This Order may be cited as the Development Board for Rural Wales (Transfer of Staff) Order 1998 and shall come into force on 1st October 1998.

In this Order—

“the Agency” means the Welsh Development Agency;

“the Development Board” means the Development Board for Rural Wales;

“the transfer date” means the date on which this order comes into force, and

“relevant employee” means any person who, immediately before the transfer date, was employed by the Development Board under a contract of employment which would have continued but for the cessation of the functions of the Development Board.

The contract of employment between a relevant employee and the Development Board shall have effect on and after the transfer date as if originally made between that employee and the Agency.

Without prejudice to article 3—

(a)    all rights, powers, duties and liabilities of the Development Board under, or in connection with, the contract of employment, shall, by virtue of this order, be transferred on the transfer date to the Agency; and

(b)    anything done before the transfer date by, or in relation to, the Development Board in respect of the contract of employment or the relevant employee, shall be deemed from that date to have been done by or in relation to the Agency.

Nothing in this Order affects any right of a relevant employee to terminate his contract of employment if a substantial change is made in his working conditions, to his detriment, but no such right shall arise by reason only of the change of employer effected by this order.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Wales

Jon Owen Jones

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State,

Welsh Office

28th August 1998

This order provides, in article 3, for the transfer of staff from the Development Board for Rural Wales, on the cessation of its functions, to the Welsh Development Agency with effect from 1st October 1998.

Article 4 provides for the transfer to the Agency of all rights and liabilities of the Board under existing contracts of employment and preserves in effect anything done prior to the transfer date in relation to any contract of employment.

Article 5 preserves the right of any employee to terminate his contract of employment if there is a substantial change, to his detriment, in his working conditions.