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Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

If the noble Baroness, Lady Byford, would allow it, I shall speak first to Amendment No. 342, which we understand to be aimed at those joint committees to which the noble Baroness referred. These were created to manage those areas of outstanding natural beauty that straddle more than one local authority. We believe there to be a good case for easing restrictions on delegations to joint committees in this instance. We would like to consider it further and come back with proposals on Report. Amendment No. 340 and Amendment No. 341 seek to add volunteers working under the direction of a local authority officer to the categories of person who can discharge a function under a Part 8 agreement with the local authority. Voluntary and community organisations backed by Defra funding make an important contribution, as referred to by noble Lords, in developing and delivering Defra policies, service delivery, strengthening rural communities and achieving sustainable development. I am delighted that Defra has recently been awarded a commendation by the National Compact Working Group for excellence in compact work. The amendments, however, would make volunteers directly accountable and responsible for discharging the function under an agreement. The noble Duke recognised, from the range of examples referred to, that this is a complex and technical area of local government legislation and we hesitate to stray into it. The Bill is framed so as to allow volunteers to make a real contribution to the exercise of these functions, while at the same time making sure that the chain of accountability remains clearly in place and with those primarily responsible: the local authority. The reason for drafting the clause in this way is to clarify the arrangements where an authority that is party to a Part 8 delegation agreement is operating executive arrangements under the Local Government Act 2000, to which the noble Baroness, Lady Miller of Chilthorne Domer referred. This means that they have arrangements in place for discharging these responsibilities through committees or officers of the council. I hope, therefore, that the noble Duke will not press his amendment, It is an extremely complex area. The Bill makes clear that the officer rightly remains responsible and accountable for discharging the function. I understand that it reflects similar provisions with the same end in mind. The executive of the local authority is responsible for strategic considerations, and the full council, often discharging its responsibility through a committee or officers, takes the day-to-day decisions on development control. Broadly, then, they are all incorporated within the Bill. It is a complex legal area and we do not want to do anything that causes, even inadvertently, harm to the value of the contributions to which the noble Duke referred.