Local Government Act 1929
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1929 c. 17 |
| Year | 1929 |
Local Government Act, 1929
(19 & 20 Geo. 5.) CHAPTER 17.
An Act to amend the law relating to the administration of poor relief, registration of births, deaths, and marriages, highways, town planning and local government; to extend the application of the Rating and Valuation (Apportionment) Act, 1928, to hereditaments in which no persons are employed; to grant complete or partial relief from rates in the case of the hereditaments to which that Act applies; to discontinue certain grants from the Exchequer and provide other grants in lieu thereof; and for purposes consequential on the matters aforesaid.
[27th March 1929]
B E it enacted by the King'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:—
Part I.
Poor Law .
Transfer and administration of Functions.
1 Transfer of functions of poor law authorities.
1. On the appointed day the functions of each poor law authority, shall, subject to the provisions of this Act and except as otherwise expressly provided by this Act, be transferred to the council of the county or county borough comprising the poor law area for which the poor law authority acts, or, if the poor law area is not wholly comprised within one county or county borough, the functions of the poor law authority so far as they relate to any county or county borough into which the area extends shall be transferred to the council thereof, and as from the appointed day all then existing poor law authorities shall cease to exist.
2 Special provisions as to functions of poor lawauthorities in respect of infant life protection and vaccination.
2. As from the appointed day the following provisions shall have effect with respect to functions relating to infant life protection and vaccination formerly discharged by poor law authorities:—
3 Power to combine councils for special purposes.
(1) Where any two or more councils, whether councils of counties or county boroughs, consider that it is expedient that the areas of the councils should be combined for any purpose connected with the administration of the functions transferred or to be transferred under this Part of this Act and make application to the Minister for the purpose, the Minister may make an order for combining the areas of the councils for the purposes named therein.
(2) Where it appears to the Minister that the combination of the areas of any two or more councils, whether councils of counties or county boroughs, for any purpose connected with the administration of the functions transferred or to be transferred under this Part of this Act, would tend to diminish expense, or would otherwise be of public or local advantage, the Minister may make an order for combining the areas of the councils for the purposes named therein:
Provided that an order shall not be made under this subsection except after a local inquiry, unless all the councils whose areas are to be so combined consent.
(3) An order under this section may establish for the purposes of the order a joint committee of the councils, and may constitute the joint committee a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal and with power to hold land for the purposes of their functions without licence in mortmain.
(4) Any such order shall define the functions of the joint committee, and regulate the election, meetings and business of the joint committee, the mode of defraying the expenses of the joint committee, and any other matter or thing which it appears necessary or proper to regulate for the better carrying into effect of the order, and may provide for making applicable, subject to the necessary modifications, to the joint committee any of the provisions of this Part or Parts VII or VIII of this Act (including the provisions as to administrative schemes).
(5) An order under this section may be made either before or after the appointed day, and
(a ) where the order takes effect on the appointed day, any functions which under the order are to be functions of the joint committee shall, as from the appointed day, be transferred to the joint committee, and shall not be transferred to any of the councils included in the combination; and
(b ) where the order takes effect after the appointed day, a council included in such a combination shall, save as otherwise provided by the order, cease to exercise any functions vested by the order in the joint committee.
(6) An order under this section shall be laid before Parliament as soon as may be after it is made.
4 Administrative schemes.
4. The council of every county and county borough shall prepare, and within six months after the commencement of this Act submit to the Minister, a scheme (hereinafter referred to as an administrative scheme) of the administrative arrangements proposed to be made for discharging the functions transferred to the council under this Part of this Act:
Provided that the Minister may on the application of a council extend the time within which a scheme is to be submitted if he is satisfied that there is reasonable cause for such extension.
5 Provisions as to alternative powers of giving assistance.
(1) A council in preparing an administrative scheme shall have regard to the desirability of securing that, as soon as circumstances permit, all assistance which can lawfully be provided otherwise than by way of poor relief shall be so provided, and accordingly any such scheme may declare that any assistance which could, after the appointed day, be provided either by way of poor relief or by virtue of any of the following Acts as amended by any subsequent enactment including this Act (that is to say)—
(a ) The Public Health Act, 1875 :
(b ) The Local Government Act, 1888 :
(c ) The Mental Deficiency Act, 1913 :
(d ) The Maternity and Child Welfare Act, 1918 :
(e ) The Blind Persons Act, 1920 :
(f ) The Public Health (Tuberculosis) Act, 1921 :
(g ) The Education Act, 1921 :
shall be provided exclusively by virtue of the appropriate Act and not by way of poor relief, but nothing in this subsection or in any scheme shall diminish or otherwise affect the duty of a council under section thirty-four of the Poor Law Act, 1927 , to provide relief for the poor.
For the purposes of this subsection, the expression ‘assistance’ includes maintenance and treatment at hospitals and other places, the education of children, and any other services which could, after the appointed day, be provided either by way of poor relief or by virtue of any of the above-mentioned Acts.
(2) Where in the case of a county the scheme declares that the education of any children who are being maintained by the council in any institution shall be provided under the Education Act, 1921, the council may make arrangements for that purpose with the local education authority for elementary education for the area in which such institution is situated upon such terms and conditions (including the use by the local education authority of any buildings, premises or equipment belonging to the council) as may be agreed.
(3) Where in the case of a county the scheme declares that any assistance which could be provided by virtue of the Maternity and Child Welfare Act, 1918, shall be provided under that Act, the county council may make arrangements with the council of any district wholly or partly in the county, who have established a maternity and child welfare committee, for the provision of such assistance within the district by the council thereof upon such terms and conditions (including the use by the district council of any buildings premises or equipment belonging to the...
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