Commentary on sections
221.Section 114(1) will enable a transfer scheme made under section 409 of the GLA Act to exempt LRT’s/LUL’s contracts from section 412(3) of that Act, and subsection (4) ensures that the exemption will continue to apply where a subsequent transfer scheme is made under paragraph 2(3) of Schedule 12 to that Act. Subsection (2) will enable Transport for London to exempt contracts from paragraph 2(3) of Schedule 12 to that Act. These parts of the GLA Act may otherwise frustrate parts of contracts made by LRT/LUL or Transport for London, such as change of control provisions, which are designed to operate when transfer schemes are made.
222.Subsection (3) ensures that London Transport and Transport for London, when exempting contracts from section 412(3) of the GLA Act or paragraph 2(3) of Schedule 12 to that Act, may exempt either all the contracts being transferred, or a specific contract, or particular provisions within those contracts.
223.Section 114(5) enables provisions of the GLA Act which relate to the insolvency and winding up of a London Underground public private partnership company, and the return of its assets to the public sector, to come into effect before the transfer of London Underground to Transport for London. The GLA Act did not contemplate the possibility of a significant delay between completion of a PPP agreement and transfer of the London Underground to Transport for London. Section 114(6) will allow the insolvency provisions in sections 220 to 224 of the GLA Act to come into force before the transfer of LUL to Transport for London.
224.Section 115 enables the London Underground PPP Arbiter to receive information from those statutory bodies to whom he is permitted by the GLA Act to release information. The GLA Act allows the PPP Arbiter to release information about specific individuals and their businesses to regulators of other industries to help them fulfil their statutory functions, but without section 115 it does not allow him to receive such information from them.