Amendments proposed to the Local Government Bill [Lords] - continued House of Commons

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Hilary Armstrong

191

Clause     41,     page     25,     line     18,     leave out paragraph (d) and insert—

      '( ) as to when, where and how voting in a referendum is to take place,

      ( ) as to how the votes cast in a referendum are to be counted, and'.

   

Mr Nigel Waterson
Sir Paul Beresford
Mr David Curry
Mr Peter Atkinson
Mr Tim Loughton

66

Clause     41,     page     25,     leave out lines 18 and 19.

   

Hilary Armstrong

192

Clause     41,     page     25,     line     21,     leave out 'this section' and insert 'subsections (1), (2) to (4) and (6)'.

   

Hilary Armstrong

193

Clause     41,     page     25,     line     22,     leave out 'or 28'.'

   

Hilary Armstrong

194

Clause     41,     page     25,     line     22,     leave out 'under section 31 or 32' and insert 'or an order made under any provision of this Part'.


   

Hilary Armstrong

195

Clause     42,     page     25,     line     27,     leave out 'of' and insert 'made by or under'.

   

Hilary Armstrong

196

Clause     42,     page     25,     line     27,     at end insert—

    '(2) The provision which may be made under subsection (1) includes provision modifying any enactment (whenever passed or made).

    (3) The power under subsection (2) to modify an enactment is a power—

      (a) to apply that enactment with or without modifications,

      (b) to extend, disapply or amend that enactment, or

      (c) to repeal or revoke that enactment with or without savings.'.


   

Hilary Armstrong

197

Page     25,     line     28,     leave out Clause 43.


   

Hilary Armstrong

198

Clause     44,     page     25,     leave out lines 40 to 43.

   

Hilary Armstrong

199

Clause     44,     page     26,     line     5,     at end insert—

      ' "enactment" includes an enactment contained in a local Act or comprised in subordinate legislation (within the meaning of the Interpretation Act 1978),"'.

   

Hilary Armstrong

200

Clause     44,     page     26,     leave out lines 18 to 21.

   

Hilary Armstrong

201

Clause     44,     page     26,     line     44,     leave out third 'of' and insert 'made by or under'.

   

Hilary Armstrong

202

Clause     44,     page     26,     line     44,     at end insert—

    '( ) Any functions conferred on a local authority by virtue of this Part are not to be the responsibility of an executive of the authority under executive arrangements.'.


NEW CLAUSES RELATING TO PART II

Additional forms of executive

   

Hilary Armstrong

NC12

To move the following Clause:—

    '.—(1) In deciding whether to make regulations under section 11(6) prescribing a particular form of executive, or which provision to make under section 16 in relation to that form of executive, the Secretary of State must have regard to—

      (a) any proposals made to him under subsection (2),

      (b) the extent to which he considers that the operation by a local authority of executive arrangements involving that form of executive would be likely to ensure that decisions of the authority are taken in an efficient, transparent and accountable way,

      (c) the extent to which that form of executive differs from the forms of executive for the time being permitted by or under section 11,

      (d) the number and description of authorities for which he considers that that form of executive, if prescribed in regulations made under section 11(6), would be an appropriate form of executive to consider.

    (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), a local authority may propose to the Secretary of State a form of executive in relation to which the authority consider that the conditions mentioned in subsection (3) are satisfied.

    (3) Those conditions are—

      (a) that the operation by the authority of executive arrangements involving that form of executive would be an improvement on the arrangements which the authority have in place for the discharge of their functions at the time that the proposal is made to the Secretary of State,

      (b) that the operation by the authority of executive arrangements involving that form of executive would be likely to ensure that decisions of the authority are taken in an efficient, transparent and accountable way, and

      (c) that that form of executive, if prescribed in regulations made under section 11(6), would be an appropriate form of executive for all local authorities, or for any particular description of local authority, to consider.

    (4) A proposal under subsection (2)—

      (a) must describe the form of executive to which it relates,

      (b) must describe the provision which the authority consider should be made under section 16 in relation to that form of executive, and

      (c) must explain why the authority consider that the conditions mentioned in subsection (3) are satisfied in relation to that form of executive.'.


Approval of outline fall-back proposals

   

Hilary Armstrong

NC13

To move the following Clause:—

    '.—(1) A local authority may apply to the Secretary of State for the approval of outline fall-back proposals involving fall-back proposals which are not permitted by or under this Part but which would be so permitted if the necessary regulations were made under section 11(6) or 29 (as the case may be).

    (2) The form and content of an application under subsection (1) must comply with any directions made by the Secretary of State.

    (3) Where the Secretary of State approves a local authority's proposals under subsection (1)—

      (a) the authority may use those proposals as their outline fall-back proposals for the purposes of section 26, and

      (b) the timetable referred to in section 26(13) shall be extended to the extent that there is any delay in making the necessary regulations under section 11(6) or 29 (as the case may be).'.


Election as elected mayor and councillor

   

Hilary Armstrong

NC14

To move the following Clause:—

    '.—(1) If the person who is returned at an election as the elected mayor of a local authority is also returned at an election held at the same time as a councillor of the authority, a vacancy shall arise in the office of councillor.

    (2) If the person who is returned at an election ("the mayoral election") as the elected mayor of a local authority—

      (a) is a councillor of the authority, and

      (b) was returned as such a councillor at an election held at an earlier time than the mayoral election,

    a vacancy shall arise in the office of councillor.

    (3) Subject to subsection (4), a person who is the elected mayor of a local authority may not be a candidate in an election for the return of a councillor or councillors of the authority.

    (4) A person who is the elected mayor of a local authority may be a candidate in an election for the return of a councillor or councillors of the authority if the election is held at the same time as an election for the return of the elected mayor of the authority, but subsection (1) applies if he is a candidate in both such elections and he is returned both as the elected mayor and as a councillor.'.


Access to information etc.

   

Mr Nigel Waterson
Sir Paul Beresford
Mr David Curry
Mr Peter Atkinson
Mr Tim Loughton

NC1

To move the following Clause:—

    '.—(1) Any decision made in connection with the discharge of functions which are the responsibility of executives shall for the purposes of this section be known as an executive decision.

    (2) Any person or body of persons making an executive decision shall be treated as a committee of a principal council for the purposes of Part VA of the Local Government Act 1972 (access to meetings and documents).

    (3) A written record of each executive decision shall be publicly available no later than the next working day following the date of the decision.

    (4) No executive decision shall be implemented earlier than five working days from the date of the decision, unless the authority's monitoring officer certifies that the matter is sufficiently urgent to require earlier implementation, and in such case the decision shall not be implemented earlier than the second working day following the date of the decision.'.


Procedure on decision making by local authority executives

   

Mr Nigel Waterson
Sir Paul Beresford
Mr David Curry
Mr Peter Atkinson
Mr Tim Loughton

NC3

To move the following Clause:—

    '(1) This section makes provision in relation to the way in which, under executive arrangements, a local authority executive which takes the form specified in sections 11(2), 11(3) or 11(4) is to be responsible for the executive functions.

    (2) The proceedings, decisions, reports and documents of the executive shall be subject to the provisions of the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985.

    (3) No function may be discarged by an person or body unless an officer appointed by the Head of the Paid Service of the local authority is present to record the decision taken, the reasons for it, the identity of all persons present during the taking of the decision, the written advice of any officer, a summary of any oral advice tendered by an officer present, and the background papers relating to the decision.

    (4) No decision which would result in expenditure by the local authority may be taken otherwise that in accordance with a scheme approved by resolution of the local authority for the delegation to the executive of powers to authorise expenditure.

    (5) The Head of the Paid Service shall within seven days of the date of any decision of the executive provide each member of the local authority with notification of the decision and with the records pursuant to subsection (3) above and, if the conditions set out in subsection (6) are met, shall include in his notification to each member his certification that those conditions are met.

    (6) The conditions referred to in subsection (5) are that such decision satisfies the requirements of subsection (4) above and that implementation of the decision would not result in the authority incurring expenditure of more than £100,000.

    (7) In the absence of such certification as is referred to in subsection (5) above the decision shall not be implemented before the expiry of 14 days from the date of the notice to members pursuant to that subsection or before the date of the conclusion of any scrutiny proceedings resulting from the provisions of subsection (8), whichever is the later.

    (8) If, within 14 days of notification of any decision not accompanied by such certificate as is referred to in subsection (5), the Head of the Paid Service receives a written request signed by at least three members of the local authority he shall refer the decision for scrutiny in accordance with section 15'.

 
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