Transport Act 1968

8 Transfer orders by Minister

(1) Subject to subsection (6) of this section, the Minister may by order—

(a) transfer from one to the other any functions of the Freight Corporation or the Railways Board in connection with the carriage of goods, and for that purpose amend any of the enactments relating to those functions ;

(b) make any such provision with respect to, or to any wholly-owned subsidiary of, either of those authorities as is mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (1) or paragraph (b) of subsection (4) of section 7 of this Act.

(2) Subject to subsection (6) of this section, the Minister and the Secretary of State acting jointly may by order make any such provision with respect to, or to any wholly-owned subsidiary of, the Freight Corporation or the Scottish Group as is mentioned in section 7(2) of this Act; and in relation to an order under this subsection any reference in subsection (3) or (6) of this section to the Minister shall be construed as a reference to the Minister and the Secretary of State acting jointly.

(3) Any order under subsection (1) or (2) of this section may contain such supplementary, incidental and consequential provision as may appear to the Minister to be necessary or expedient.

(4) Subject to subsection (5) of this section, in the case of an order under subsection (1) of this section making such provision as is mentioned in section 7(1)(b) of this Act, and in the case of an order under subsection (2) of this section, the property, rights and liabilities in question shall on such date as may be appointed for the purpose by the order be transferred, and by virtue of this Act vest, in accordance with the order.

(5) Schedule 4 to this Act shall apply to any transfer under subsection (4) of this section and that subsection shall have effect subject to the provisions of that Schedule; and in the application of any provision of that Schedule to a transfer affecting the Scottish Group, any reference in that provision to the Minister shall be construed as a reference to the Minister and the Secretary of State acting jointly.

(6) The power to make orders under this section shall not be exercisable so as to cause all or substantially all of the functions of the Freight Corporation in connection with the carriage of goods by land to become functions of the Railways Board or wholly-owned subsidiaries of that Board, or to cause all or substantially all of the functions of the Railways Board in connection with the carriage of goods by rail to become functions of the Freight Corporation or wholly-owned subsidiaries of that Corporation; and before making any order under this section the Minister shall—

(a) consult with the following persons, namely—

(i) the Freight Corporation ;

(ii) in the case of an order under subsection (1) of this section, the Railways Board ;

(iii) in the case of an order under subsection (2) of this section, the Scottish Group ;

(iv) the Freight Integration Council;

(v) such other persons, if any, as the Minister may think fit, and

(b) lay a draft of the proposed order before each House of Parliament,

and the order shall not be made unless the draft thereof so laid has been approved by resolution of each House of Parliament.