Reorganisation of Offices (Scotland) Act 1928

1 Substitution of Departments for Boards of Health and Agriculture and Prison Commissioners for Scotland

(1) On the appointed day, the Scottish Board of Health, the Board of Agriculture for Scotland, and the Prison Commissioners for Scotland shall cease to exist, and the powers and duties of the said Boards (in which expression the Prison Commissioners for Scotland are included) shall be respectively transferred to and vested in a Department of Health for Scotland, a Department of Agriculture for Scotland, and a Prisons Department for Scotland, acting under the control and direction of one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, and consisting of a secretary and such, other officers and servants as the Secretary of State with the consent of the Treasury may determine. The offices of the said Departments shall be situated in Edinburgh.

(2) On any transfer under this section of the powers and duties of a Board to a Department the appointed members of and the persons employed under the Board shall be transferred and attached to the Department, and shall perform such duties in relation to the business of the Department as the Secretary of State may direct, provided that such members and persons shall be in no worse position as regards tenure of office, salary or superannuation allowance than they would have been if this Act had not passed.

(3) His Majesty may by Order in Council make such incidental, consequential and supplemental provisions, and such adaptations in the enactments relating to any powers and duties transferred to a Department under this section, as may be necessary or expedient for the purpose of giving full effect to the transfer of such powers and duties, and of making them exercisable by the Department and the officers thereof.

(4) On any transfer of powers and duties to a Department under this subsection—

(a) the Department shall, subject as aforesaid, be substituted for the Board in the construction and for the purposes of any Act of Parliament, decree, order, byelaw, regulation, contract, deed, or other document passed, made or executed, or of any action or proceeding raised before such transfer:

Provided that, in any enactment relating to the appointment by the Board of secretaries, officers, inspectors, clerks, servants or other persons, a reference to the Board shall be construed as a reference to the Secretary of State; and

(b) all property belonging to or vested in or held in trust for the Board shall pass to and vest in and be held in trust for the Department, subject to all debts and liabilities affecting the same.

(5) The following provisions shall apply to each of the Departments mentioned in subsection (1) of this section :—

(a) The Department shall be a body corporate with power to hold land so far as may be necessary for the purposes of the powers and duties transferred to or conferred or imposed on them by this or any Act, and shall have an official seal which shall be officially and judicially noticed and which shall be authenticated by the signature of the secretary or other officer of the Department authorised by the Secretary of State to act in that behalf:

(b) The Department may sue and be sued in the name by which it is referred to in the first subsection of this section, and may for all purposes be described by that name, and service on the Department of all legal proceedings and notices shall be effected by service on the secretary of the Department:

(c) Any act to be done or deed to be signed or instrument to be executed by or on behalf of the Department may be done, signed or executed in the name of the Department by the secretary or other officer of the Department authorised by the Secretary of State to act in that behalf:

(d) Every document purporting to be an order or other instrument issued by the Department and to be sealed with the seal of the Department authenticated in the manner provided by this section or to be signed as aforesaid shall be received in evidence and be deemed to be such order or other instrument without further proof unless the contrary is shown :

(e) The [31 & 32 Vict. c. 37.] Documentary Evidence Act, 1868, as amended by the [45 & 46 Vict. c. 9.] Documentary Evidence Act, 1882, shall apply to the Department as if the Department were mentioned in the first column of the Schedule to the first-mentioned Act, and as if the secretary or any officer of the Department authorised by the Secretary of State to act in that behalf were mentioned in the second column of that Schedule.

(6) The appointed day for the transfer of the powers and duties and the abolition of any of the Boards under subsection (1) of this section shall be such day as the Secretary of State may appoint as regards that Board, and the enactments respecting that Board set forth in the first part of the Schedule to this Act shall be repealed as from that day to the extent specified in the third column of that Schedule.