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The resources comprise not just the £15 million announced in this package but new funding of £34.5 million which will help fund the implementation of the Pitt programme. Of course I understand the concern of local authorities; indeed, we are about to hear a general message from noble Lords expressing their wish to place new responsibilities on them, and this is an example of where the Government are doing so. I have read the response of the Local Government Association to the Statement and I appreciate the concerns about additional resource pressures, but we believe that we have come up with a reasonable package. We also have the New Burdens Doctrine whereby if new burdens are placed on local authorities, the funding for them has to be identified. We are looking to local
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Lord Greaves: My Lords, I, too, welcome the Statement. When we had the Statement on the Pitt report in June, I promised that this rather wonderful, glossy book would form part of my holiday reading. I have to say that I did take it with me and indeed I read some of it; the pictures are very nice indeed. As a result, my opinion of the report is even higher than it was. It is a superb report and we should welcome the fact that the Government are now responding to it.
First, I understand that the government action plan is being published today. Is that the document which will set out the responses to the 92 recommendations made in the report? The Minister has nodded. Secondly, I welcome the six approved surface water management plans, particularly those for Leeds, Hull and Warrington, but how many authorities were invited to put forward proposals and how many applied to be included in the list, given that there are only six on it? Thirdly, what hope do other applicant authorities have that they will be added in the next year or two? Finally, is the extra £15 million, which is not very much money, intended for the six authorities that are to go ahead with their surface water management plans or is some of it for other local authorities which are now rightly and in a welcome way being given the responsibility to carry out a great deal of their own flood management work?
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My Lords, the £15 million will help fund additional activities, primarily within the 50 county and unitary authorities that we consider most at risk of surface water flooding. I do not know how many authorities applied but I shall find out and let the noble Lord know. I understand that many local authorities will wish to take advantage of this initiative and we will make clear the programme for roll-out to further authorities.
The associated report that we published today contains a response to all the recommendations in Sir Michael Pitt’s review. Considerable work needs to be undertaken and we will issue further guidance and advice. Alongside the announcement today, a detailed letter has been sent to the council leaders of the relevant local authorities setting out the action that needs to be taken by local government, and we will provide a great deal more information in the future. This is a good example of where we are learning from experience. We understand the critical leadership role of local government, not only in terms of what it has to do itself but in terms of its partnership work with other agencies, local businesses and community groups, to ensure that if these unfortunate events happen again we will be much better prepared. We cannot be complacent about the risk of flooding in the future.
Lord Selsdon: My Lords, I declare an historic interest in water and sewerage. I was in the Library yesterday to obtain an old book on the underground rivers of London, following the decision of the mayor to open them all up, and suddenly wondered why, if you can have underground erosion, you cannot have underground flooding too. Has this issue been considered quite seriously?
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Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My Lords, I cannot claim to be an expert on underground rivers and underground river flooding, although I am interested in the underground rivers of London, as are many other noble Lords. If underground rivers flood they are quite likely to have an impact, just as overground rivers, if I may describe them in that way, have an impact when they flood. Part of the work being undertaken by the Environment Agency is to identify the risk, and to ensure that we are aware of the risk, that we can mitigate the risk through flood defence actions and, in the event of flooding, that we then have appropriate warning systems, plans to deal with incidents as they arise and recovery plans to help communities to get back to normal as quickly as possible. It is like a supply chain; there needs to be proper co-ordination. It starts with forecasting floods, work that is going to be undertaken in the new centre that is to be established, and goes right through. If underground rivers are part of that chain, they need to be looked at.
Lord Colwyn: My Lords, can the Minister confirm that, where new funding is spent on clearing drains, culverts, streams and small rivers, and where money is spent on repairing and building new defences, people further down river usually become affected by the increase in the water volume caused by the prevention of flooding further up river? Does he agree that flood planning should be co-ordinated to include entire areas of water flow, not only those areas which successfully bid for funding?
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My Lords, the noble Lord makes an important point. That would be our intention. If a local authority has received grant funding for work that needs to be undertaken in its own area, we would not want that work to have an adverse effect on other areas down river. The whole point about having arrangements which give the Environment Agency overall leadership nationally, but with an important role for local government, is to ensure that there is co-ordination. It would be nonsensical for work to take place in one area which has an undue impact on another area.
The issue of coastal flooding has not been raised, but recently there has been some discussion, particularly in the east of England, on the issue of potential works in an area of land near the coast which might have an adverse impact on other areas. At times, these will be difficult matters to deal with—they cannot be dismissed as being easily dealt with—but it is better that we face up to them and that we get as much information as possible in order that rational decisions can be made. I do not pretend that it is going to be easy in all cases.
Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]
Bill information page
Copy of the Bill as debated
Explanatory Notes to the Bill
Second Reading
4.25 pm
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Baroness Andrews): My Lords, I am delighted to
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When tough choices have to be made, there is always the temptation to shy away from local discretion and flexibility. That would be the wrong response. Across our communities, people are facing uncertain circumstances, particularly in housing and jobs. In that situation, it becomes even more imperative that people feel they can influence what happens to them and know that opportunities will open up for better choices in the future. The Bill is about just that. It provides a new duty for local government to engage and inform the community about the work it does. That will help to raise its reputation as well as improving working relationships; it will help to build stronger, more resilient partnerships at local and regional level; and it will give local people, no matter where they live, a louder voice that must be listened to.
This is the next step in a journey that has been going on for some time to pass power down to local government and to increase the visibility and accountability of local councils as well as their scope to develop innovative local solutions. I do not apologise for the fact that this is work in progress because we have tested each step as we have taken it. The Bill will build on what already works. The Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 established new rights of involvement for local people and arrangements for local authorities to work with partners on local area agreements, setting out priorities for each area.
I am delighted to say that the local area agreements, the LAAs, have proved to be one of the most successful innovations in local government for many years. They set out clearly how local government, with partners, will take the next steps in the improvement of public services through greater co-ordination at local level, whether that is well-being in old age, the environment or reducing teenage pregnancies. We have enshrined the principle of devolution in the Central-Local Concordat agreed with local government.
We needed to go further, however, so in June this year we published the White Paper, Communities in Control: Real People, Real Power. It set out a range of measures, based on research, extensive consultation and above all listening hard to people, that aimed to transfer greater power from government to citizens and communities, providing a stronger role for local authorities.
What do we know? For a start, we know from Jane Roberts’s work as head of the Councillors Commission that people are confused about the role of councillors and local government and its partners as a whole, and that this lack of information and public awareness is a
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The Bill is based on a set of values underpinned by robust research, extensive consultation, sound evidence, good practice and the voices of people who know what it takes to improve and take advantage of the natural resources in the local community. It reflects fairness and balance—the two go together. It reflects fairness because we want every community to have the same access to information and influence to ensure that partners work together as well as possible and that scrutiny, for example, is as effective as possible. This includes fairness for the voices of those who are sometimes drowned out, such as tenants. It includes fairness for local government, too, in its dealings with regions as well as localities.
The Bill is also about balance, achieving the right balance between what is done at regional, sub-regional and local levels. It promotes the right balance between giving local government new responsibilities and providing it with new opportunities, powers and freedoms to influence local economies through multi-area agreements, for example, or the new economic prosperity boards. The Bill is also about providing more power for elected leaders and more accountability down to local citizens and communities.
Turning to the themes of the Bill, the first part addresses the key issue of ensuring that people are more aware of what their council and other main public bodies do and how they can get involved to influence decisions. The Bill will bring into law Jane Roberts’s main recommendation for a statutory duty on all principal authorities proactively to disseminate clear and accessible information on how local government works. This will include what councils and councillors do and how to become a councillor, with the aim of facilitating more civic participation.
To speak frankly, we want to end the current postcode lottery whereby while some people in some areas are well informed, many are not. Southwark is an outstanding example, and, seeing the noble Lord, Lord Hanningfield on the Front Bench, I am sure that Essex is; it is usually a leader in many aspects of local government. But many people are unclear about the basic facts of council functions and responsibilities, let alone how to get involved. We want to see uplift in all the ways in which people can take part in their communities, not just in the local authority but also as a school governor, a member of an NHS foundation trust or as a magistrate.
The key challenge is to make this more of a priority for local government itself. Significantly, an LGA survey of 300 council heads of communication indicated that only one in five thought that informing residents was a priority. As a corollary to that, the Bill aims to
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Clauses 10 to 22 require local authorities to have a petition scheme, to publish details to guarantee responses and, in certain circumstances, to take action. Councils will no longer be able to ignore petitions calling for a community hall to be handed over for management by local people, more allotment space or empty buildings to be dealt with. Councils will have to explain their actions and, if enough people sign a petition, it could trigger a debate of the full council. For the first time, citizens in England and Wales will have the ability to set the agenda and influence the issues their elected representatives discuss. We have worked closely with the LGA in developing our proposals; we intend to continue this to ensure that any guidance on petitions is informed by the sector’s view. The next step is to build stronger partnerships and local connections, so we will also extend the duty to involve. In 2007, the Government introduced a duty to involve for local authorities. As part of the new local performance framework, we placed a duty on local authority partners to co-operate to agree local targets. It is right, therefore, that these partner authorities should have a duty to inform, consult and involve those interested and affected by their functions. Indeed, they welcome this. It will send a clear signal that all the partners must strive to give people across the community the opportunity to influence and challenge local policies and priorities.
We have also followed other advice. The creation of a national tenant voice was one of Martin Cave’s recommendations in his review of social housing regulation, Every Tenant Matters. He recognised that, while social landlords have well established organisations in place to represent them at national level, not least in discussions with government and the new social housing regulator, tenants lacked the resources and expertise to ensure that their interests were as effectively represented. Through this Bill we will ensure that we are able properly to fund the national tenant voice and that it has a statutory relationship with the regulator.
Following the logic of my argument of fairness and opportunity, the Bill also includes important measures to improve local governance and audit. Overview and scrutiny is an essential and growing part of the democratic process in holding to account those who exercise executive leadership. It is fast improving but, as the Centre for Policy and Scrutiny established, more can be done to help. Surveying local authorities extensively last year, the centre found that more must be done in tackling the capacity and perception of, and weight given to, the work of overview and scrutiny function in councils. We therefore want to ensure that joint scrutiny committees have a sufficiently broad remit to review and scrutinise
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This Bill will also deliver on a UK Government commitment to enhance the legislative competence of the National Assembly for Wales. In the field of local government, a suite of powers was transferred to the National Assembly in the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, which has enabled the Welsh Assembly Government to progress their public service reform agenda with the introduction of legislation that will reform the statutory basis for service improvement and strategic planning in Wales. The framework provision in this Bill will build on that, enabling the Assembly Government to consider proposals for the governance and scrutiny of Welsh local government.
I turn to two separate issues, which also increase transparency and local democracy. Clause 31 provides the framework for implementing recommendations in the report of the noble Lord, Lord Sharman, on audit and accountability to give the Audit Commission in England and the Auditor-General for Wales power to appoint an auditor to certain entities connected to local authorities. Such auditors will have the power to issue reports in the public interest when it is considered necessary to do so. The provisions will give confidence that there is a robust system in place for local government which reflects the special audit and accountability arrangements which are appropriate for public funds and already implemented in central government.
Moving on, the 11th report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, Review of the Electoral Commission, published in January 2007, recommended that the Boundary Committee for England, which as noble Lords are aware is currently a statutory committee of the Electoral Commission, responsible for the upkeep of electoral arrangements for principal local authorities in England, should become an independent body separate from the Electoral Commission. We agree entirely with this. Clause 49 establishes the Boundary Committee as an independent body and Clause 55 removes responsibility for English local government boundary electoral arrangements from the Electoral Commission.
I turn to the second set of issues addressed by the Bill. The strength of our national economy depends upon the viability of our regional and local economies. Our regions have different strengths and weaknesses. They need organised intelligence, investment and support if they are to make the most of their strengths and protect against their vulnerabilities, particularly at this time. The party opposite appear to have a visceral prejudice against RDAs—and I see noble Lords actually nodding—but let me just outline their achievements in recent years. RDAs have driven through real improvement—230,000 more jobs, 35,000 new businesses, the transformation of 1,000 hectares of brownfield land into employment sites, and 180,000 people put into training
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Over the past year, we have consulted widely with regions and local authorities about what new configurations at regional and local level might be helpful to align strategies on skills, transport, housing, planning and economic development; not more architecture, but a more effective bringing together of the things that people really need in order to thrive and flourish. Specifically, within the review of sub-national economic development and regeneration, we set out our plans for a more coherent sub-national framework for economic development as we are facing the demand not only of the new global economy but also of the unrelenting pace of technological change.
A strategic role for a regional development agency and a single regional strategy is a crucial part of this. The purpose of RDAs is to bring together partners and information, to prioritise economic activity, to respond to the challenges faced by significant markets, to take long-term decisions, to co-ordinate activity, and to ensure that no area is left behind. However, they are not operating at full strength. In particular, the separation of spatial planning—including housing supply, land for employment and infrastructure provision—from economic planning is absurd. It means, for example, that too often the bus will stop before the employment site or it does not go to the most vulnerable community, new housing is built miles from the workplace or the town centre without the required infrastructure, or towns and cities attempt to pursue contradictory economic, social and environmental ambitions.
The Bill will therefore bring together economic and spatial planning into a single regional strategy. It will bring real focus to the long-term analysis, diagnosis and solution of problems over 15 to 20 years. It will bring together the priorities and the economic possibilities, set out a long-term vision to enable all partners to pursue genuine agreed sustainability for the region, and draw on the five drivers of productivity and combine economic development with housing, infrastructure, skills and the natural assets of the region. That is the way to get a more effective balance between the needs of the environment, the economy and our communities.
We mean all partners to be involved. To complement regional strategic planning, we need a greater capacity at local level to inform and influence the regional strategy. Local authorities—including district councils—operate at the level where the most direct impacts are felt, where economic exclusion and deprivation are most clearly recognised and where opportunities can be exploited.
We listened closely to the concerns expressed during the consultation about the need for elected local authorities to be part of the process of taking decisions on such major issues as the provision of much needed new housing at the regional level. Clause 66 therefore requires local authorities to form a new body—a leaders’ board—at the regional level to work with RDAs in developing the strategy, bringing stronger democratic accountability to the process. The LGA has described this measure as a victory for local government.
Leader’s boards, along with new regional select committees, will play a major part in addressing what many have regarded as a democratic deficit at the
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