(1)A Minister of the Crown may by order make such amendments, repeals or revocations in any enactment, Northern Ireland legislation, subordinate legislation or Church legislation relating to pensions, allowances or gratuities as he considers appropriate for the purpose of, or in connection with, making provision with respect to pensions, allowances or gratuities for the surviving civil partners or dependants of deceased civil partners.
(2)The power conferred by subsection (1) is also exercisable—
(a)by the Scottish Ministers, if the provision making the amendment, repeal or revocation is a relevant Scottish provision;
(b)by a Northern Ireland department, if the provision making the amendment, repeal or revocation deals with a transferred matter.
(3)In the case of judicial pensions, allowances or gratuities, the power conferred by subsection (1) is exercisable—
(a)in relation to any judicial office whose jurisdiction is exercised exclusively in relation to Scotland, by the Secretary of State, or
(b)subject to paragraph (a), by the Lord Chancellor.
(4)The provision which may be made by virtue of subsection (1)—
(a)may be the same as, or different to, the provision made with respect to widows, widowers or the dependants of persons who are not civil partners, and
(b)may be made with a view to ensuring that pensions, allowances or gratuities take account of rights which accrued, service which occurred or any other circumstances which existed before the passing of this Act.
(5)The power conferred by subsection (1) is not restricted by any provision of this Act.
(6)Before the appropriate person makes an order under subsection (1) he must consult such persons as he considers appropriate.
(7)Subsection (6) does not apply—
(a)to an order in the case of which the appropriate person considers that consultation is inexpedient because of urgency, or
(b)to an order made before the end of the period of 6 months beginning with the coming into force of this section.
(8)Subject to subsection (9), the power to make an order under subsection (1) is exercisable by statutory instrument.
(9)Any power of a Northern Ireland department to make an order under this section is exercisable by statutory rule for the purposes of the Statutory Rules (Northern Ireland) Order 1979 (S.I. 1979/1573 (N.I. 12)).
(10)An order under subsection (1) may not be made—
(a)by a Minister of the Crown, unless a draft of the statutory instrument containing the order has been laid before, and approved by a resolution of, each House of Parliament;
(b)by the Scottish Ministers, unless a draft of the statutory instrument containing the order has been laid before, and approved by a resolution of, the Scottish Parliament;
(c)by a Northern Ireland department, unless a draft of the statutory rule containing the order has been laid before, and approved by a resolution of, the Northern Ireland Assembly.
(11)In this section—
“the appropriate person”, in relation to an order under this section, means the person making the order;
“Church legislation” means—
any Measure of the Church Assembly or of the General Synod of the Church of England, or
any order, regulation or other instrument made under or by virtue of such a Measure;
“enactment” includes an enactment comprised in an Act of the Scottish Parliament;
“Minister of the Crown” has the same meaning as in the Ministers of the Crown Act 1975 (c. 26);
“relevant Scottish provision” means a provision that would be within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament if it were included in an Act of that Parliament;
“subordinate legislation” has the same meaning as in the Interpretation Act 1978 (c. 30) except that it includes any instrument made under an Act of the Scottish Parliament and any instrument within the meaning of section 1(c) of the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 (1954 c. 33 (N.I.));
“transferred matter” has the meaning given by section 4(1) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 (c. 47) and “deals with” in relation to a transferred matter is to be construed in accordance with section 98(2) and (3) of the 1998 Act.