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National Assembly for Wales (Legislative Competence) (Local Government) Order 2010

My Lords, the draft LCO inserts 10 new matters into field 12, the local government field, of Schedule 5 to the Government of Wales Act 2006. It was approved by the National Assembly for Wales on 9 February and by the other place on 23 March. The legislative competence order was announced by the then First Minister, the right honourable Rhodri Morgan, as part of the Welsh Assembly Government’s legislative programme for 2009-10 on 14 July 2009. It will confer competence on the National Assembly to legislate in relation to the recruitment, retention and remuneration of all local government councillors and with regard to the structure and role of community councils. This legislative competence will enable Welsh Ministers to achieve three outcomes. First, the Assembly will be able to legislate to ensure that local government provides relevant information to the public about what it does, thereby making councils more accountable and promoting public engagement. Future measures could introduce requirements on councils and councillors to provide information to local people on council activities and the work that councillors carry out. Secondly, this legislative competence order will give the Assembly the power to introduce measures to remove the barriers and disincentives to people standing for election to local authorities and improve the skills and capacity of councillors once elected. For example, legislation could require local authorities to ensure appropriate training and development for their elected members. Welsh Ministers also believe that reform of councillors’ allowances could similarly help to recruit and retain a wider range of people as councillors. Finally, the order will give the Assembly the power to legislate to develop and strengthen the role of community councils so that they are able to deliver a wider range of services and actions locally. This request for competence is in response to a desire by Welsh Ministers to address issues arising from three reviews of aspects of local government in Wales. The Aberystwyth University report in 2003 comprehensively reviewed the activities of community councils across Wales. It identified the constraints that community councils believe they face and set out a number of proposals for enhancing their roles. The Assembly Government have given a commitment to seek legislation to address issues identified in the review. Secondly, the Assembly Government established an expert panel to look at any issues that affected the recruitment, retention and development of councillors in Wales. The report of the panel, entitled Are We Being Served?, was published for consultation by the Assembly in August 2009. The consultation’s responses are informing proposals for a future Assembly measure. Finally, the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales is considering the remuneration structures for councillors in Wales. A report by the panel setting out proposals for fundamental reform of the remuneration arrangements for councillors in Wales is expected next month. However, the panel has already called for the National Assembly to gain legislative competence over remuneration. As is always the case, the LCO has been subject to detailed and thorough scrutiny by the Constitution Committee of this House, the Welsh Affairs Committee in the other place, and a committee of the Assembly. The Government are of course grateful to these committees for their helpful and constructive recommendations. The Constitution Committee concluded that this LCO does not raise any issues of constitutional principle. The Welsh Affairs Committee expressed concern about the use of the term "communities" in the LCO. While the committee is correct—that the word is used in a range of different contexts—in this LCO the term "communities" is limited in its application to community institutions described in the Local Government Act 1972. These deal with local government at its most local level and extend only to community and town councils and community meetings. This link back to the 1972 Act is important in ensuring consistence in the use of terminology. The Explanatory Memorandum has been amended at paragraph 8.11 to clarify this issue. The Welsh Affairs Committee also suggested the LCO should be renamed to give readers a clearer idea of its nature and focus. After very careful consideration it has been concluded that the current convention should continue so that the title of an LCO reflects the names of the most significant fields in Schedule 5 to which the matters relate. For this LCO, local government is therefore the most appropriate title. The Secretary of State for Wales has, however, written to the committee to say that in the new Parliament he would be happy to consider that the more descriptive titles be included in material published with an LCO, such as the Explanatory Memorandum. I hope the House agrees that it is entirely appropriate for legislative competence in this already devolved policy area to be transferred to the National Assembly. This would provide the Assembly with comprehensive competence over local government in Wales and would enable Welsh Ministers to bring forward legislation to deliver the reforms they wish to see introduced. I commend the order to the House.