The Act Regional Transport Partnerships: finance – section 122
547.Section 122 of the Act amends section 3 of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2005 to adjust the basis on which Transport Partnerships are funded.
548.Section 3 of the 2005 Act currently provides that the constituent councils (or council) that make up a Transport Partnership must fund the balance of the Partnership’s costs after grant and other income is taken into account.
549.Section 122(1) of the Act changes this so that constituent councils must fund the balance of the Transport Partnership’s estimated costs rather than actual costs. In practice this means that a Partnership will be able to carry surplus funds from one year to the next where its actual costs for a year are less than its estimated costs. Paragraph (a) of subsection (1) alters the calculation of a Partnership’s net expenses to take into account the possibility that the Partnership allocates surplus funds from a previous year to meet expenses in the current year and to require any outstanding expenses from a previous year to form part of the net expenses for the current year. Paragraph (b) adds a requirement on Transport Partnerships to prepare a forecast of its net expenses each year and provide it to constituent councils to aid them in meeting their duty under section 3(1) of the 2005 Act.
550.Section 122(2) of the Act extends the provisions of schedule 3 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1975 to Transport Partnerships. The effect of this is that Transport Partnerships can hold and operate capital funds, renewal and repair funds and insurance funds in a similar way to councils. Subsection (2)(b) inserts an additional provision into the schedule to prevent Transport Partnerships from using money held in these funds to meet the costs of any company set up by the Partnership.
551.Section 122(3) of the Act extends the provisions of section 165 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 to Transport Partnerships. The effect of this is that regulations under section 165 will be able to confer on Transport Partnerships the power to borrow and lend money and to operate a loan fund, subject to the terms of the regulations. (Borrowing by Transport Partnerships will also be subject to regulations made under paragraph 5 of schedule 3 of the 1975 Act by virtue of the change in section 122(2).)