Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 Explanatory Notes

Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007

2007 CHAPTER 15

Part 1: Tribunals and Inquiries

Commentary on Sections: Part 1

Section 31: Transfers under section 30: supplementary powers

172. Where functions are transferred under section 30, supplementary powers are needed to give the transfer full effect. Subsection (1) confers power on the Lord Chancellor to provide by order for the abolition of a tribunal whose functions have been transferred under section 30.

173. Orders abolishing tribunals will be brought into force at the point of transfer of their functions (or should the functions of a tribunal be transferred in stages, at the point of transfer of the last of their functions), thereby removing redundant organisations from statute.

174. Subsection (2) enables the Lord Chancellor, in transferring functions of a tribunal listed in Schedule 6, to provide for members of the tribunal who are judicial office holders to have a new office within either the First-tier Tribunal or the Upper Tribunal.

175. Subsection (5) provides that the power under subsection (2) to transfer office-holders into the new tribunals is not available as respects any person whose existing office is that of Commissioner for the General Purposes of Income Tax. That office is abolished by paragraph 1(1) of Schedule 8 to the Act. The offices of General Commissioner of Income Tax and of Clerk to the General Commissioners are expected to be abolished at the point that the functions of the General Commissioners are transferred.

176. Subsections (7) and (8) allow the Lord Chancellor to provide by order for the continuation of procedural rules following a transfer of functions, if necessary by modification of those rules.

177. At the point of transfer, orders can be brought into force transferring the existing sets of rules that govern procedure for the tribunals. Minor modifications may be made to the sets of rules where functions are to be transferred to a new tribunal so that they align with the provisions of the Act.

178. Subsection (9) enables the Lord Chancellor to make, by order, incidental, supplemental, transitional or consequential provision, or provision for savings, to facilitate: a transfer under section 30 of functions of tribunals; the appointment of tribunal judiciary to offices created by the Act; and the transfer of procedural rules.

179. To facilitate the smooth continuation of tribunal business at and beyond the point of transfer, orders will need to make provision for completion of all work underway in the tribunals at the point of transfer of their functions. The orders will also be able to ensure that references to tribunals that have been abolished are removed from statute.