Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill (HC Bill 11)

(4) Regulations under this section may make such provision as the Commissioners
think appropriate in connection with the provision authorising officers of
Revenue and Customs to disclose prescribed information (including provision
about the manner in which information may be disclosed).

(5) 5In this section “commodity code” means a code or other identifier applied to a
category of goods in connection with the preparation of statistics on exports
from the United Kingdom (whether or not it is also applied for other purposes).

(6) Regulations under this section are subject to negative resolution procedure.

9 Power of the Secretary of State under section 1 of the EIGA 1991

(1) 10Section 1 of the Export and Investment Guarantees Act 1991 (assistance in
connection with exports of goods and services) is amended as follows.

(2) For subsections (1) and (1A) substitute—

“(1) The Secretary of State may make arrangements under this section which the
Secretary of State considers are conducive to supporting or developing
15(whether directly or indirectly) supplies or potential supplies by persons
carrying on business in the United Kingdom of goods, services or intangible
assets (including intellectual property) to persons carrying on business
outside the United Kingdom.”

(3) After subsection (4) insert—

“(5) 20The arrangements that may be made under this section also include the
provision of advice or information.”

(4) For the title of the section substitute “Arrangements for the support and
development of supplies, etc”.

10 EIGA 1991: further amendments

(1) 25The Export and Investment Guarantees Act 1991 is amended as follows.

(2) In subsection (1) of section 6 (limit on the Secretary of State’s commitments
under the Act) for paragraphs (a) and (b) substitute “67,700 million special
drawing rights”.

(3) In subsection (3) of that section, for paragraphs (a) and (b) substitute “26,200
30million special drawing rights”.

(4) In subsection (4) of that section—

(a) in paragraph (a)—

(i) for “either of the limits” substitute “the limit”;

(ii) omit “£5,000 million or, as the case may be,”;

(b) 35in paragraph (b)—

(i) for “either of the limits” substitute “the limit”;

(ii) omit “£3,000 million or, as the case may be,”;

(c) omit “but the Secretary of State shall not in respect of any limit exercise
the power on more than three occasions”.

(5) 40At the end of subsection (4) of that section, insert “after the commencement of
section 10 of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015”.

(6) After subsection (4) of that section insert—

“(4A) The Secretary of State must not in respect of either limit mentioned in
subsection (4) exercise the power to make an order on more than three
occasions.”

(7) 5In subsection (5) of that section—

(a) omit paragraphs (c) and (d);

(b) in paragraph (e) omit “in foreign currency”.

(8) In subsection (6) of that section, for “(1)(b) or (3)(b)” substitute “(1) or (3)”.

(9) In section 7(2) of that Act (reports and returns), leave out “in sterling and in
10foreign currency”.

(10) In section 13 of that Act (Export Credits Guarantee Department and Export
Guarantees Advisory Council), omit subsection (4).

Presentment of cheques etc

11 Electronic paying in of cheques etc

(1) 15The Bills of Exchange Act 1882 is amended as follows.

(2) After section 89 insert—

“ Part 4A Presentment of cheques and other instruments by electronic means

89A Presentment of instruments by electronic means

(1) 20Presentment for payment of an instrument to which this section applies
may be effected by provision of an electronic image of both faces of the
instrument, instead of by presenting the physical instrument, where—

(a) the presentment is made by or to a banker, and

(b) the person to whom presentment is made accepts the
25presentment as effective.

This is subject to section 89C.

(2) Where presentment for payment is made under subsection (1)—

(a) any requirement—

(i) that the physical instrument must be exhibited,
30presented or delivered, or

(ii) as to the day, time or place on or at which presentment
of the physical instrument may be or is to be made, and

(b) any other requirement which is inconsistent with subsection (1),

does not apply.

(3) 35Subsection (2) does not affect any requirement as to the latest time for
presentment.

(4) References in subsections (2) and (3) to a requirement are to a
requirement or prohibition, whether imposed by or under any
enactment, by a rule of law or by the instrument in question.

(5) Where an instrument is presented for payment under this section—

(a) any banker providing the electronic image,

(b) any banker to whom it is provided, and

(c) any banker making payment of the instrument as a result of
5provision of the electronic image,

are subject to the same duties in relation to collection and payment of
the instrument as if the physical instrument had been presented.

That is subject to any provision made by or under this Part.

That is subject to any provision made by or under this Part.

89B 10Instruments to which section 89A applies

(1) Subject to subsection (2), section 89A applies to—

(a) a cheque, or

(b) any other bill of exchange or any promissory note or other
instrument—

(i) 15which is intended by the person creating it to enable a
person to obtain payment from a banker indicated in it
of the sum so mentioned,

(ii) payment of which requires the instrument to be
presented, and

(iii) 20which, but for section 89A, could not be presented
otherwise than by presenting the physical instrument.

(2) Section 89A does not apply to any banknote (within the meaning given
in section 208 of the Banking Act 2009).

(3) The reference in subsection (1) to the person creating an instrument is—

(a) 25in the case of a bill of exchange, a reference to the drawer;

(b) in the case of a promissory note, a reference to the maker.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (1)(b)(i) an indication may be by code or
number and need not indicate that payment is intended to be obtained
from the banker.

89C 30Banker’s obligation in relation to accepting physical instrument for
presentment

Provision of an electronic image of an instrument does not constitute
presentment of the instrument under section 89A if the arrangements
between—

(a) 35the banker authorised to collect payment of the instrument on
behalf of a customer, and

(b) that customer,

do not permit the customer to pay in the physical instrument but
instead require an electronic image to be provided (whether to that
40banker or to any other banker).

89D Compensation in cases of presentment by electronic means

(1) The Treasury may by regulations make provision for the responsible
banker to compensate any person for any loss of a kind specified by the
regulations which that person incurs in connection with electronic
45presentment or purported electronic presentment of an instrument.

(2) In subsection (1) “electronic presentment or purported electronic
presentment of an instrument” includes—

(a) presentment of an instrument to which section 89A applies
under that section;

(b) presentment of any other instrument by any means involving
provision of an electronic image by which it may be presented
5for payment;

(c) purported presentment for payment by any means involving
provision of an electronic image of an instrument that may not
be presented for payment in that way;

(d) provision, in purported presentment for payment, of—

(i) 10an electronic image that purports to be, but is not, an
image of a physical instrument (including an image that
has been altered electronically), or

(ii) an electronic image of an instrument which has no legal
effect; or

(e) 15provision, in presentment or purported presentment for
payment, of an electronic image which has been stolen.

(3) In this section, the “responsible banker”, in relation to electronic
presentment or purported electronic presentment of an instrument,
means—

(a) 20the banker who is authorised to collect payment of the
instrument on a customer’s behalf, or

(b) if the holder of the instrument is a banker, that banker.

(4) In this section—

(a) references to an instrument include references to an instrument
25which has no legal effect (whether because it has been
fraudulently altered or created, or because it has been
discharged, or otherwise), and

(b) in relation to an electronic image which is not an image of a
physical instrument, references to the instrument are to a
30purported instrument (of which it purports to be an image).

(5) Regulations under this section may in particular make provision for—

(a) the responsible banker to be required to pay compensation
irrespective of fault;

(b) the amount of compensation to be reduced by virtue of
35anything done, or any failure to act, by the person to whom
compensation is payable.

(6) Nothing in this section or regulations under it is to be taken to—

(a) prevent the responsible banker claiming a contribution from
any other person, or

(b) 40affect any remedy available to the responsible banker in
contract or otherwise.

(7) Except so far as regulations under this section provide expressly,
nothing in this section or regulations under it is to be taken to affect any
liability of the responsible banker which exists apart from this section
45or any such regulations.

(8) Regulations under this section may—

(a) include incidental, supplementary and consequential
provision;

(b) make transitory or transitional provision or savings;

(c) make different provision for different cases or circumstances or
for different purposes;

(d) make provision subject to exceptions.

(9) 5The power to make regulations under this section is exercisable by
statutory instrument.

(10) An instrument containing the first regulations to be made under this
section may not be made unless a draft of the instrument has been laid
before, and approved by resolution of, each House of Parliament.

(11) 10An instrument containing any other regulations under this section is
subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of
Parliament.”

(3) In section 52(4) (bills of exchange: duties of holder on presentment and
payment), at the beginning insert “Subject to Part 4A (presentment by
15electronic means),”.

(4) Omit sections 74B and 74C (which provide for alternative means of
presentment of cheque for payment by banker).

(5) In section 87 (promissory notes: presentment for payment), at the end insert—

“(4) This section is subject to Part 4A (presentment by electronic means).”

20Payment systems

12 Restriction on powers of the Payment Systems Regulator

(1) Part 5 of the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013 (regulation of
payment systems) is amended as follows.

(2) In section 108 (relationship with Part 8 of the Payment Services Regulations
252009), in subsection (1)—

(a) for “this Part” substitute “sections 54 to 58”,

(b) for “obtain access to, or otherwise participate in,” substitute “obtain
direct access to”, and

(c) for “does not apply” substitute “applies”.

30Part 2 Regulatory reform

Streamlined company registration

13 Target for streamlined company registration

(1) The Secretary of State must secure that, by no later than 31st May 2017, a system for
35streamlined company registration is in place.

(2) For the purposes of this section and section 14, a system for streamlined
company registration is a system which enables all of the registration
information to be delivered by or on behalf of a person who wishes to form a
company after 31st May 2017—

(a) on a single occasion to a single recipient, and

(b) by electronic means.

(3) “Registration information” means—

(a) the documents which must be delivered to the registrar under section
59 of the Companies Act 2006 (registration documents) in respect of the
formation of a company;

(b) the documents or other information which must or may be delivered to
Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs in respect of registration of a
company for purposes connected with VAT, corporation tax and
10PAYE.

(4) In this section—

• “company”, “electronic means” and “the registrar” have the same
  meanings as in the Companies Acts (see sections 1(1), 1168(4) and 1060
  of the Companies Act 2006 respectively);

• 15“VAT” means value added tax charged in accordance with the Value
  Added Tax Act 1994.

14 Streamlined company registration: duty to report on progress

(1) The Secretary of State must prepare a report before the end of each reporting
period about the progress that has been made during that period towards
20putting in place a system for streamlined company registration.

(2) The following are reporting periods—

(a) the period beginning with the day on which this section comes into
force and ending on 31st March 2016;

(b) the subsequent period of 12 months ending on 31st March 2017.

(3) 25The first report must set out the steps which the Secretary of State expects will
be taken during the next reporting period towards putting the system in place.

(4) Both reports must include the Secretary of State’s assessment as to when the
system for streamlined company registration will be in place.

(5) The second report must include an assessment of what steps, if any, the
30Secretary of State expects to take to put in place a system for the streamlining
of other information delivery processes relating to businesses.

(6) The Secretary of State must—

(a) publish each report, and

(b) lay each report before Parliament.

35Review of business appeals procedures

15 Review of regulators’ complaints and appeals procedures

(1) A Minister of the Crown must appoint a person for the purposes of this section
in respect of each regulatory function to which this section applies (see section
16).

(2) 40A person so appointed (a “reviewer”) must, in relation to each regulatory
function in respect of which the appointment is made—

(a) review the effectiveness during each reporting period of the
procedures (both formal and informal) of the relevant regulator for
handling and resolving complaints and appeals made by businesses to
the regulator in connection with the exercise by the regulator of the
5function, and

(b) prepare a report about the findings of the review.

(3) In this section “relevant regulator”, in relation to a regulatory function, means
the person who exercises the function.

(4) The report may include in particular—

(a) 10an assessment of the extent to which the relevant regulator’s
procedures of the kind mentioned in subsection (2)(a) are accessible
and fair to businesses;

(b) recommendations to the relevant regulator about how the procedures,
or the way in which they are operated, could be improved;

(c) 15recommendations to the Minister of the Crown who appointed the
reviewer for any change in the law which the reviewer considers would
lead to improvements in the procedures or their operation.

(5) The report must not address, and the reviewer must not make any
recommendation in relation to, the outcome of any particular case.

(6) 20For the purposes of this section, each of the following is a reporting period—

(a) the period of 12 months beginning with the day on which the reviewer
is appointed;

(b) each subsequent period of 12 months.

(7) The reviewer must send the report to the relevant regulator and (if different)
25the Minister of the Crown who appointed the reviewer as soon as reasonably
practicable after the end of the reporting period.

(8) Before the end of the period of 3 months beginning with the day on which the
relevant regulator receives the report, the regulator must—

(a) prepare a response and send it to the reviewer, and

(b) 30if the relevant regulator is not the Minister of the Crown who appointed
the reviewer, send it to the Minister.

(9) The Minister of the Crown must—

(a) publish the report and the response, and

(b) lay them before Parliament.

(10) 35The reviewer may by notice require the relevant regulator to provide such
documents or other information, in such form or manner as the reviewer may
direct, as the reviewer may require for the purpose of exercising functions
under this section.

(11) Subsection (10) is subject to any express restriction on disclosure imposed by
40another enactment (ignoring any restriction which allows disclosure if
authorised by an enactment).

(12) In this section “Minister of the Crown” has the same meaning as in the
Ministers of the Crown Act 1975.

16 Power to specify regulatory functions

(1) The Secretary of State may by regulations specify regulatory functions as
functions to which section 15 applies.

(2) “Regulatory function” has the same meaning in this section and section 15 as
5in the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006 (see section 32(2) to (4) of
that Act).

(3) Regulations under this section may, in particular, specify a regulatory function
by reference to—

(a) the person who exercises the function;

(b) 10the enactment under or by virtue of which it was conferred.

(4) Regulations under this section must not specify a regulatory function which
is—

(a) a Scottish devolved function, that is to say a function the exercise of
which would be within devolved competence (within the meaning of
15section 54 of the Scotland Act 1998),

(b) a Northern Ireland devolved function, that is to say a function which
could be conferred by provision included in an Act of the Northern
Ireland Assembly made without the consent of the Secretary of State
(see sections 6 to 8 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998), or

(c) 20a Welsh devolved function, that is to say a function which could be
conferred by provision falling within the legislative competence of the
National Assembly for Wales (see section 108 of the Government of
Wales Act 2006).

(5) The power to make regulations under this section is subject to affirmative
25resolution procedure.

17 Guidance by the Secretary of State

(1) The Secretary of State may issue guidance to reviewers as to the exercise of
functions under section 15.

(2) A reviewer must, in exercising any of those functions, have regard to any
30guidance for the time being in force under this section.

(3) The Secretary of State must publish any guidance or revised guidance issued
under this section.

(4) In this section “reviewer” has the same meaning as in section 15.

Business impact target

18 35Duty on Secretary of State to publish business impact target etc

(1) Before the end of the period of 12 months beginning with the commencement
of a Parliament, the Secretary of State must publish—

(a) a target for the Government in respect of the economic impact on
business activities of qualifying regulatory provisions which come into
40force or cease to be in force during the relevant period, and

(b) an interim target applying at the end of the period of three years
beginning with the commencement of the Parliament.

(2) In this section and sections 21 to 23 the target mentioned in subsection (1)(a) is
referred to as the “business impact target”.

(3) At the same time as publishing a business impact target and an interim target,
the Secretary of State must publish—

(a) 5a determination under section 19(2), and

(b) a methodology to be used for assessing the economic impact mentioned
in subsection (1)(a).

(4) Subsection (5) applies when the Secretary of State is—

(a) determining a business impact target for publication under subsection
10(1)(a), or

(b) making a determination under section 19(2).

(5) The Secretary of State must, in particular, have regard to—

(a) the effect of regulation on economic growth and competitiveness,

(b) the need to minimise any disproportionate impact of regulation on
15activities carried on by smaller scale businesses or voluntary or
community bodies,

(c) the aim of delivering efficiency in regulating business activities while
keeping the costs to businesses or voluntary or community bodies to a
minimum.

(6) 20In this section and sections 20 to 23—

• the “relevant day” means the day after a polling day for a parliamentary
  general election; and

• the “relevant period” is the period beginning with the relevant day and
  ending with the polling day for the next parliamentary general election.

(7) 25Subsection (6) is to be read in accordance with the Fixed-term Parliaments Act
2011.

(8) This section and sections 19 to 24 (the “target provisions”) apply only where the
commencement of a Parliament mentioned in subsection (1) above occurs—

(a) not more than 12 months before the target provisions come into force,
30or

(b) after the target provisions have come into force.

(9) Subsection (10) applies if an early parliamentary election is to take place in
accordance with section 2 of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 before the
end of the period of 12 months beginning with the commencement of a
35Parliament.

(10) Any duty imposed by the target provisions which would apply at any time
before the commencement of the next Parliament is to be disregarded.

19 Sections 18 and 20 to 22: “qualifying regulatory provisions” etc

(1) This section applies for the purposes of sections 18 and 20 to 22.

(2) 40“Qualifying regulatory provisions” means regulatory provisions which the
Secretary of State determines are to be qualifying regulatory provisions for the
purposes of section 18(1)(a).

(3) A “regulatory provision”, in relation to a business activity, means a statutory
provision which—

(a) imposes or amends requirements, restrictions or conditions, or sets or
amends standards or gives or amends guidance, in relation to the
activity, or

(b) relates to the securing of compliance with, or the enforcement of,
5requirements, restrictions, conditions, standards or guidance which
relate to the activity.

(4) But a “regulatory provision” does not include a statutory provision if or to the
extent that—

(a) it makes or amends—

(i) 10provision imposing, abolishing or varying any tax, duty, levy or
other charge, or

(ii) provision in connection with provision falling within sub-
paragraph (i);

(b) it makes or amends provision in connection with procurement;

(c) 15it makes or amends provision in connection with the giving of grants or
other financial assistance by or on behalf of a public authority;

(d) it makes or amends provision which is to have effect for a period of less
than 12 months.

(5) Where a statutory provision comes into force or ceases to be in force for some
20but not all purposes, references to regulatory provisions or qualifying
regulatory provisions coming into force or ceasing to be in force are to be read
as referring to those provisions in so far as they have come into force or ceased
to be in force for those purposes.

(6) Subject to subsection (7) a “statutory provision” is—

(a) 25a provision of an Act,

(b) a provision of subordinate legislation made by a Minister of the Crown,
or

(c) any other provision which has effect by virtue of the exercise of a
function conferred on a Minister of the Crown by an Act.

(7) 30A “statutory provision” does not include—

(a) a provision which would be within the legislative competence of the
Scottish Parliament if it were contained in an Act of that Parliament (see
section 29 of the Scotland Act 1998),

(b) a provision which could be included in an Act of the Northern Ireland
35Assembly made without the consent of the Secretary of State (see
sections 6 to 8 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998), or

(c) a provision falling within the legislative competence of the National
Assembly for Wales (see section 108 of the Government of Wales Act
2006).

(8) 40In this section—

• “Minister of the Crown” has the same meaning as in the Ministers of the
  Crown Act 1975;

• “public authority” has the same meaning as in the Freedom of
  Information Act 2000 (see section 3 of that Act); and

• 45“subordinate legislation” has the same meaning as in the Interpretation
  Act 1978.