(This note is not part of the Order)
This Order in Council, made under the Ministers of the Crown Act 1975, incorporates the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions as a corporation sole and provides for the authentication of the corporate seal, the making of instruments by that Secretary of State and related matters (Article 2).
Article 3 transfers to the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (or in some cases to the Secretary of State) the functions of the Secretary of State for the Environment and the Secretary of State for Transport.
Article 4 transfers property, rights and liabilities of the Secretary of State for the Environment and the Secretary of State for Transport to the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, with special provision for immoveable property outside the United Kingdom (Article 4(3) and (4)).
The Order also contains supplementary provisions providing for continuity in the exercise of functions (Article 5) and makes amendments to enactments, instruments and other documents (Article 6 and the Schedule) consequential upon transfers effected by the Order and on the entrusting to the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions of functions entrusted before 1st May 1997 to the Secretary of State for the Environment or the Secretary of State for Transport.