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Lord Bowness: I thank the Minister for her reply. As they say, we shall have to wait and see. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
[Amendments Nos. 76 and 77 not moved.]
Clause 35 [Powers in relation to the Commission]:
Lord Whitty moved Amendment No. 78:
The noble Lord said: I shall also speak to Amendment No. 80.
These amendments deal with the question of the RDAs taking over specific functions from existing bodies. We intend that the RDAs will be operational in April 1999. That is an ambitious timescale. They will have a lot on their plate and will need to continue to deliver the services that are currently being delivered by
For example, in IT the complex network systems which English Partnerships and the RDC currently operate will be crucial to the continued successful delivery of the programmes when they pass through RDAs in April. To avoid jeopardising those, we intend to leave the systems intact, with continued support to be provided by an IT unit within EP comprising the expert staff from that organisation and those from the RDC, which is due to be wound up. In the long term the RDAs may consider carefully their own long-term IT strategies, but that is not a quick job. For the present we need those services, and English Partnerships will be able to provide them under these provisions. These amendments will therefore ensure that the RDAs can benefit from the systems in the RDC and English Partnerships during a transitional period. I commend the amendment to the Committee.
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Baroness Anelay of St. Johns moved Amendment No. 79:
The noble Baroness said: Like some of my noble friends, I might prefer to be in a different place on this occasion, indeed at the Bournemouth conference showing my support for the leadership. On this occasion I have drawn the short straw in moving the last but one amendment this evening.
Clause 35 contains provisions for the Secretary of State's powers in relation to the RDC. Subsection (1)(c) gives the Secretary of State the power to terminate the RDC's right to exercise any or all of its functions. It is late and I suddenly realise that I have fallen into the same trap as the Minister in referring to its initials rather than the organisation itself.
In March, the Government announced their decision to merge the Countryside Commission and the Rural Development Commission. One assumes that the merger is intended to encourage a more integrated approach to rural policy, as was announced at the time. However, if such an approach is to be effectively pursued, the national research and advisory functions of the Rural Development Commission will be of great importance. The commission has been the only organisation providing detailed national information on what is going on in rural areas and its work has been considered extremely valuable. It is feared that, without that research and advice, national government and the regional development agencies will not be in a position to make informed decisions on issues that affect rural areas. The Bill enables the Government to preserve these services, but it does not guarantee their future on the face of the Bill. I believe that it is very important that they continue on a national basis and do not become fragmented.
My amendment has been put down at this stage as a probing amendment to find out from the Government their intention with regard to these services and to inquire what kind of assurance the Committee may have that the services will continue. I beg to move.
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton: Clause 35 empowers the Secretary of State to transfer functions, property, rights, liabilities and staff from the RDC to other public bodies and to wind up the RDC. On 27th March my right honourable friend the Deputy Prime Minister announced the merger of the RDC with the Countryside Commission. The resultant merged body will be a new champion for rural England. The RDC's existing research and advisory work will be equally important in this new body. One of its main purposes will be to give advice to government on how to include a rural dimension in wider policies and also to give advice to local authorities, RDAs and others to ensure that well thought through, integrated solutions to the problems raised in developing a living countryside are produced.
Amendment No. 79 would have the effect of requiring the transfer of the RDC's research and advisory functions to a national public body prescribed by the Secretary of State should the exercise of them be terminated. The purpose behind this would appear to be to ensure that the research and advisory functions of the RDC are not terminated or overlooked, as the noble Baroness said in moving the amendment. The White Paper set out our commitment to ensuring an effective focus at national level for expertise, information and advice on rural matters which will assist RDAs and other local and national organisations.
The merger of the two bodies will ensure a future for this. Indeed, we expect the remit of the new merged body to set out its role as a centre of expertise and research on the countryside and rural issues. This will be achieved through the effective use of experienced staff. I therefore ask the noble Baroness to withdraw her amendment.
Baroness Anelay of St. Johns: I thank the Minister for her reply. I understand and appreciate her expression of expectation that the national advisory and research functions will be transferred. I should like to consider this matter further, not just because of the late hour but also because there are concerns in organisations outwith this House as to whether or not the Government's expectation can realistically be accepted and carried forward without the amendment which I have moved being on the face of the Bill. But, at this stage of the evening, I seek leave of the House to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Clause 35, as amended, agreed to.
Clause 37 [Powers in relation to the Agency]:
Lord Whitty moved Amendment No. 80:
The noble Lord said: I have already spoken to this amendment. I beg to move.
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Clause 37, as amended, agreed to.
Lord Whitty moved Amendment No. 81:
Page 16, line 6, at end insert--
("( ) make provision conferring on the Commission functions with respect to the provision of services of any description to regional development agencies,").
Page 16, line 12, at end insert ("but in the event of the termination of the exercise by the Commission of its research and advisory functions, these shall be transferred to such other national public body as the Secretary of State may prescribe,").
Page 17, line 12, at end insert--
("( ) make provision conferring on the Agency functions with respect to the provision of services of any description to regional development agencies,").
Before Clause 38, insert the following new clause--
(".--(1) The following provisions apply for the purposes of the Corporation Tax Acts.
(2) Any trade or part of a trade transferred under a transfer scheme is to be treated as having been, at the time of its commencement and at all times since that time, a separate trade carried on by the transferee.
(3) Where any trade, or part of a trade, is transferred under a transfer scheme, the trade carried on by the transferee after the date of the transfer is to be treated as the same trade as that which, by virtue of subsection (2), it is treated as having carried on before that date.
(4) All property, rights and liabilities transferred under a transfer scheme are to be treated as having been, at the time when they became vested in the transferor, and at all times since that time, property, rights and liabilities of the transferee.
(5) Anything done, in relation to property, rights and liabilities transferred under a transfer scheme, by the transferor is to be deemed to have been done by the transferee.
(6) Where any property, rights and liabilities transferred under a transfer scheme became vested in the transferor by virtue of a transfer made by a company in which, at the time of the transfer, the transferor held an interest, that interest is to be deemed to have been held at that time by the transferee.
(7) Where any property, rights and liabilities transferred under a transfer scheme became vested in the transferor by virtue of a qualifying transfer, or two or more successive qualifying transfers--
(a) subsection (4) has effect as if the reference to the time when the property, rights and liabilities became vested in the transferor were a reference to the time when they became vested in the original transferor (that is to say, the transferor under the qualifying transfer or, as the case may be, the first of the qualifying transfers), and
(b) if the property, rights and liabilities became vested in the original transferor by virtue of a transfer made by a company in which, at the time of the transfer, the original transferor held an interest, that interest is to be deemed to have been held at that time by the transferee under the transfer scheme.
(8) The previous provisions of this section are subject to such apportionments of unallowed tax losses and of expenditure by reference to which capital allowances may be made as may be specified in the transfer scheme concerned.
(9) This section has effect in relation to accounting periods beginning after the final accounting period. (10) In this section--
"capital allowance" has the same meaning as in the Tax Acts;
"final accounting period" means the last complete accounting period of the transferor under the transfer scheme concerned;
"qualifying transfer" means a transfer made to one of the following bodies by another such body--
(a) the Development Commission,
(b) the Urban Regeneration Agency,
(c) a regional development agency;
"transfer scheme" means--
(a) an order under section 25 which includes provision for the transfer of property, rights or liabilities, and
(b) a scheme under any of sections 34 to 37 for the transfer of property, rights or liabilities;
"unallowed tax losses" means any losses, allowances or amounts which, as at the end of the final accounting period, are tax losses within the meaning given by section 400(2) of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988.").
The noble Lord said: This is a technical amendment to ensure that the transfer of assets in schemes made under this Bill is neutral in terms of corporation tax. The amendment follows a similar provision contained in, for example, the Electricity Act 1989. Effectively, it provides that the body receiving the assets "stands in the shoes of" the body from which they have been transferred, so that for tax purposes it is as if the assets had not changed hands.
This is particularly important in the case of assets transferred to the RDAs from English Partnerships. Without this provision the RDAs would be liable to pay tax on the whole of the increased value of the land, regardless of the fact that much of this will have been due to the money that English Partnerships had invested in reclaiming it.
I hope that the Committee will see the importance of this provision. I beg to move.
On Question, amendment agreed to.
House resumed: Bill reported with amendments.
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