Article 7 Merlin Services Agreement

(1)

The property, rights and liabilities under the Merlin Services Agreement shall be transferred upon terms to be agreed between the 1998 Act Assembly and the supplier.

(2)

Paragraphs (3), (4) and (5) below apply in the event that the agreement referred to in paragraph (1) is not reached by the end of the initial period.

(3)

All services that were provided immediately before the end of the relevant day:

(a)

to Assembly Members;

(b)

for the exercise of House Committee functions; or

(c)

to the Assembly Parliamentary Service,

shall be provided to the Assembly Commission, and all other services shall be provided to the Welsh Assembly Government, on the same terms as if the constitutional change to the 1998 Act Assembly had not occurred.

(4)

The property, rights and liabilities under the Merlin Services Agreement shall transfer to and vest in the Welsh Ministers and the Assembly Commission each to the extent necessary for the provision of the services referred to in paragraph (3).

(5)

In so far as the Merlin Services Agreement is modified by this article, the modifications shall to the extent necessary be incorporated into the text of that agreement by the Welsh Ministers following consultation with, and having regard to the observations of, the supplier.

(6)

Paragraphs (7) and (8) apply whether or not the agreement referred to in paragraph (1) is reached.

(7)

All assets owned by the 1998 Act Assembly that were required immediately before the end of the relevant day to enable services to be provided exclusively:

(a)

to Assembly Members;

(b)

for the exercise of House Committee functions; or

(c)

to the Assembly Parliamentary Service,

are transferred to and vest in the Assembly Commission and all other assets owned by the 1998 Act Assembly are transferred to and vest in the Welsh Ministers.

(8)

Neither the Welsh Ministers, the Assembly Commission nor (to the extent relevant) the supplier shall incur any fee, penalty or liability as a result of changes to the Merlin Services Agreement or to licences provided under that agreement, necessary as a result of the constitutional change to the 1998 Act Assembly.

(9)

In this article—

(a)

the Merlin Services Agreement means the agreement dated 6th January 2004 between the 1998 Act Assembly and Siemens Business Services Ltd;

(b)

“assets”, “services” and “the supplier” have the meaning given to them under the Merlin Services Agreement;

(c)

references to assets required to enable services to be provided to Assembly Members does not include assets used by or required to enable services to be provided to:

(i)

any Assembly Member in his capacity as Assembly First Secretary appointed under section 53 of the 1998 Act;

(ii)

any Assembly Member in his capacity as an Assembly Secretary appointed under that section;

(iii)

any Assembly Member in his capacity as a Deputy Minister referred to in the code made by the Assembly First Secretary under paragraph 2.7 of the standing orders made under the 1998 Act^f1; or

(iv)

any member of staff of the 1998 Act Assembly working to or for the Assembly First Secretary, an Assembly Secretary or a Deputy Minister; and

(d)

references to the “relevant day” mean the day before the day of the poll at the 2007 election^f2.

Annotations

Footnotes

f1: The standing orders are published on the website of the 1998 Act Assembly.
f2: The expression “the 2007 election” is defined in section 161(1) of the 2006 Act as the ordinary election under section 3 of the 1998 Act. In accordance with section 3 of the 1998 Act the election is due to take place on 3rd May 2007.