Schedule 4: Transitional provisions relating to Part 2 Paragraph 1: Transfer of property etc
213.Paragraph 1 provides for the C&AG to determine which property, rights and liabilities of the C&AG are to be transferred to the NAO as a consequence of this Act and to prepare a scheme which describes that property and those rights and liabilities. The scheme has to be approved by the Public Accounts Commission. On the appointed day (which under sub-paragraph (11) is a date set for that purpose by the Treasury), the property, rights and liabilities described in the scheme are transferred to the new NAO.
214.Sub-paragraphs (5) and (6) provide for the continuity of employment of NAO staff. The rights and liabilities that may be transferred to the NAO include those under contracts of employment in relation to staff of old NAO (who were appointed under section 3(2) of the 1983 Act). Periods of employment with old NAO are to be treated as employment by new NAO, as are periods of employment in the former Exchequer and Audit Department (for those employees who transferred to old NAO as a result of section 3(2) of, and paragraph 2 of Schedule 2 to, the 1983 Act). A transfer to new NAO is not to be treated as a break in service.
215.Sub-paragraphs (7) and (8) provide for the continuing effect of things done by or for the C&AG in relation to anything that is transferred to NAO under sub-paragraph (3) so far as is appropriate. This means, for example, that actions taken or procedures performed by the C&AG will not need to be repeated by the NAO to remain effective. Things that were in the process of being done by the C&AG in relation to anything transferred (such as ongoing legal proceedings) may be continued after the appointed time by the new NAO. So far as is appropriate as a result of the transfer, sub-paragraph (9) provides that references in agreements to the C&AG are to be read as, or as including, a reference to new NAO. Sub-paragraph (10) allows a person’s employment by old NAO to be treated as employment by new NAO before new NAO comes into existence for limited purposes in connection with the establishment of new NAO.