Summary
3.This Act amends provisions of the Public Trustee Act 1906 about liability and fees of the Public Trustee in order to:
	bring the power to fix fees in relation to the Public Trustee’s trust work into line with other fee-setting provisions, by providing that the Lord Chancellor (as the Minister responsible) sets the fees rather than the Treasury;
	remove the requirement that fees charged by the Public Trustee must be set to produce an annual amount sufficient to discharge the salaries and other expenses incidental to the workings of the Act;
	clarify the extent of the Public Trustee’s liability for breach of trust, and make the Lord Chancellor’s Department, rather than the Consolidated Fund, liable to make good sums required to discharge it.
4.The Act does not raise any issues in relation to the European Convention on Human Rights.
5.The Public Trustee Act 1906 established the office of the Public Trustee. The Public Trustee’s trust work arises when individuals appoint him to act as the executor or trustee of estates or settlements, or where he agrees to act as successor trustee where existing trustees are no longer willing or able to act. In other cases, the Public Trustee is asked to act by the High Court, although the current practice is for the Court’s power to be exercised only for the benefit of children pending their majority.