Memorandum by Derbyshire County Council
(DRA 28)
Derbyshire County Council wishes to make the
following points:
1. ELECTED REGIONAL
ASSEMBLIES MUST
NOT DRAW
POWERS FROM
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Local Government is the democratically accountable
body which acts as community leader at the local level. Elected
Regional Assemblies (ERAs) need to play a distinctive regional
strategic role and should therefore be given devolved powers from
central government and must not draw up powers and functions from
local government or interfere with the ability of local authorities
to carry out their functions.
There will be benefits in having a regional
strategic body but it should develop strategies by working alongside
local authorities and not by imposing its will on areas by taking
away local powers. Any clauses in the draft Bill which propose
giving powers, currently exercised by local authorities, to regional
authorities should be removed.
2. ERAS SHOULD
DEVELOP STRATEGIES
WHICH ARE
INFORMED BY
A TWO-WAY
DIALOGUE WITH
LOCAL AREAS
Local authorities will be crucial partners in
the implementation of ERA strategies. The latter will only be
locally relevant where they have been developed in collaboration
with local authorities. The Bill setting out powers and functions
of ERAs must include a statutory safeguard that local government
will be fully consulted on relevant ERA business.
3. REGIONS MUST
HAVE FLEXIBILITY
TO DEVELOP
THEIR OWN
MECHANISMS FOR
JOINT WORKING
BETWEEN ERAS
AND LOCAL
GOVERNMENT
While there is a need to establish certain core
statutory safeguards in the Bill it would be inappropriate to
determine nationally the precise arrangements for liaison between
ERAs and local government. Regions need flexibility to develop
their own solutions to their own particular problems and challenges.
Flexibility is also required in how local/regional consultative
and co-ordinating mechanisms are structured. Without such flexibility,
the opportunity for local government to influence regional decision-making
will be limited. However, the Bill should establish a duty on
ERAs to consult with local authorities and to engage in these
co-ordinating mechanisms. There are positive models of devolution
elsewhere from which both local government and ERAs can learn.
4. CLARIFICATION
OF ROLES
While the legislation should allow flexibility
in how different regions develop solutions to their different
problems and challenges, it must be clear as to the respective
roles of ERAs, sub-regional partnerships and other agencies in
relation to policy development, delivery and evaluation.
5. THERE SHOULD
BE A
PRESUMPTION IN
FAVOUR OF
FURTHER DEMOCRATISATION
OF QUANGOS
AT THE
REGIONAL LEVEL
Academic research carried out for the Local
Government Association has drawn attention to the large amount
of public spending in the English regions that is unaccountable
at the regional level. The county council agrees with the LGA
that if the Government is truly devolutionary there must be a
presumption in favour of increasing the level of accountability
of regional quangos and to examining the future and current number
of quangos.
Local Government must also be considered a key
player in any regional architecture. Any regional settlement must
take into account the role of local government as a key deliverer
of services in a region. The process for interaction between the
different spheres needs to be made clear and local government
must be considered as partner.
6. THE DEMOCRATIC
DEFICIT OF
ERAS NEEDS
TO BE
REVERSED
There is a democratic deficit built into ERAs
where between 25 and 35 members will represent around 135,000
people each. Elected members of county councils currently represent
around 10,000 people each and English MPs represent 69,000 on
average. According to these figures the democratic deficit of
regional members would be nearly double that of MPs. This deficit
is unacceptable.
In addition, the draft Bill makes no mention
of how these members will be chosen or which constituencies they
will represent other than to say that some of them will represent
constituencies and others will be regional members and the numbers
of each "is to be such as the Secretary of State may by order
prescribe". This is unacceptable. The mechanism for defining
constituencies and their appropriate representation should be
open and transparent and laid down in the legislation.
7. ERAS NEED
TO OPERATE
IN AN
INCLUSIVE, OPEN
AND TRANSPARENT
MANNER
Local communities need to be confident that
their interests count at the regional level. Regional decision-making
therefore needs to be—and seen to be—genuinely inclusive
of all interests across the region, and in particular to ensure
the inclusion of rural areas.
8. THE COST
OF ESTABLISHING
ERAS AND
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
RE -ORGANISATION
The experience of previous local government
re-organisation has shown that the cost estimates need to be carefully
considered. Despite the Government's rhetoric on the savings,
it must be made clear that central government and not local government
will be responsible for financing the establishment of ERAs and
not any potential savings made by re-organising local government.
Evidence from previous re-organisations of local government shows
that the estimates of potential savings did not encompass the
true cost of re-organisation.
9. IMPLICATIONS
FOR THE
COLLECTION OF
PRECEPTS AND
THE 2007 REVALUATION
The implication of the council tax revaluation
due in 2007 needs to be considered carefully. If ERAs are established
in 2007-08 consideration needs to be given about how this is handled.
Based on the London experience, councils would be responsible
for collecting the precept for ERAs. The Government needs to be
mindful of the political and financial implications of both the
collection of precepts and the effect of the revaluation.
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