As set out in the Government’s White Paper, The United Kingdom’s exit from, and new partnership with, the European Union, the Government’s guiding principle is to ensure that as the UK leaves the EU, no new barriers to living and doing business within the Union are created. We will work with the devolved administrations on an approach to returning powers from the EU that works for the whole of the UK.

The Council continues to meet regularly in different formats. For example, on Friday 10 March the British-Irish Council Indigenous, Minority and Lesser-Used (IML) Languages work sector held a Ministerial meeting, hosted by the Scottish Government in Edinburgh. Officials from all BIC member administrations also continue to meet in advance to prepare for the meetings.

The devolution deal is about greater integration of the money spent locally on health and social care across the city by local authorities and health bodies. It does not affect the allocation of funding to councils in Greater Manchester. Greater integration and joint working has the potential to reduce costs and improve outcomes.

Following the recent consultation, we have now laid a draft of an Order before Parliament which, if approved by Parliament and made, will enable the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to appoint an Interim Mayor to chair the Authority until a mayor is elected for Greater Manchester as envisaged in the devolution agreement with Government. The accompanying Explanatory Memorandum provides a summary of the 12 responses to the consultation from the ten constituent councils, the Combined Authority and the Business Leadership Council.

Following the recent consultation, we have now laid a draft of an Order before Parliament which, if approved by Parliament and made, will enable the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to appoint an Interim Mayor to chair the Authority until a mayor is elected for Greater Manchester as envisaged in the devolution agreement with Government. The accompanying Explanatory Memorandum provides a summary of the 12 responses to the consultation from the ten constituent councils, the Combined Authority and the Business Leadership Council.

Following the recent consultation, we have now laid a draft of an Order before Parliament which, if approved by Parliament and made, will enable the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to appoint an Interim Mayor to chair the Authority until a mayor is elected for Greater Manchester as envisaged in the devolution agreement with Government. The accompanying Explanatory Memorandum provides a summary of the 12 responses to the consultation from the ten constituent councils, the Combined Authority and the Business Leadership Council.

The Government has always believed that local decision-making plays an essential role in building stronger local economies and communities and is open to discussions over possible offers from areas that are interested in greater devolution of powers. This basic principle of localism underpins the Government's approach and is why programmes such as Growth Deals and Growing Places Fund have been made available to all local areas in England through Local Enterprise Partnerships.

I also refer my hon. Friend to the Government's publication, "The implications of devolution for England” (CM 8969) which outlines the views of both Coalition parties on the scope for greater decentralisation in England.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/implications-of-devolution-for-england

There is no devolution of budgets to the eleventh leader – budgets will be devolved to the Mayor when elected. There are already strong scrutiny arrangements for the Combined Authority through the Scrutiny Pool.

The devolution agreement provides for Greater Manchester to agree with the Government its plans for evaluation, with the first review to be completed in 2019-20; these plans will be expected to include the extent of any public consultation considered appropriate in the evaluation.

We are currently consulting on the proposal to amend the constitution of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and the consultation specifically asks for views on how the proposed change may impact on the identities and interests of local communities.

A proposal is currently being consulted on to amend the constitution of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. The consultation document has been placed on the Government’s website and as the paper states “The Secretary of State will also have regard to any comments received from members of the public and others.”.

As was the case with previous consultations on combined authorities which this Government has undertaken, when launched we wrote to all of the statutory consultees and others whom, as statute provides, the Secretary of State considered it appropriate to consult. In this case, the statutory consultees are the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and the ten local authorities within the Greater Manchester area, and other appropriate consultees were considered to be the local enterprise partnership and the Business Leadership Council. In addition the consultation document has been placed on the Government’s website and as the paper states “The Secretary of State will also have regard to any comments received from members of the public and others”.

The consultation has not closed; we will review the number in due course. The hon. Member is welcome to make her own representation given her interest in this topic.

Parliament made that decision during the passage of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009. The Act requires the same process to be followed to make a change to an existing combined authority as for establishing a new combined authority. This includes approval to the Order by each House of Parliament through affirmative resolution.

We are currently consulting on draft secondary legislation which would facilitate the transitional governance proposals for Greater Manchester. It is our goal that such secondary legislation would be ratified in this Parliament, subject to Parliamentary approval.

We intend that the subsequent primary legislation that I mentioned in my previous answer would then be introduced early in the next Parliament, to facilitate the first direct elections for a Greater Manchester mayor in 2017.

On 23 January 2015 the Government launched the statutory consultation, required by the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009, on a proposed Order to amend the Greater Manchester Combined Authority 2011 to provide for an eleventh leader of Greater Manchester. This consultation closes on 13 February, and subject to the responses received, it is intended as soon as practicable thereafter to seek Parliamentary approval of the proposed amendment Order through the affirmative procedure as provided for under the 2009 Act.

On 23 January 2015 the Government launched the statutory consultation, required by the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009, on a proposed Order to amend the Greater Manchester Combined Authority 2011 to provide for an eleventh leader of Greater Manchester. This consultation closes on 13 February, and subject to the responses received, it is intended as soon as practicable thereafter to seek Parliamentary approval of the proposed amendment Order through the affirmative procedure as provided for under the 2009 Act.

Following the November 2014 devolution agreement between the Government and Greater Manchester, it is envisaged a Bill will be introduced into Parliament with provision for a Greater Manchester Mayor, for elections of the Mayor – expected to be, as for other local government elections - every 4 years, with the first election in 2017, for effective scrutiny arrangements to hold the Mayor publicly to account, and for open and transparent arrangements providing for appropriate allowances to be decided in Greater Manchester for the Mayor. Such a Bill will be accompanied by an Impact Assessment, which will cover estimated costs and benefits. A preliminary equality screening will be undertaken, but we will not be undertaking a full blown Equality Impact Assessment if we assess there is no impact, given it is our policy to avoid unnecessary equalities paperwork.

My rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable) has asked the Skills Funding Agency to calculate a share of the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers for devolution to Greater Manchester that is proportionate to their current share of apprenticeship activity. This is being done as a priority with the aim of devolving the budget formally from April 2015. Discussions are ongoing with Greater Manchester and we expect formal agreement to follow in early February.

We have regular discussions with local authorities on a range of issues associated with localism.

I refer my hon. Friend to the recent command paper, Implications of devolution for England (Cm 8969) which sets our approach to further decentralisation in England.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/implications-of-devolution-for-england

I would also note the recent Written Ministerial Statement on the governance of Birmingham City Council of 9 December 2014, Official Report, Column 27WS, which follows the review by Sir Bob Kerslake.