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Ms Winterton: What I am saying is that the new structures are well bedded in. We generally legislate in ways that accord with existing structures, and if we start to unwind that arrangement, complications will ensue.
New clause 17 proposes abolition of the Standards Board for England and the Adjudication Panel for England, which are two important and effective bodies. If that were to happen, councillors and members of local authority standards committees who look to the Standards Board for advice, guidance, training and direction about the conduct regime for local authority members would be cut adrift.
In 2008 we devolved the conduct regime for local authority members to local authorities, and in doing so we created a new role for the Standards Board for England. The board is still there to investigate the most serious allegations of misconduct by local authority members, but since 2008, when we devolved the conduct regime for local authority members to local authorities, it has also functioned in its new role as strategic regulator for local authority standards committees.
The regime that we have introduced accords with the recommendations of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, including its recommendation for the establishment of a more locally based decision-making regime for the investigation and determination of all but the most serious misconduct allegations, but with the Standards Board at the centre of the revised regime with its new strategic, regulatory role to ensure the consistency of standards. If Conservative Members are challenging that, they are obviously challenging the recommendations of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, which recently approached the Standards Board for England for advice on how a successful, robust and transparent conduct regime should operate.
The Standards Board for England is now fully equipped to perform its new role. Legislation came into force this summer that allows the board to become directly involved with local authority standards committees if its scrutiny of the way in which the conduct regime is operating in an authority causes it concern, or if it is invited to do so by the authority itself. The board has restructured, and has shed staff. Its budget has fallen from just over £8 million in 2008-2009 to £7.4 million in 2009-2010, and it is planned for it to fall further in future years as ongoing efficiency savings are made.
Today is the second day of the Standards Board for England's eighth annual assembly of standards committees- [Interruption.] I think that I have sent them a video recording of my speeches, so that should cheer them up. More than 800 delegates, councillors, local authority monitoring officers and standards committee members are meeting in Birmingham to discuss all aspects of the conduct regime, to share best practice and to attend training and question and answer sessions. They will be discussing, among other things, the role of standards in parish councils- I am sure that my hon. Friend the Member for Stroud will be pleased to know that-how to engage council leaders, embedding standards and how to communicate the standards regime to the public. They will also be discussing how standards regime practitioners can support councillors who serve on licensing and planning committees.
The Adjudication Panel for England performs vital functions. It considers appeals made by councillors against the decisions of local authority standards
committees and makes decisions about the most serious breaches of the code of conduct, deciding what sanctions are appropriate in cases where a breach is found to have taken place. That is a serious obligation. Where a serious breach of the code of conduct is found to have occurred, the consequences are, rightly, serious, too. The Adjudication Panel for England has the power to ban a person from being a councillor for up to five years. It is right that it should have that power. Actions that result in a breach of the code such as bullying can have a profound effect on the victim of the actions that led to the breach. We consider it appropriate for a national body to have such powers, but we question the alternative, which is the abolition of the Adjudication Panel, giving a local authority standards committee the power to stop a person being a councillor in any other authority for up to five years.
The vast majority of local authority members observe the high standards of behaviour that the electorate rightly expect of them, but we have seen that a robust conduct regime is essential to provide redress when the code of conduct is not observed. The Standards Board for England is needed not just to provide regulation for local authority standards committees that are enforcing the code of conduct, but to supply advice, support and training to local authority members to ensure that they work within the conduct regime. The abolition of the Standards Board and the Adjudication Panel would be a blow to high standards of conduct in the democratic process. Moreover, it would send a message that, far from building a fair, transparent and robust conduct regime, Parliament is intent on removing bodies whose purpose is to support the conduct regime.
The amendments tabled by the hon. Members for Wycombe (Mr. Goodman), for Peterborough (Mr. Jackson) and for Ludlow (Mr. Dunne)-amendments 24, 25 and 26-seek to ensure that the duty to promote democracy, the petitions duty and the extension of the duty to involve, do not come into force until July 2011. I have listened carefully to the concerns that they have raised, a number of which were raised in Committee. I can confirm that no final decision has been taken about the commencement of these provisions. We have been working to ensure that everything is in place to allow the duty to be commenced at the earliest possible date, but we are keeping all options open at this point and are considering the best way forward in the wider context of the Government's work on strengthening local democracy, including responses to the consultation on the subject, which has just come to a close, and in light of the current economic climate. The amendments would limit our flexibility to decide the most appropriate time to commence these duties. However, let me be clear that, in order to keep all options open, including the option of bringing the provisions into force in April 2010, prompt action may need to be taken to allow the appropriate stages to be taken, such as issuing draft statutory guidance for consultation.
Mr. Goodman: It sounds as though the Minister may have made a rather important announcement. Can she confirm that, in effect, she is withdrawing parts 1, 2 and 3 of the Bill? Can she remind the House whether there was a commencement date for those parts and whether she is proposing to alter that date if it was in the Bill?
Ms Winterton: The provision will be by order. We have said that we want to aim to bring in the provisions in 2010, but obviously we have not taken a final decision. We do not want to be restricted, as would happen under the hon. Gentleman's amendments.
If I could turn finally-[Hon. Members: "Hooray!"] Are you enjoying this? On new clause 4, I can certainly see how strongly my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne, Central (Jim Cousins) feels about the issue. It did not escape my notice that the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury, my right hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne, East and Wallsend (Mr. Brown), was present during his contribution, which shows what an important issue this is in the Newcastle area.
I agree with my hon. Friend's central argument that women should be afforded the same rights as men, particularly in relation to freedoms granted for an area. He talked about the town moor in Newcastle. I happen to live on the town moor in Doncaster. Opposite we have the town fields, which are covered by similar provisions for freemen. People can take their sheep on there if they want. The Bill already makes provision allowing guilds to admit women.
There is one other thing that I need to deal with. I will keep hon. Members in suspense on that one. Could someone find new clause 18? [Interruption.] As I was saying, the Bill makes provision allowing guilds to admit women. The provisions in clause 27 were inserted through an amendment tabled by Lord Graham.
8.30 pm
Jim Cousins: May I invite the Minister to consider this point? The provision in the Bill does not confer a right other than if the freemen of that particular body choose to confer a right. New clause 4 confers the right untrammelled. There is no brokerage. The right is conferred directly to the daughters of freemen. It does not depend on the brokerage of another body to achieve that.
Ms Winterton: Yes. As I was saying, the provisions of clause 27 were inserted through an amendment tabled by Lord Graham and received cross-party support in the other place. We continue to believe that clause 27 strengthens the Bill by allowing admission rights to be changed more easily. Clause 27 provides for guilds to change their admission rights, including allowing women to become freewomen. However, my hon. Friend has put forward a powerful argument that it should not be discretionary, but that women should be afforded the same rights as men in such circumstances. Indeed, when accepting that the provisions of clause 27 should be inserted in the Bill, my noble Friend Baroness Andrews stated that we attach great importance to seeking equality between men and women and that
"traditions need to work in a way that is non-discriminatory"-[ Official Report, House of Lords, 3 February 2009; Vol. 707, c. GC167.]
I can tell my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne, Central that on that basis the Government support the inclusion of new clause 4 in the Bill. That is the good news. The bad news is that we cannot accept new clause 18 because it abolishes the comprehensive area assessment system, which is proving to be extremely successful and is generally recognised to be raising standards. However, we can certainly accept new clause 4,
and I congratulate my hon. Friend on the success of his long campaign for the provision to be included in legislation.
I hope that I have answered all the questions that have been raised and that I have given reassurances in respect of the amendments that we cannot accept. I also hope that the House will be delighted that we are to accept new clause 4.
Mr. Drew: Because of the nice things that my right hon. Friend has had to say about parish councils and how the Government will move forward on parish polls, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the clause.
'(1) The Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (c.53) is amended as follows.
(1) A party to a construction contract may at any time request the other party to provide adequate security including bank guarantees and bonds in respect of payments of the contract price, including the price of any varied or additional works.
(2) Where a party fails to provide the adequate security as requested under subsection (1), the party making the request has the right to suspend any or all of his obligations under the construction contract with the party in default.
(3) The right may not be exercised without first giving to the party in default at least seven days' notice of intention to suspend performance, stating that performance will be suspended unless, in the meantime, the security requested under subsection (1) is provided.
(4) The right to suspend performance ceases when the party in the default makes available the security requested under subsection (1).
(5) The consequences of the exercise of the right of the suspension under subsection (2) are as set out in subsections (3A) and (4) in section 112."'.- (Mr. Llwyd.)
Brought up, and read the First time.
Question put, That the clause be read a Second time.
The House proceeded to a Division.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Sylvia Heal): I ask the Serjeant at Arms to investigate the delay in the No Lobby.
The House having divided: Ayes 195, Noes 265.
AYES
Afriyie, Adam
Ainsworth, Mr. Peter
Alexander, Danny
Amess, Mr. David
Arbuthnot, rh Mr. James
Atkinson, Mr. Peter
Baker, Norman
Baldry, Tony
Barker, Gregory
Baron, Mr. John
Beith, rh Sir Alan
Bellingham, Mr. Henry
Beresford, Sir Paul
Binley, Mr. Brian
Blunt, Mr. Crispin
Bone, Mr. Peter
Boswell, Mr. Tim
Brake, Tom
Brazier, Mr. Julian
Breed, Mr. Colin
Brooke, Annette
Browning, Angela
Burns, Mr. Simon
Burrowes, Mr. David
Burt, Alistair
Burt, Lorely
Butterfill, Sir John
Campbell, rh Sir Menzies
Carmichael, Mr. Alistair
Carswell, Mr. Douglas
Cash, Mr. William
Chope, Mr. Christopher
Clappison, Mr. James
Clark, Greg
Clifton-Brown, Mr. Geoffrey
Corbyn, Jeremy
Cormack, Sir Patrick
Cox, Mr. Geoffrey
Crabb, Mr. Stephen
Curry, rh Mr. David
Davies, Mr. Dai
Davies, David T.C. (Monmouth)
Davies, Philip
Davis, rh David
Dorrell, rh Mr. Stephen
Dorries, Nadine
Drew, Mr. David
Duddridge, James
Ellwood, Mr. Tobias
Evans, Mr. Nigel
Evennett, Mr. David
Fabricant, Michael
Featherstone, Lynne
Field, Mr. Mark
Fraser, Christopher
Gale, Mr. Roger
Garnier, Mr. Edward
George, Andrew
Gibb, Mr. Nick
Gidley, Sandra
Gillan, Mrs. Cheryl
Goldsworthy, Julia
Goodman, Mr. Paul
Goodwill, Mr. Robert
Gray, Mr. James
Green, Damian
Greening, Justine
Greenway, Mr. John
Grieve, Mr. Dominic
Hague, rh Mr. William
Hammond, Mr. Philip
Hancock, Mr. Mike
Hands, Mr. Greg
Harper, Mr. Mark
Harris, Dr. Evan
Harvey, Nick
Hayes, Mr. John
Heald, Mr. Oliver
Heath, Mr. David
Heathcoat-Amory, rh Mr. David
Hemming, John
Hendry, Charles
Hoban, Mr. Mark
Hogg, rh Mr. Douglas
Holmes, Paul
Horwood, Martin
Howard, rh Mr. Michael
Howarth, David
Howell, John
Hughes, Simon
Huhne, Chris
Hurd, Mr. Nick
Jack, rh Mr. Michael
Jackson, Mr. Stewart
Jones, Mr. David
Kawczynski, Daniel
Kirkbride, Miss Julie
Knight, rh Mr. Greg
Kramer, Susan
Lamb, Norman
Lansley, Mr. Andrew
Laws, Mr. David
Leigh, Mr. Edward
Letwin, rh Mr. Oliver
Lewis, Dr. Julian
Lidington, Mr. David
Lilley, rh Mr. Peter
Llwyd, Mr. Elfyn
Loughton, Tim
Luff, Peter
Mackay, rh Mr. Andrew
Maclean, rh David
MacNeil, Mr. Angus
Main, Anne
Maples, Mr. John
Mason, John
McDonnell, John
McLoughlin, rh Mr. Patrick
Mercer, Patrick
Miller, Mrs. Maria
Milton, Anne
Moore, Mr. Michael
Mulholland, Greg
Murrison, Dr. Andrew
Neill, Robert
Newmark, Mr. Brooks
O'Brien, Mr. Stephen
Öpik, Lembit
Paice, Mr. James
Paterson, Mr. Owen
Pelling, Mr. Andrew
Penrose, John
Price, Adam
Prisk, Mr. Mark
Pritchard, Mark
Pugh, Dr. John
Randall, Mr. John
Redwood, rh Mr. John
Reid, Mr. Alan
Rennie, Willie
Robathan, Mr. Andrew
Robertson, Angus
Robertson, Hugh
Robertson, Mr. Laurence
Rosindell, Andrew
Ruffley, Mr. David
Russell, Bob
Sanders, Mr. Adrian
Scott, Mr. Lee
Selous, Andrew
Shapps, Grant
Simmonds, Mark
Simpson, Mr. Keith
Smith, Chloe
Smith, Sir Robert
Spelman, Mrs. Caroline
Spink, Bob
Spring, Mr. Richard
Streeter, Mr. Gary
Stuart, Mr. Graham
Swinson, Jo
Swire, Mr. Hugo
Syms, Mr. Robert
Taylor, Mr. Ian
Thurso, John
Timpson, Mr. Edward
Truswell, Mr. Paul
Turner, Mr. Andrew
Tyrie, Mr. Andrew
Vara, Mr. Shailesh
Viggers, Sir Peter
Villiers, Mrs. Theresa
Walker, Mr. Charles
Wallace, Mr. Ben
Walter, Mr. Robert
Waterson, Mr. Nigel
Watkinson, Angela
Webb, Steve
Whittingdale, Mr. John
Widdecombe, rh Miss Ann
Wiggin, Bill
Willetts, Mr. David
Williams, Hywel
Williams, Mark
Williams, Mr. Roger
Williams, Stephen
Willis, Mr. Phil
Willott, Jenny
Wilshire, Mr. David
Wilson, Mr. Rob
Winterton, Ann
Winterton, Sir Nicholas
Wishart, Pete
Wright, Jeremy
Yeo, Mr. Tim
Young, rh Sir George
Younger-Ross, Richard
Tellers for the Ayes:
Dan Rogerson and
Mr. Mike Weir
NOES
Abbott, Ms Diane
Ainger, Nick
Ainsworth, rh Mr. Bob
Alexander, rh Mr. Douglas
Allen, Mr. Graham
Anderson, Mr. David
Atkins, Charlotte
Austin, Mr. Ian
Austin, John
Bailey, Mr. Adrian
Baird, Vera
Balls, rh Ed
Banks, Gordon
Barlow, Ms Celia
Barron, rh Mr. Kevin
Battle, rh John
Bayley, Hugh
Beckett, rh Margaret
Begg, Miss Anne
Benn, rh Hilary
Benton, Mr. Joe
Berry, Roger
Betts, Mr. Clive
Blackman, Liz
Blackman-Woods, Dr. Roberta
Blears, rh Hazel
Blizzard, Mr. Bob
Borrow, Mr. David S.
Bradshaw, rh Mr. Ben
Brennan, Kevin
Brown, Lyn
Brown, rh Mr. Nicholas
Brown, Mr. Russell
Browne, rh Des
Bryant, Chris
Buck, Ms Karen
Burden, Richard
Burgon, Colin
Burnham, rh Andy
Butler, Ms Dawn
Caborn, rh Mr. Richard
Cairns, David
Campbell, Mr. Alan
Campbell, Mr. Ronnie
Caton, Mr. Martin
Cawsey, Mr. Ian
Challen, Colin
Clapham, Mr. Michael
Clark, Ms Katy
Clark, Paul
Clarke, rh Mr. Charles
Clarke, rh Mr. Tom
Clelland, Mr. David
Clwyd, rh Ann
Coaker, Mr. Vernon
Coffey, Ann
Cohen, Harry
Connarty, Michael
Cooper, Rosie
Cooper, rh Yvette
Cousins, Jim
Crausby, Mr. David
Creagh, Mary
Cruddas, Jon
Cryer, Mrs. Ann
Cummings, John
Cunningham, Mr. Jim
Cunningham, Tony
Curtis-Thomas, Mrs. Claire
Darling, rh Mr. Alistair
David, Mr. Wayne
Davidson, Mr. Ian
Davies, Mr. Quentin
Dean, Mrs. Janet
Denham, rh Mr. John
Dhanda, Mr. Parmjit
Dismore, Mr. Andrew
Dobson, rh Frank
Donohoe, Mr. Brian H.
Doran, Mr. Frank
Durkan, Mark
Eagle, Maria
Efford, Clive
Ellman, Mrs. Louise
Engel, Natascha
Ennis, Jeff
Etherington, Bill
Farrelly, Paul
Fisher, Mark
Fitzpatrick, Jim
Flello, Mr. Robert
Flint, rh Caroline
Flynn, Paul
Follett, Barbara
Foster, Mr. Michael (Worcester)
Francis, Dr. Hywel
Gilroy, Linda
Godsiff, Mr. Roger
Goodman, Helen
Griffith, Nia
Griffiths, Nigel
Grogan, Mr. John
Gwynne, Andrew
Hain, rh Mr. Peter
Hall, Mr. Mike
Hamilton, Mr. David
Hanson, rh Mr. David
Harman, rh Ms Harriet
Harris, Mr. Tom
Havard, Mr. Dai
Healey, rh John
Henderson, Mr. Doug
Hendrick, Mr. Mark
Hepburn, Mr. Stephen
Heppell, Mr. John
Hesford, Stephen
Hewitt, rh Ms Patricia
Heyes, David
Hill, rh Keith
Hodge, rh Margaret
Hodgson, Mrs. Sharon
Hood, Mr. Jim
Hoon, rh Mr. Geoffrey
Hope, Phil
Hopkins, Kelvin
Howarth, rh Mr. George
Howells, rh Dr. Kim
Humble, Mrs. Joan
Hutton, rh Mr. John
Irranca-Davies, Huw
James, Mrs. Siân C.
Jenkins, Mr. Brian
Johnson, rh Alan
Johnson, Ms Diana R.
Jones, Helen
Jones, Lynne
Jones, Mr. Martyn
Jowell, rh Tessa
Kaufman, rh Sir Gerald
Keeley, Barbara
Keen, Alan
Keen, Ann
Kemp, Mr. Fraser
Khan, rh Mr. Sadiq
Kidney, Mr. David
Kilfoyle, Mr. Peter
Knight, rh Jim
Kumar, Dr. Ashok
Ladyman, Dr. Stephen
Lammy, rh Mr. David
Laxton, Mr. Bob
Lazarowicz, Mark
Lepper, David
Levitt, Tom
Lewis, Mr. Ivan
Linton, Martin
Lloyd, Tony
Love, Mr. Andrew
Lucas, Ian
Mackinlay, Andrew
Mactaggart, Fiona
Malik, Mr. Shahid
Mallaber, Judy
Marris, Rob
Marshall-Andrews, Mr. Robert
Martlew, Mr. Eric
McAvoy, rh Mr. Thomas
McCafferty, Chris
McCarthy-Fry, Sarah
McCartney, rh Mr. Ian
McDonagh, Siobhain
McFadden, rh Mr. Pat
McFall, rh John
McGrady, Mr. Eddie
McGuire, rh Mrs. Anne
McIsaac, Shona
McKechin, Ann
McKenna, Rosemary
Merron, Gillian
Michael, rh Alun
Miliband, rh David
Miller, Andrew
Moffat, Anne
Mole, Chris
Moon, Mrs. Madeleine
Morden, Jessica
Morgan, Julie
Morley, rh Mr. Elliot
Mudie, Mr. George
Mullin, Mr. Chris
Munn, Meg
Murphy, Mr. Denis
Murphy, rh Mr. Jim
Murphy, rh Mr. Paul
Naysmith, Dr. Doug
Norris, Dan
O'Brien, rh Mr. Mike
O'Hara, Mr. Edward
Olner, Mr. Bill
Owen, Albert
Palmer, Dr. Nick
Pearson, Ian
Plaskitt, Mr. James
Prentice, Bridget
Prentice, Mr. Gordon
Prescott, rh Mr. John
Primarolo, rh Dawn
Prosser, Gwyn
Raynsford, rh Mr. Nick
Reed, Mr. Jamie
Reid, rh John
Riordan, Mrs. Linda
Robertson, John
Robinson, Mr. Geoffrey
Rooney, Mr. Terry
Roy, Lindsay
Ruane, Chris
Russell, Christine
Sarwar, Mr. Mohammad
Seabeck, Alison
Sharma, Mr. Virendra
Sheridan, Jim
Simon, Mr. Siôn
Simpson, Alan
Singh, Mr. Marsha
Skinner, Mr. Dennis
Slaughter, Mr. Andy
Smith, rh Mr. Andrew
Smith, Ms Angela C. (Sheffield, Hillsborough)
Smith, rh Angela E. (Basildon)
Smith, Geraldine
Snelgrove, Anne
Soulsby, Sir Peter
Southworth, Helen
Spellar, rh Mr. John
Starkey, Dr. Phyllis
Sutcliffe, Mr. Gerry
Tami, Mark
Taylor, Ms Dari
Taylor, David
Tipping, Paddy
Todd, Mr. Mark
Touhig, rh Mr. Don
Trickett, Jon
Turner, Dr. Desmond
Twigg, Derek
Ussher, Kitty
Vis, Dr. Rudi
Walley, Joan
Waltho, Lynda
Watson, Mr. Tom
Watts, Mr. Dave
Whitehead, Dr. Alan
Wicks, rh Malcolm
Williams, rh Mr. Alan
Williams, Mrs. Betty
Wills, rh Mr. Michael
Wilson, Phil
Winnick, Mr. David
Winterton, rh Ms Rosie
Woolas, Mr. Phil
Wright, Mr. Anthony
Wright, David
Wright, Mr. Iain
Wyatt, Derek
Tellers for the Noes:
Steve McCabe and
Kerry McCarthy
Question accordingly negatived.
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