Section 83A(1) establishes that Part 5A provides for a Minister of the Crown, the Scottish Ministers and the Welsh Ministers to make provision for the protection of workers in relation to relevant outsourcing contracts.
	Section 83A(2) specifies that "appropriate authority" within Part 5A means a Minister of the Crown, the Scottish Ministers or the Welsh Ministers.
	Section 83A(3) provides that a Minister of the Crown may not exercise a power under Part 5A to regulate devolved Scottish authorities (unless it is in relation to joint or centralised procurement under a reserved procurement arrangement) or to regulate joint or centralised procurement under a devolved Scottish procurement arrangement.
	Section 83A(4) provides that the Scottish Ministers may only exercise a power under Part 5A to regulate devolved Scottish authorities or procurement under a devolved Scottish procurement arrangement but not to regulate joint or centralised procurement under either a reserved procurement arrangement or a devolved Welsh arrangement.
	Section 83A(5) provides that the Welsh Ministers may only exercise a power under Part 5A to regulate devolved Scottish authorities in relation to joint or centralised procurement under a devolved Welsh procurement arrangement but not to regulate the same type of procurement under a devolved Scottish procurement arrangement.
	Sections 83A(3) to (5) reflect the extent of the powers of a Minister of the Crown, the Scottish Ministers and the Welsh Ministers under the Procurement Act 2023.
	Section 83A(6) provides that Part 5A including the duties to "take all reasonable steps" in regards to any regulations made under 83C and to "have regard" to a code of practice published under 83D, does not apply to private utilities (whether regulated under the Procurement Act 2023 or the Utilities Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2016), in relation to a transferred Northern Ireland procurement arrangement (except where the procurement is carried out by a devolved Scottish authority and is not joint or centralised) or to a transferred Northern Ireland authority (unless they are carrying out procurement under a reserved procurement arrangement, a devolved Scottish procurement arrangement or a devolved Welsh procurement arrangement).
	Procurement arrangements are defined in section 114 of the Procurement Act 2023.
	Section 83A(6) also provides that Part 5A does not apply to a devolved Welsh authority listed in Schedule 1 of the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Act 2023. This is because that Act makes similar provision to Part 5A in relation to those authorities.
	Section 83A (7) defines a procurement arrangement as being "joint and centralised" if, as part of that procurement arrangement, a contract is to be awarded following a procedure or other selection process carried out jointly between a devolved Scottish authority and another contracting authority, which is not a devolved Scottish authority or by a centralised procurement authority or body.
	Sections 83B (1) to (4) specify the contracts to which any requirements set out in the regulations, and the code of practice, apply, known as "relevant outsourcing contracts". These are public contracts, as defined in section 3 of the Procurement Act 2023 or a contract regulated by Scottish procurement legislation, which:
are contracts, or framework contracts, for the supply of services that include the performance of functions that are, or have previously been, performed by the contracting authority. This includes both the outsourcing of public services and of "back office" functions, and
provide that those functions will be carried out by workers, who are employed by the supplier or a sub-contractor to carry out the functions under the contract and, were previously employed by the contracting authority to carry out these functions, as part of that contract. In practice, this means that a "relevant outsourcing contract" must be one in relation to which there are workers transferring from the public sector body undertaking the outsourcing to the supplier.
	Section 83B (5) specifies that a "contract regulated by Scottish procurement legislation" means a contract procured by a devolved Scottish authority under Scottish procurement legislation. It also sets out how terminology in Part 5A should be interpreted in relation to a contract regulated by Scottish procurement legislation.
	Section 83C (1) empowers an appropriate authority to make regulations to specify provision to be included in relevant outsourcing contracts for the purpose of ensuring that:
transferring workers of a specified description are treated no less favourably as workers of the supplier or a sub-contractor than they were as workers of the contracting authority, and
workers of the supplier or a sub-contractor who are not transferring workers and are of a specified description are treated no less favourably than those transferring workers.
	These powers could be used to, for example, specify model contract clauses for inclusion in relevant outsourcing contracts. Section 122 of the Procurement Act 2023 allows regulations made under that Act to make different provision for different purposes, meaning that this power can be used to set out different requirements according to, for example, the value of the contract or the sector. As regards the specification of workers, this element of the power could be used to, for example, specify that regulations apply only in respect of workers of the supplier who work exclusively or mainly on the relevant outsourcing contract in question.
	Section 83C (2) provides that, where an appropriate authority has made regulations under subsection (1), a contracting authority procuring a relevant outsourcing contract must take all reasonable steps to ensure that provision specified in those regulations is included in the contract and ensure that those clauses are complied with.
	Section 83C (3) and (4) provide that the duty to "take all reasonable steps" will not apply where the contracting authority or the relevant outsourcing contract is of a description specified in regulations, or in circumstances specified in regulations. This is to allow Ministers to make tailored provision across the wide array of outsourcing contracts.
	Section 83D (1) places a duty on an appropriate authority to publish a code of practice containing guidance to contracting authorities in relation to relevant outsourcing contracts. The code of practice must be for the same purposes as the regulations.
	The code of practice can apply to circumstances in which the regulations apply but may also make provision in respect of circumstances in which they do not, for example where it is not considered feasible to impose requirements to which the stricter legal obligation to take all reasonable steps will apply. It will also allow Ministers to set out guidance on how contracting authorities should seek to achieve these outcomes, including steps which they may take to include and implement any model contract Sections within their contracts.
	Section 83D(2) provides that an appropriate authority may amend or replace the code of practice and must republish it if it does so.
	Section 83D(3) provides that a published code must be laid before Parliament, the Scottish Parliament or the Senedd Cymru depending on which appropriate authority has prepared it.
	Section 83D(4) provides that contracting authorities must have regard to any code of practice published under subsection (1).
	Section 83E provides definitions for various terms used in this Section.
	Section 83F provides that Scottish Ministers may by regulations modify sections 83A, 83B or 83E of Part 5A where this is necessary as a result of amendments to devolved Scottish procurement legislation.
Part 2: Other Matters Relating to Employment Public sector outsourcing: protection of workers New Part 5A