Detailed Commentary on Sections in Part 6 Transfers of Ministerial Property, Rights and Liabilities
687.This schedule provides that where an Order in Council under section 58 transfers functions from Ministers of the Crown to the First Minister, the Welsh Ministers or the Counsel General, any connected property, rights and liabilities (except employment rights and liabilities relating to Crown employment) are transferred along with those functions, unless the Order in Council provides otherwise.
688.Anything relating to a transferred function, or to property, rights or liabilities transferred along with the function, and which was in the process of being done by or in relation to the Minister of the Crown when the function transferred, may be continued by or in relation to the transferee of the function. Anything done by Ministers of the Crown in relation to such functions, property, rights and liabilities pre-transfer continues to have effect as if it had been done by the transferee.
689.Instruments, contracts and legal proceedings relating to transferred functions, property, rights and liabilities continue to have effect post-transfer with the transferee of the function substituted for the Minister of the Crown.
690.The Secretary of State can also, by order, make specific transfers of property, rights and liabilities, or make transfers of property, rights and liabilities of a specific description, from Ministers of the Crown to the First Minister, the Welsh Ministers or the Counsel General. Such an order can include provisions creating interests in, or rights over, each other’s property, and provisions creating new rights and liabilities between the First Minister, the Welsh Ministers or the Counsel General on the one hand and Ministers of the Crown on the other.
691.The Secretary of State can also make orders to provide for the continuation by, or in relation to, the Welsh Minister, First Minister or Counsel General of things commenced by or in relation to a Minister of the Crown. He may also by order provide that any specific thing done by a Minister of the Crown has effect as if done by the First Minister, the Welsh Ministers or the Counsel General; and can make orders substituting the First Minister, the Welsh Ministers or the Counsel General for Ministers of the Crown in any specific contracts, legal proceedings, or instruments.
692.Paragraph 4 provides that the Secretary of State can issue certificates as conclusive proof that property has been transferred under this Schedule, and provides that transfers of property, rights or liabilities by or under Schedule 4 override any provision which would restrict such transfers.