carried by the Government shareholding at any time exceeds the target investment limit, it shall be the duty of the Treasury or, as the case may be, the Secretary of State to comply with subsection (6) above as soon after that time as is reasonably practicable.
(9) For the purposes of this section the temporary suspension of any of the ordinary voting rights shall be disregarded.
(10) The consent of the Treasury shall be required for the exercise by the Secretary of State of any power conferred on him by this section; and the power to make an order under this section shall be exercisable by statutory instrument subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.
(1) The Secretary of State shall not—
(a) include provision in any restructuring scheme for the transfer to any person of a right to a grant or other payment specified in subsection (2) below; or
(b) make any such grant or payment at any time after such date as the Secretary of State may by order made by statutory instrument appoint for the purposes of this paragraph;
but different dates may be appointed for the purposes of paragraph (b) above in relation to different grants and payments.
(2) The grants and payments mentioned in subsection (1) above are—
(a) payments under section 4 of the [1967 c. 91.] Coal Industry Act 1967 or section 3 of the [1982 c. 15.] Coal Industry Act 1982 (payments providing re-imbursement of contributions to early retirement benefits etc.);
(b) payments under section 2 of the [1976 c. 1.] National Coal Board (Finance) Act 1976 (payments towards mineworkers' pension scheme deficiency);
(c) grants under—
(i) section 6 of the [1977 c. 39.] Coal Industry Act 1977 (pit closure grants for certain financial years); or
(ii) section 4 of the [1987 c. 3.] Coal Industry Act 1987 (grants in respect of expenditure referable to costs incurred in those financial years or in respect of other approved expenditure);
(d) such payments under a scheme made in pursuance of section 7 of that Act of 1977 (payments to redundant workers or in respect of arrangements relating to concessionary coal) as may be made otherwise than to persons to whom the scheme applies in accordance with subsection (1) of that section;
(e) grants under section 3 of that Act of 1987 (grants for workforce redeployment and reduction etc.);
(f) grants under section 1 of the [1990 c. 3.] Coal Industry Act 1990 (deficiency grants).
(1) The Secretary of State may, with the approval of the Treasury, make payments by way of grant (“residual payments grant”) to—
(a) the Corporation, or
(b) any successor company which is for the time being wholly owned by the Crown,
with a view to reducing or eliminating any amount falling to be shown in any accounts of the Corporation or that company as a deficit on its cash flow for any accounting period.
(2) The payment of residual payments grant may be made by advancing sums during any accounting period in anticipation of what it appears will be the deficit on cash flow for that period.
(3) Residual payments grant shall not be paid to any person in respect of any deficit which appears to the Secretary of State to be attributable to any failure of the Corporation to be paid, or to apply for, any amount which could have been paid, or would have been payable, to the Corporation by way of any payment or grant mentioned in subsection (2) of section 17 above.
(4) Where payments by way of residual payments grant have been made to the Corporation or any successor company and it appears to the Secretary of State that, after those payments have been taken into account in relation to the accounting period in respect of which they are made, there is a surplus on its cash flow for that accounting period or for any subsequent accounting period, an amount equal to whichever is the smaller of—
(a) so much of the aggregate amount of payments made by way of grant under this section to the Corporation or, as the case may be, that company as has not already been repaid under this subsection, and
(b) the amount of the surplus,
shall be paid by the Corporation or, as the case may be, that company to the Secretary of State.
(5) Any sums falling to be paid to the Secretary of State under subsection (4) above shall bear interest at such rate as the Secretary of State may, with the consent of the Treasury, determine.
(6) No amount shall fall to be paid to the Secretary of State under subsection (4) or (5) above in respect of any surplus on the cash flow of any successor company for any accounting period ending after the company has ceased to be wholly owned by the Crown; but a successor company which ceases to be wholly owned by the Crown shall be deemed to be required to produce accounts for the purposes of this section for the period between the end of its previous accounting period and the time when it ceases to be wholly owned by the Crown.
(7) Any sums required by the Secretary of State for making any grant under this section shall be paid out of money provided by Parliament; and any sums received by the Secretary of State by virtue of subsections (4) and (5) above shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund.
(8) Subject to subsection (6) above, in this section “accounting period”, in relation to the Corporation or any successor company, means any period for which the Corporation or that company is required by or under any enactment to produce accounts.
(1) The Secretary of State may, out of money provided by Parliament, make such payments to such persons as he may think fit for the purpose of securing any of the following, that is to say—
(a) that supplies of concessionary coal are made on and after the restructuring date to persons who would have received such supplies from the Corporation under relevant arrangements if those arrangements had not been affected by steps taken in connection with the restructuring of the coal industry;
(b) that provision is made for sums to be paid in lieu of concessionary coal to persons such as are mentioned in paragraph (a) above; and
(c) that provision is made for sums to be so paid to persons who (but for any steps so taken) would, under relevant arrangements, have received payments in lieu of concessionary coal.
(2) The consent of the Treasury shall be required for the making of payments under this section.
(3) In this section—
“concessionary coal” means coal or other solid fuel supplied free of charge or at reduced prices; and
“relevant arrangements” means any arrangements which—
whether or not they are legally enforceable, are in operation immediately before the restructuring date; and
provide for the supply of concessionary coal or for the making of payments in lieu of concessionary coal.
(1) Where—
(a) any sum has been lent (whether before or after the passing of this Act) to the Corporation out of money provided by Parliament, or
(b) any sum is for the time being to be taken as having been so lent,
the Secretary of State may by order extinguish any present or contingent liabilities of the Corporation to make repayments of capital or payments of interest in respect of that sum.
(2) Subject to the following provisions of this section, section 400(1) of the [1988 c. 1.] Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 (restriction of tax losses in case of any write-off of government investment) shall not have effect in relation to any extinguishment of liabilities by an order under subsection (1) above.
(3) Subsection (6) of section 400 of that Act of 1988 shall apply in relation to any such extinguishment as is mentioned in subsection (2) above as if the reference to the body in question were a reference to the Corporation.
(4) The consent of the Treasury shall be required for the making of an order under this section.
(5) The power to make an order under subsection (1) above shall be exercisable by statutory instrument subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.
Schedule 4 to this Act (which makes provision about taxation in relation to provisions contained in, or made in connection with, a restructuring scheme) shall have effect.
(1) Schedule 5 to this Act (which makes provision, in connection with the restructuring of the Corporation’s undertaking, in relation to the pensions paid to or in respect of its present and former employees and other persons) shall have effect.
(2) The [1952 c. 23.] Miners' Welfare Act 1952 shall cease to have effect.
(3) Subsection (3) of section 12 of that Act of 1952 (transfer of the functions under that Act of the Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation) shall have effect, pending its ceasing to have effect under subsection (2) above, as if the reference to that Organisation’s functions under that Act were a reference to all its functions, whether or not under that Act.
(1) As from such date as the Secretary of State may by order appoint—
(a) the minimum number of members of the Corporation, in addition to the chairman, shall be one;
(b) the requirements of section 2(3) of the 1946 Act and section 1(2) of the [1949 c. 53.] Coal Industry Act 1949 as to the persons from amongst whom members of the Corporation are to be appointed shall cease to have effect;
(c) there shall be no requirement for a member of the Corporation to be appointed to act as its deputy chairman; and
(d) the Secretary of State may at any time, if he considers it appropriate to do so in consequence of the coming into force of any provision of this Act or of any restructuring scheme, by notice in writing remove from office any member of the Corporation, including the chairman;
and different dates may be appointed under this subsection for the purposes of its different paragraphs.
(2) As soon after the restructuring date as it appears to the Secretary of State that it is no longer necessary for the Corporation to continue to exist, he may by order dissolve the Corporation on a day specified in the order (“the dissolution date”).
(3) Where an order under subsection (2) above provides for the Corporation to be dissolved with effect from a time which would not, apart from this subsection, be the end of a financial year of the Corporation, the financial year of the Corporation which is current at that time shall be deemed to end at that time and that order may contain such provision as the Secretary of State thinks fit for modifying the effect of any enactment with respect to—
(a) the preparation of accounts for the financial year of the Corporation ending with its dissolution; and
(b) the making and laying before Parliament of a final report relating to the carrying out of the Corporation’s functions during that financial year.
(4) The Secretary of State shall consult the Corporation and the Authority before making an order dissolving the Corporation.
(5) Where any person ceases, by virtue of any provision of this section, to be the chairman or a member of the Corporation before his term of office would otherwise have expired—
(a) the Secretary of State shall, with the consent of the Treasury, determine an amount to be paid to that person by way of compensation for loss of office; and
(b) any amount determined under paragraph (a) above shall be paid to that person—
(i) in the case of loss of office by virtue of a notice under subsection (1)(d) above, by the Corporation; and
(ii) in the case of loss of office by virtue of the dissolution of the Corporation, by the Secretary of State out of money provided by Parliament.
(6) Without prejudice to the generality of the powers conferred by virtue of section 12 above, where provision is made by any restructuring scheme for the transfer to any person of any liability of the Corporation under subsection (5) above or under subsection (6) of section 2 of the 1946 Act (salaries, pensions etc. for members), the subsection in question shall have effect subject to the transfer, and the transferred liability shall continue to have effect notwithstanding the coming into force on the dissolution date of any repeal made by this Act.
(7) Any power to make an order under this section shall be exercisable by statutory instrument; and an order dissolving the Corporation shall not be amended or revoked by any order made on or after the dissolution date.
(1) The Domestic Coal Consumers' Council shall cease to exist on such day as the Secretary of State may by order made by statutory instrument appoint.
(2) The Secretary of State may, out of money provided by Parliament, pay such compensation to the person who is the chairman of the Domestic Coal Consumers' Council when it ceases to exist as the Secretary of State may determine to be appropriate in respect of that person’s loss of office.
(3) The consent of the Treasury shall be required for the making of a determination under subsection (2) above.
Coal Industry Act 1994