The London Government (Various Provisions) Order 2000

Statutory Instruments

2000 No. 942

LONDON GOVERNMENT

The London Government (Various Provisions) Order 2000

Made

3rd April 2000

Laid before Parliament

3rd April 2000

Coming into force

24th April 2000

The Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 405(2), 406 and 420(1) of the Greater London Authority Act 1999(1), and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, hereby makes the following Order:

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the London Government (Various Provisions) Order 2000 and shall come into force on 24th April 2000.

(2) For the purposes of this Order—

(a) “the 1999 Act” means the Greater London Authority Act 1999;

(b) “the operative date”—

(i) in relation to the Greater London Authority, means 8th May 2000, and

(ii) in relation to the London Development Agency, means 3rd July 2000; and

(c) a reference to a relevant body is a reference to the Greater London Authority or the London Development Agency.

Preliminary financial arrangements

2.—(1) Arrangements in relation to a relevant body as to any matter specified in the Schedule to this Order made, before the operative date, by the chief finance officer, shall have effect on and after that date until replaced or altered by that body.

(2) In this article “chief finance officer” in relation to a relevant body means the person who is, by virtue of his appointment under section 407 of the 1999 Act, for the time being the chief finance officer of the body.

Preliminary standing orders

3.—(1) For the purposes of section 52 of the 1999 Act, the first meeting of the Assembly shall be held in accordance with standing orders prepared for the purposes of this article by the head of paid service.

(2) The standing orders prepared in accordance with paragraph (1) shall provide for—

(a) giving notice of the meeting;

(b) preparation of the agenda for the meeting;

(c) election of the Chair and Deputy Chair of the Assembly;

(d) declaration of the results of those elections;

(e) the meeting to be chaired by the head of paid service until those results have been declared; and

(f) preparation of minutes of the meeting.

(3) In this article “the head of paid service” means the person who is, by virtue of his appointment under section 407 of the 1999 Act, for the time being head of the Greater London Authority’s paid service.

Disapplication of the Public Records Act 1958

4.—(1) The records specified in paragraph (2) shall not be treated as public records for the purposes of the Public Records Act 1958(2).

(2) The records are—

(a) records held by the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions and transferred to him by a transfer scheme under section 409 of the 1999 Act made in consequence of any of the following provisions of that Act—

(i) section 349 (abolition of joint planning committee for Greater London);

(ii) section 374 (abolition of London Ecology Committee);

(iii) section 396(10) (revocation of scheme about research and collection of information under section 88(1) of the Local Government Act 1985(3)); and

(b) records created before 3rd July 2000 by persons who entered the employment of the Secretary of State pursuant to any such transfer scheme—

(i) exclusively in connection with any purpose of the 1999 Act, and

(ii) before 3rd July 2000.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions

Keith Hill

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State,

Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions

3rd April 2000

Article 2

SCHEDULE MATTERS FOR WHICH CHIEF FINANCE OFFICERS MAY MAKE PRELIMINARY ARRANGEMENTS

1.  The allocation and delegation of financial functions to persons appointed for the purposes of the relevant body—

(a) in pursuance of section 407 of the Act, or

(b) on or after the operative date.

2.  Access to records of the relevant body.

3.  The preparation of capital and revenue budgets for the relevant body, and arrangements for monitoring and control of budgeted expenditure.

4.  The treatment of any income for the time being receivable for the purposes of any functions of the relevant body.

5.  Arrangements for banking accounts in the name of the relevant body.

6.  Arrangements for ordering goods and services, and for making payment accordingly.

7.  Arrangements for securing tenders for contracts.

8.  The treatment of any payments to members of the relevant body’s staff, and of any deductions from such payments.

9.  The handling of, and recording of, physical assets held for the purposes of the relevant body, and the disposal of such assets or other assets.

10.  Arrangements for the receipt and payment of grants.

11.  The taking of decisions to write off debts.

12.  Day to day management, accounting and investment of surplus funds of the relevant body.

13.  Arrangements for internal audit.

14.  The treatment of financial irregularities.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

The Greater London Authority (which consists of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly) and the London Development Agency (a functional body of the Authority) assume certain of their functions on 8th May 2000 and 3rd July respectively.

Article 2 of this Order provides for arrangements made in respect of the matters of financial management specified in the Schedule by the person appointed before that date by the Secretary of State (see section 407 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999) as each body’s chief finance officer, to have effect until replaced or altered by the body concerned.

Article 3 makes provision for arrangements for and conduct of the first meeting of the London Assembly to be in accordance with standing orders prepared by the person appointed by the Secretary of State as head of the Authority’s paid service.

Documents setting out—

(a) the financial arrangements in the case of each body, and

(b) the standing orders of the Assembly,

may be inspected during ordinary office hours at Romney House, Tufton Street SW1P 3RA.

Article 4 provides for specified records transferred to the Secretary of State, and for records created before 3rd July 2000 by specified staff transferred to the employment of the Secretary of State, not to be treated as public records for the purposes of the Public Records Act 1958.

(1)

1999 c. 29.

(2)

1958 c. 51. “Public records” are defined in section 10 and Schedule 1.

(3)

1985 c. 51.