Greater London Authority Bill

I am grateful for that intervention. The Minister has probably secured the best compromise possible with Department for Education and Skills officials. No doubt the DFES has resisted. Again, we shall have the diffusion of accountability. The Learning and Skills Council headquarters in Coventry will continue to intervene. It would have been much better to have had LSC provision and powers within the mayoral office. Returning to the localist point of view, I believe that local authorities such as mine in Croydon, which is very positive about building social housing and council housing, are best placed to react to the needs of the local electorate who are demanding that extra social housing and to deal with the housing crisis that has been imposed on London by this Government. Planning powers are being taken away from local authorities. They will not be able to pursue the exercise of their discretion in ensuring the maximum economic development within their own local economies.