Public Appointments and Public Bodies etc. (Scotland) Act 2003
| Year | 2003 |
Public Appointments and Public Bodies etc.(Scotland) Act 2003
asp 4
The Bill for this Act of the Scottish Parliament was passed by the Parliament on5th February 2003and received Royal Assent on 11th
An Act of the Scottish Parliament to establish the office of Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland; to make provision in respect of appointments to certain public bodies; to dissolve certain public bodies; to make provision as to certain functions of Health Boards and National Health Service trusts; to make provision as to the functions of the Law Society of Scotland and the Scottish Solicitors' Discipline Tribunal regarding the regulation of conveyancing and executry practitioners and the provision of services by such practitioners; to make modifications in relation to those services, including conferring certain notarial and other functions on such practitioners; to establish the Historic Environment Advisory Council for Scotland; and for connected purposes.
Part 1
The Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland
1 Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland
(1) There is established the office of Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland (in this Act referred to as ‘the Commissioner’) who is to be an individual appointed by Her Majesty on the nomination of the Scottish Parliament.
(2) Schedule 1 makes further provision about the appointment and status of the Commissioner and about certain administrative and other matters with respect to the Commissioner.
2 The Commissioner's functions
(1) The Commissioner is to prepare and publish a code of practice in respect of the making by the Scottish Ministers of any appointment or, as the case may be, the making by them of any recommendation for any appointment—
(a) of a person to an office specified in schedule 2; and
(b) to a body specified in that schedule (being an appointment of a person to an office of, or as a member of, the body),
(any office referred to in (a) and any body referred to in (b) being referred to in this Act as ‘the specified authorities’).
(2) The code of practice is to include guidelines as to the methods and practices to be employed in the making of such appointments and recommendations and may, in particular, include guidelines as to—
(a) how vacancies in the specified authorities are to be publicised;
(b) how applications to fill those vacancies are to be encouraged; and
(c) the basis on which the Scottish Ministers are to consider persons for, and for recommendation for, appointment to the specified authorities.
(3) The Commissioner—
(a) is to keep under review the code of practice;
(b) may from time to time revise the code of practice and publish it as so revised; and
(c) is to promote compliance with the code of practice.
(4) In preparing the code of practice, and in making any revisions to it, the Commissioner must—
(a) consult the Parliament and the Scottish Ministers; and
(b) invite (by way of advertisement or otherwise) other persons to make representations,
as regards the code.
(5) The Commissioner—
(a) is to examine—
(i) the methods and practices employed by the Scottish Ministers in the making of appointments, and recommendations for appointment, to the specified authorities; and
(ii) if the Commissioner considers it appropriate, the making by the Scottish Ministers of any appointment, or recommendation for appointment, to any of the specified authorities; and
(b) is to investigate complaints arising from the making by the Scottish Ministers of any appointment, or recommendation for appointment, to any of the specified authorities.
(6) The Commissioner may issue guidance to the Scottish Ministers (either generally or in a particular case) as to compliance with the code of practice.
(7) In any case where—
(a) it appears to the Commissioner that the code of practice has not been complied with in a material regard;
(b) the Commissioner has intimated that fact to the Scottish Ministers; and
(c) the Commissioner considers that—
(i) the code of practice is unlikely to be complied with within a reasonable time of that intimation; or
(ii) after a reasonable time from that intimation, the code remains to be complied with,
subsection (8) applies.
(8) Where this subsection applies, the Commissioner—
(a) must report the case to the Parliament (together with any information in relation to the case the Commissioner considers appropriate to include); and
(b) if the appointment or recommendation for appointment in question has not been made, may direct the Scottish Ministers to delay making the appointment or, as the case may be, the recommendation until the Parliament has considered the case; and the Scottish Ministers must comply with any such direction.
(9) The Commissioner is to exercise the Commissioner's functions with a view to ensuring that—
(a) appointments, and recommendations for appointment, to the specified authorities are made fairly and openly; and
(b) so far as reasonably practicable, all categories of person are afforded an opportunity to be considered for appointment, and recommendation for appointment, to the specified authorities.
(10) Without prejudice to subsections (2) and (9), the Commissioner—
(a) is to prepare and publish a strategy for ensuring that appointments, and recommendations for appointment, to the specified authorities are made by the Scottish Ministers in a manner which encourages equal opportunities and in particular the observance of the equal opportunity requirements (those expressions having the same meanings as in Section L2 (equal opportunities) of Part II of Schedule 5 to the Scotland Act 1998 (c.46)); and
(b) may, in the strategy, set targets with a view to ensuring that such appointments and recommendations are made with due regard to the need to meet those requirements,
but, in preparing the strategy or setting targets, the Commissioner must consult the Parliament and the Scottish Ministers.
3 The Commissioner's functions: further provision
(1) The Scottish Ministers must provide the Commissioner with such information as the Commissioner reasonably requires in the exercise of the Commissioner's functions.
(2) The Scottish Ministers may by order—
(a) amend schedule 2; or
(b) in relation to appointments to the specified authorities—
(i) confer on the Commissioner any additional function; or
(ii) remove any function of the Commissioner,
which they consider appropriate so to confer or remove.
(3) Where—
(a) an office or body is to be established; and
(b) when established, the office or body is to be specified in schedule 2,
the Scottish Ministers may by order provide that the office or body is to be treated, for the purposes of or in connection with any appointment to the office or body, as if it were one of the specified authorities.
(4) Each body mentioned in section 4 is to be treated, for the purposes of or in connection with any appointment to the body made before that section comes into force as respects the body, as if it were one of the specified authorities.
Part 2
Provision as to certain public bodies etc.
Dissolution of certain bodies
4 Dissolution of certain bodies
The following bodies are dissolved—
(a) the Ancient Monuments Board for Scotland;
(b) the Historic Buildings Council for Scotland;
(c) the Scottish Hospital Trust;
(d) the Scottish Medical Practices Committee; and
(e) the Scottish Conveyancing and Executry Services Board.
Health Service bodies
5 Property of the Scottish Hospital Trust
(1) Any—
(a) endowment (and accumulated income thereof) held by the Scottish Hospital Trust by virtue of subsection (3) of section 11 (Scottish Hospital Trust) of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 (c.29) (in this Act referred to as the ‘1978 Act’);
(b) endowment and other property (and accumulated income thereof) held by it by virtue of paragraph 4(e) to (f) of Schedule 6 (the Hospital Trust) to that Act; and
(c) other property and rights of or held by the Scottish Hospital Trust (of whatever kind),
(in this section and section 6 referred to as the ‘Trust property’) is transferred to, and vested in, the Health Boards.
(2) The Scottish Ministers may by regulations make provision for the purposes of or in connection with the transfer and vesting of the Trust property by virtue of subsection (1) and may, in particular, make provision as to how the Trust property is to be divided among different Health Boards, including—
(a) prescribing the method of calculating the capital value of the property and the share of each Health Board in it;
(b) providing for any of the Trust property to be realised for value and for the value to be transferred to and vested in the appropriate Health Board in lieu of the property.
(3) Before making regulations under subsection (2), the Scottish Ministers must consult the Scottish Hospital Trust and all Health Boards and NHS trusts on the proposed regulations.
(4) Any Trust property (including any value in lieu of the property) which has been transferred to a Health Board by virtue of subsections (1) and (2), may be transferred by the Board to, and vested in, another Health Board, subject to such conditions (including conditions as to the extent of any transfer or of the transfer of any class of property) as the Scottish Ministers may by regulations provide for.
(5) Where Trust property has been transferred by a Health Board to another Health Board under subsection (4), the other Health Board is (except where, by virtue of a subsequent transfer, the property is held by an NHS trust) to...
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