Miscellaneous Financial Provisions Act 1983
| Year | 1983 |
Miscellaneous FinancialProvisions Act 1983
1983 CHAPTER 29
An Act to establish a Development Commission in place of the Commissioners appointed under the Development and Road Improvement Funds Act 1909; to authorise the making of grants by the Secretary of State to bodies promoting industrial or commercial development in areas in England; to extinguish liability in respect of certain guarantees given under the Colonial Loans Act 1949; to amend certain enactments authorising the Treasury to give guarantees; to extend the power of the Crown Estate Commissioners to grant leases; to make provision for the redemption of certain annuities and allowances which have been payable out of public funds since before 1874; to amend section 173A of the Local Government Act 1972; and for connected purposes.
[13th May 1983]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1 The Development Commission.
(1) There shall be a body corporate called the Development Commission.
(2) The first members of the Commission shall be the persons who, immediately before the commencement of this section, are the Development Commissioners under the Development and Road Improvement Funds Act 1909 ; and Part I of that Act shall cease to have effect.
(3) The Development Commission shall keep under review and advise the Secretary of State upon all matters relating to the economic and social development of rural areas in England and may carry out or assist others to carry out measures likely to further such development.
(4) Subject to subsections (7) and (8) below, the Commission may do anything which is conducive or incidental to the discharge of its functions and in particular (but without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing) may—
(a ) make grants and loans and give guarantees and any other form of financial assistance;
(b ) acquire land and other property;
(c ) provide or facilitate the provision of premises for occupation by industrial or commercial undertakings;
(d ) form, and hold controlling or other interests in, bodies corporate;
(e ) act alone or with other persons, either in partnership or otherwise.
(5) The power of the Commission to acquire land includes power, if authorised by the Secretary of State, to purchase land compulsorily; and the Acquisition of Land Act 1981 shall apply to any compulsory purchase by the Commission.
(6) The Secretary of State may make to the Commission out of money provided by Parliament grants of such amount and subject to such conditions as he may, with the approval of the Treasury, think fit.
(7) The Commission shall not give financial assistance to any person except in accordance with arrangements approved by the Secretary of State and the Treasury.
(8) The Secretary of State may give the Commission general directions as to the exercise of its functions, and the Commission shall comply with any such directions.
(9) Schedule 1 to this Act shall have effect.
2 Grants to regional development organisations.
(1) The Secretary of State may out of money provided by Parliament make grants to any body within subsection (2) below for the purpose of assisting it to promote industrial or commercial development in the area with which it is concerned.
(2) The bodies referred to in subsection (1) above are—
(a ) the Devon and Cornwall Development Bureau;
(b ) the North of England Development Council;
(c ) the North West Industrial Development Association;
(d ) the Yorkshire and Humberside Development Association;
(e ) any other body, whether corporate or unincorporate, whose principal object appears to the Secretary of State to be the promotion of industrial or commercial development in an area in England.
(3) The Secretary of State shall obtain the consent of the Treasury before making a grant under this section to any body other than one named in subsection (2)(a ) to (d ) above.
(4) In making a grant under this section the Secretary of State may impose such conditions as he thinks fit, including in particular—
(a ) a condition requiring the recipient to keep proper accounts and records in respect of the application of the grant;
(b ) a condition requiring the recipient to submit to the Secretary of State such periodic statements of accounts and reports relating to the application of the grant as the Secretary of State may direct; and
(c ) a condition requiring the recipient to repay the whole or any part of the grant if any condition of the grant is not complied with.
(5) The Secretary of State shall lay before each House of Parliament a copy of every statement and report submitted to him in compliance with a condition of the kind described in subsection (4)(b ) above.
3 Extinguishment of certain Zimbabwean debts.
3. There is hereby extinguished any liability to make payments in consequence of the fulfilment of the guarantees specified in the table below (which were given by the Treasury under the Colonial Loans Act 1949in respect of loans by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development).
Table
| Date of guarantee | Particulars of loan guaranteed |
| 27th February 1952 | Loan of an amount equivalent to $28,000,000 to the Colony of Southern Rhodesia. |
| 16th June 1958 | Loan of an amount equivalent to $19,000,000 to the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. |
| 1st April 1960 | Loan of an amount equivalent to $5,600,000 to the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. |
4 Treasury guarantees.
(1) In the enactments mentioned in Schedule 2 to this Act (which enable the Treasury to guarantee the repayment of the principal of, and the payment of interest on, sums borrowed by the bodies mentioned in the third column of that Schedule) for the words ‘and the payment of interest on’ or ‘and the payment of any interest on’ there shall be substituted the words ‘the payment of interest on and the discharge of any other financial obligation in connection with’.
(2) In section 11(1) of the Commonwealth Development Corporation Act 1978 (Treasury guarantees in respect of sums borrowed by the Commonwealth Development Corporation) for the words ‘and the payment of interest and other charges on’ there shall be substituted the words ‘the payment of interest on and the discharge of any other financial obligation in connection with’.
(3) In section 25 of the Electricity (Scotland) Act 1979 (Treasury guarantees in respect of sums borrowed by Electricity Boards)—
(a ) in subsection (1), for the words from ‘payment of’ to the end there shall be substituted the words ‘repayment of the principal of, the payment of interest on and the discharge of any other financial obligation in connection with any loan proposed to be raised by either Board’; and
(b ) in subsection (3), after the word ‘of’ in the fourth place where it occurs there shall be inserted the words ‘, and any other financial obligation in connection with,’.
(4) In section 8 of the Overseas Development and Co-operation Act 1980 (Treasury guarantees in respect of certain loans made by the International Bank)—
(a ) in subsection (1), for the words ‘and the payment of the interest on and other charges in respect of’ there shall be substituted the words ‘the payment of interest on and the discharge of any other financial obligation in connection with’;
(b ) in subsection (5)(d )(i), for the words ‘charges in respect of’ there shall be substituted the words ‘payments in discharge of financial obligations in connection with’;
(c ) in subsection (6), for the words ‘other charges in respect of’ there shall be substituted the words ‘the discharge of any other financial obligation in connection with’.
(5) In section 62(1) of the New Towns Act 1981 (Treasury guarantees in respect of sums borrowed by a development corporation or the Commission for the New Towns) for paragraphs (a ) and (b ) there shall be substituted the words ‘the repayment of the principal of, the payment of interest on and the discharge of any other financial obligation in connection with’.
5 Power of Crown Estate Commissioners to grant leases.
5. In section 3(2) of the Crown Estate Act 1961(restriction on term for which a lease may be granted by Crown Estate Commissioners) for the words ‘one hundred years’ there shall be substituted the words ‘one hundred and fifty years’.
6 Redemption of certain annuities.
(1) If the Treasury, in, respect of an annuity to which this subsection applies—
(a ) by notice in writing inform the person appearing to them to be entitled for the time being to receive the annuity that they propose to redeem it on a date specified in the notice (‘the redemption date’), and
(b ) tender to that person, not later than the redemption date, a payment calculated in accordance with subsection (7) below,
the annuity shall cease to be payable on the redemption date.
(2) Subsection (1) above applies to any annuity not exceeding 2,000 a year for the redemption of which the Treasury may contract under section 2 of the Consolidated Fund (Permanent Charges Redemption) Act 1873 (and does not apply to an annuity first...
To continue reading
Request your trial