Statutory Instruments
CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS
Made
6th March 1998
Coming into force
1st May 1998
The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sections 106(1)(b) and 146(1) of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996(1) and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, hereby makes the following Order, a draft of which has been laid before, and approved by resolution of, each House of Parliament:
1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the Construction Contracts (Scotland) Exclusion Order 1998 and shall come into force at the end of the period of 8 weeks beginning with the day on which it is made.
(2) This Order shall extend to Scotland only.
2. In this Order, “Part II” means Part II of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996.
3. A construction contract is excluded from the operation of Part II if it is–
(a)an agreement under section 48 (contributions towards expenditure on constructing or improving roads) of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984(2);
(b)an agreement under section 75 (agreements regulating development or use of land) or 246 (agreements relating to Crown land) of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997(3);
(c)an agreement under section 8 (agreements as to provision of sewers etc. for new premises) of the Sewerage (Scotland) Act 1968(4); or
(d)an externally financed development agreement within the meaning of section 1 (powers of NHS Trusts to enter into agreements) of the National Health Service (Private Finance) Act 1997(5).
4.—(1) A construction contract is excluded from the operation of Part II if it is a contract entered into under the private finance initiative, within the meaning given below.
(2) A contract is entered into under the private finance initiative if all the following conditions are fulfilled:–
(a)it contains a statement that it is entered into under that initiative or, as the case may be, under a project applying similar principles;
(b)the consideration due under the contract is determined at least in part by reference to one or more of the following:–
(i)the standards attained in the performance of a service, the provision of which is the principal purpose or one of the principal purposes for which the building or structure is constructed;
(ii)the extent, rate or intensity of use of all or any part of the building or structure in question; or
(iii)the right to operate any facility in connection with the building or structure in question; and
(c)one of the parties to the contract is–
(i)a Minister of the Crown;
(ii)a department in respect of which appropriation accounts are required to be prepared under the Exchequer and Audit Departments Act 1866(6);
(iii)any other authority or body whose accounts are required to be examined and certified by or are open to the inspection of the Comptroller and Auditor General by virtue of an agreement entered into before the date on which this Order comes into force, or by virtue of any enactment;
(iv)any authority or body listed in Schedule 4 (nationalised industries and other public authorities) to the National Audit Act 1983(7);
(v)a body whose accounts are subject to audit by auditors appointed by the Accounts Commission for Scotland;
(vi)a water and sewerage authority established under section 62 (new water and sewerage authorities) of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994(8);
(vii)the board of management of a self-governing school within the meaning of section 1(3) (duty of Secretary of State to maintain self-governing schools) of the Self-Governing Schools etc. (Scotland) Act 1989(9); or
(viii)a company wholly owned by any of the bodies described in heads (i) to (v) above.
5.—(1) A construction contract is excluded from the operation of Part II if it is a finance agreement, within the meaning given below.
(2) A contract is a finance agreement if it is any one of the following:–
(a)any contract of insurance;
(b)any contract under which the principal obligations include the formation or dissolution of a company, unincorporated association or partnership;
(c)any contract under which the principal obligations include the creation or transfer of securities or any right or interest in securities;
(d)any contract under which the principal obligations include the lending of money;
(e)any contract under which the principal obligations include an undertaking by a person to be responsible as surety for the debt or default of another person, including a fidelity bond, advance payment bond, retention bond or performance bond.
6.—(1) A construction contract is excluded from the operation of Part II if it is a development agreement, within the meaning given below.
(2) A contract is a development agreement if it includes provision for the grant or disposal of a relevant interest in the land on which take place the principal construction operations to which the contract relates.
(3) In paragraph (2) above, a relevant interest in land means–
(a)ownership; or
(b)a tenant’s interest under a lease for a period which is to expire no earlier than 12 months after the completion of the construction operations under the contract.
Calum MacDonald
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Scottish Office
St Andrew’s House,
Edinburgh
6th March 1998
(This note is not part of the Order)
Part II of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 makes provision in relation to the terms of construction contracts. Section 106 confers power on the Secretary of State to exclude descriptions of contracts from the operation of Part II. This Order excludes, as regards Scotland, contracts of four descriptions.
Article 3 excludes agreements made under specified statutory provisions dealing with works relating to roads, planning obligations, sewerage works and externally financed NHS Trust agreements. Article 4 excludes agreements entered into by specified public bodies under the private finance initiative (or a project applying similar principles). Article 5 excludes agreements which primarily relate to the financing of works. Article 6 excludes development agreements, which contain provision for the disposal of an interest in land.
1983 c. 44: amended by the Telecommunications Act 1984 (c. 12), Schedule 7, Part III; the Oil and Pipelines Act 1985 (c. 12), Schedule 4, Part II; the Broadcasting Act 1990 (c. 42), Schedule 20, paragraph 36, S.I. 1991/510, article 5(4) and the Coal Industry Act 1994 (c. 21), Schedule 9, paragraph 29.