Commentary on Clauses Section 15: Agency: Scotland and Northern Ireland
81.The Scotland Act 1998 and the Northern Ireland Act 1998 both contain provisions that permit Ministers of the Crown and Scottish Ministers or Northern Ireland Departments to act as ‘agents’ for one another – that is, it allows them to make arrangements to exercise specific functions on behalf of the other party. This ‘agency’ arrangement does not affect the accountability of the person whose functions are being exercised under the agency agreement.
82.For example, in the case of an environmental tax which involves tax reliefs based upon compliance with best environmental practice, the tax would remain a reserved matter under the collection and management of HMRC, but HMRC could engage the devolved administration’s environmental expertise by engaging them as agents in respect of the technical and specialised aspects of the scheme.
83.Section 15 introduces provisions permitting HMRC to be treated as a Minister of the Crown for the purposes of entering into an agency agreement with Scottish Ministers or Northern Ireland Departments.
84.Subsection (1) permits agency agreements between HMRC and Scottish Ministers, allowing both Commissioners’ and officers’ functions to be subject to such an agreement. Subsection (2) introduces similar provisions for Northern Ireland.