2004 No. 2744
NATIONAL DEBT

The Government Stock (Consequential and Transitional Provision) (No.3) Order 2004

Made
Laid before the House of Commons
Coming into force
The Treasury, in exercise of the powers conferred upon them by section 140(2) of the Finance Act 20021, hereby make the following Order:

Citation and commencement1.

This Order may be cited as the Government Stock (Consequential and Transitional Provision) (No.3) Order 2004 and shall come into force on 15th November 2004.

Consequential amendments2.

The Schedule (which makes provision in consequence of the amendments made by section 140(1) of the Finance Act 2002) has effect.

Transitional provision3.

(1)

Anything done, or treated as done, by or in relation to the Bank of England, or any officer of the Bank of England, under any transferred function before the commencement day shall continue to have effect on and after that day, but as if it had been done by or in relation to the Registrar of Government Stock.

(2)

Paragraph (1) is without prejudice to the application of the Interpretation Act 19782 and is subject to paragraph (3).

(3)

Nothing in this article shall have the effect of transferring any liability from the Bank of England, or an officer of the Bank of England, to the Registrar of Government Stock.

(4)

In this article—

“commencement day” means the day on which this Order comes into force;

“Registrar of Government Stock” means the person or persons appointed in accordance with regulations under section 47(1)(b) of the Finance Act 19423 (see regulation 3 of the Government Stock Regulations 20044);

“transferred function” means any function which—

(a)

before the commencement day was a function of the Bank of England or of an officer of the Bank of England, but

(b)

on that day becomes a function of the Registrar of Government Stock by virtue of any amendment made by the Schedule.

(5)

Where the effect of any amendment made by the Schedule is to replace, with modifications, a function of the Bank of England, or of an officer of the Bank of England, with a function of the Registrar of Government Stock, the functions shall be regarded for the purposes of this article as one and the same function and that function shall accordingly be regarded for these purposes as a transferred function.

Jim Murphy
Joan Ryan
Two of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury

SCHEDULECONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENTS OF PRIMARY LEGISLATION

Article 2

National Debt Act 1870

1.

(1)

The National Debt Act 18705 is amended as follows.

(2)

In section 36 (interpretation of terms) after the definition of “person” there is inserted—

““the Registrar of Government Stock” means the person or persons appointed in accordance with regulations under section 47(1)(b) of the Finance Act 1942 (see regulation 3 of the Government Stock Regulations 2004):””.

(3)

For section 147 (issue by Treasury) there is substituted—

“Issue by Treasury14.

(1)

The money from time to time and at any time—

(a)

issuable out of the National Loans Fund, and

(b)

by this Act made applicable to the payment of the dividends on stock,

shall, by order of the Treasury, without other warrant, from time to time be issued and made available for the payment of those dividends.

(2)

The Registrar of Government Stock shall from time to time notify the Treasury of the amount of the money to be so issued which he requires to be made available to him for the making of payments in respect of those dividends.

(3)

The Treasury shall make that amount available to the Registrar of Government Stock for the making of such payments.”.

(4)

For section 158 (application of issues by Registrar of Government Stock) there is substituted—

“Application of money by Registrar of Government Stock15.

The Registrar of Government Stock shall without delay apply in payment of the dividends on stock the money from time to time so made available to him.”.

(5)

In section 169 (accounting by Registrar of Government Stock) for “issued” there is substituted “made available”.

Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988

2.

(1)

The Income and Corporation Taxes Act 198810 is amended as follows.

(2)

In section 4911 (stock and dividends in the name of the Treasury etc)—

(a)

for subsection (1) there is substituted—

“(1)

No tax shall be chargeable in respect of the stock or dividends—

(a)

transferred, in pursuance of any Act of Parliament, to accounts in the books of the Bank of England in the name of the Treasury or the National Debt Commissioners, or

(b)

transferred, in pursuance of any Act of Parliament, to the Treasury or the National Debt Commissioners and in respect of which the Treasury or those Commissioners are entered as holder in the registers kept by the Registrar of Government Stock,

but the Bank of England and the Registrar of Government Stock shall each transmit to the Board an account of the total amount thereof in those books or registers as the case may be.”;

(b)

in subsection (2) after “Bank of England” there is inserted “or in the registers kept by the Registrar of Government Stock”;

(c)

after subsection (3) there is inserted –

“(4)

In this section “Registrar of Government Stock” means the person or persons appointed in accordance with regulations under section 47(1)(b) of the Finance Act 1942 (see regulation 3 of the Government Stock Regulations 2004).”.

(3)

In section 5012 —

(a)

for “Bank”, wherever occurring, other than in subsection (7), there is substituted “Registrar”;

(b)

in subsection (5) for “received at” there is substituted “received by”;

(c)

in subsection (7) —

(i)

omit the definition of “the Bank”;

(ii)

omit the word “and” at the end of the definition of “gilt-edged securities”;

(iii)

in the definition of “registered”, for “Bank.” there is substituted “Registrar;”;

(iv)

the following definition is inserted at the appropriate place –

““the Registrar” means the Registrar of Government Stock, as defined in section 49(4).”.

(4)

In section 51(1)(b) for ““the Bank”” there is substituted ““the Registrar””.

Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992

3.

(1)

The Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 199213 is amended as follows.

(2)

In section 271(1)(a)14—

(a)

for sub-paragraph (i) there is substituted –

“(i)

transferred, in pursuance of any Act of Parliament, to accounts in the books of the Bank of England in the name of the Treasury or the National Debt Commissioners;

(ia)

transferred, in pursuance of any Act of Parliament, to the Treasury or the National Debt Commissioners and in respect of which the Treasury or those Commissioners are entered as holder in the registers kept by the Registrar of Government Stock; or”;

(b)

in sub-paragraph (ii) after “Bank of England” there is inserted “or in the registers kept by the Registrar of Government Stock”.

(3)

In section 288(1)15 the following definition is inserted at the appropriate place —

““Registrar of Government Stock” means the person or persons appointed in accordance with regulations under section 47(1)(b) of the Finance Act 1942 (see regulation 3 of the Government Stock Regulations 2004);”.

(This note is not part of the Order)

Section 140(2) of the Finance Act 2002 (c. 23) provides that the Treasury may by order make such consequential, incidental, supplementary and transitional provision as appears to them to be necessary or expedient in consequence of the amendments made by section 140(1) of that Act, including provision amending, repealing or revoking any enactment.

The amendments made by section 140(1) of the Finance Act 2002 amend section 47 of the Finance Act 1942 (c. 21) so as to enable the Treasury to make regulations which make provision for them to appoint a person to administer Government stock and bonds (including the registration of holders). The Government Stock Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/1611) make provision for the appointment of such a person and provide that this person is to be known as “the Registrar of Government Stock”. In addition the Government Stock Regulations 2004 revoke and re-enact the Government Stock Regulations 1965 (S.I. 1965/1420).

In consequence of this, it is necessary to make a number of consequential amendments to primary and secondary legislation in order to replace various references to the Bank of England (which currently administers Government stock and bonds (including the registration of holders)) with references to the Registrar of Government Stock. Certain changes were made by the Government Stock (Consequential and Transitional Provision) (No. 2 Order) (S.I. 2004/1662). Article 2 of this Order introduces the Schedule, which makes consequential amendments to this effect and other amendments consequential on the provision for the appointment of a person as the Registrar of Government Stock.

A full regulatory impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as it has no impact on the costs of business.