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Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

My Lords, I thought these amendments had been grouped separately but they have clearly been grouped together. What I am going to say may be slightly disjointed. I will start with the questions raised by the noble Lord, Lord Dixon-Smith, and the effect of the amendments per se. If I am unable to give him a complete response to his question about the Electoral Commission, I assure him that I will write. However, I will do my best to respond to his question. The amendments seek to remove the ability of the Secretary of State to make certain provision within orders made under Clause 7 for structural change and Clause 10 for boundary change. First, were these amendments to be made to the Bill, it would not be possible to implement the structural change orders so that the transition from two-tier to single-tier was as smooth as possible for all involved. These amendments would obviously be detrimental to the local authorities involved in the restructuring process. Amendments Nos. 39 and 46 remove Clauses 11(4)(d) and 12, which provide the Secretary of State with the ability to include provision for electoral matters in an order made under Clause 7 for structural change or Clause 10 for boundary change. They would prevent the Secretary of State including provision in relation to the electoral matters of new unitary authorities—the number of councillors, the boundaries of wards or the election of a mayor or executive, for example. Clauses 11(4)(d) and 12 also allow the Secretary of State, where a wholly new authority is established, to appoint members of existing local authorities as members of the new local authority for a transitional period before the first elections are held, to appoint an executive for a transitional period and to provide for that wholly new authority to discharge functions during a transitional period. Amendment No. 46 would see Clause 12 removed completely. It is obviously important that we keep the whole of Clause 12, because it is vital that the Secretary of State is able to include provision in the Clause 7 orders for the membership and representational arrangements of new authorities, otherwise there simply would not be any people there to take the decisions. To remove the Secretary of State’s ability to provide for these matters would mean that, in the case of wholly new authorities, there would be no one there to take key decisions. That is clearly not satisfactory at all. It is also important that the Secretary of State is able to include provision for electoral arrangements under Clause 12(1)(a) to (f). When we came to discuss the amendments of the noble Baroness, I noted that those provisions had not been removed. I am sure that this is because she also recognises the importance of being able to put in place transitional arrangements and provide for elections to the new local authorities. Were these provisions removed, wholly new local authorities could be established without any electoral arrangements—no wards, nothing. I understand what I think the noble Lord was saying—that he would prefer that these matters were put in place by an independent Electoral Commission. However, the commission was not able to guarantee that it would be able to put these arrangements in place before the new authorities were established. The noble Lord asked about the views of the Electoral Commission. From the exchanges on 25 September, we understand that, while it is broadly content, it would prefer the first elections for county unitaries to be in May 2009, which suggests that they would follow the new warding arrangements made by the commission. We will talk to the Electoral Commission about its concerns on those issues. I hope that will be helpful. We have made no decisions on these matters. We have just finished consulting on the approach to implementation, as noble Lords know, and it is a rather hefty document. However, I shall give an example of why we need to retain these powers. One scenario could be that elections are held for new district unitaries on current electoral arrangements in May 2008. The Electoral Commission supports this option, but has said it will not be in a position to complete reviews of the county unitaries until 2009 and of the district unitaries until 2010. Therefore, it is imperative that the Secretary of State can include provision for electoral arrangements within the Clause 7 order. In the example -0we have given, the Secretary of State would simply put in place the current electoral arrangements for the new authorities. Without Clause 12, she would be unable to do that, and implementation would have to wait until 2010. I am sure that noble Lords are aware that if we were to remove the ability of the Secretary of State to deal with these matters it would delay the implementation timetable. That goes against what we have consistently been told by local government, which is that it wants as speedy a progress towards restructuring as possible. By taking out Clause 12, we would be unable to deliver that on behalf of local government. The amendments make the implementation of new unitary authorities difficult and would not allow the transition to be as painless as possible. We have tried to learn from the experience of the restructuring in the 1990s. Amendments Nos. 42 to 45 are tabled in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Scott. Like the amendments in the previous group, they remove the ability of the Secretary of State to make certain provisions within orders made under Clause 7 for structural change stemming from a boundary change. I shall explain why Clause 12 is necessary. Amendment No. 42 removes Clause 12(1)(f) to (k), so that the Secretary of State would be unable to include provision in a Clause 7 or Clause 10 order for the order of retirement of councillors and the election of a mayor or executive. In the case of a wholly new authority, it would also prevent the Secretary of State making appointments and providing for the discharge of functions during a transitional period. Amendment No. 43 inserts a new paragraph into Clause 12(1) which allows the Secretary of State to specify the length of any transitional period. Removing Clause 12(1)(f) would not allow the Secretary of State to make provision for the retirement of councillors. Removing Clause 12(1)(g) and (h) would not allow the Secretary of State to provide for the election of a mayor or an executive for the new authority. Therefore, where the bidding authority has requested a mayoral model, we would not be able to provide for it. For example, Bedford has a mayor, and Bedford Borough Council has stated that it wishes to retain the mayoral model for the new unitary authority it is proposing. If a unitary Bedford were to be created, the amendment would prevent us being able to provide for the mayoral model to continue in Bedford. We would be unable to provide for the election of a mayor. Clause 12(1)(i) allows the Secretary of State, in the case of a wholly new authority, to appoint existing councillors to represent the new local authority for a transitional period. Removing Clause 12(1)(j) would not allow the appointment of an executive to a wholly new authority to take decisions during the transitional period. Those provisions will be needed if the Secretary of State is to establish a wholly new authority so that members can start to prepare for reorganisation before there are elections for that authority. This will avoid a potential ““dead period”” between the implementation orders being made and the first elections. Clause 12(1)(k) provides that where the Secretary of State establishes a wholly new authority, she may also provide for the appointment of an executive for a transitional period. Again, the Government believe it is important that an executive is established to discharge particular functions prior to the first elections to wholly new authorities being held. As I have stated, the amendments to Clause 12 would make the implementation of new unitary authorities difficult and the implementation process difficult for everyone concerned. These are technical matters. In a later amendment we will discuss transitional arrangements a little more. I hope that I have made it clear to noble Lords that their amendments would have a devastating effect on the planned process of implementation.