Greater London Authority Bill

My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, asked whether this was the way forward. Absolutely; I see this as the way forward. The purpose of Clause 25 is to give the Mayor wider powers in the appointment of LFEPA members. For all the reasons that my noble friend has already highlighted, the changes will ensure that the Mayor is provided with a degree of mayoral influence which reflects his budgetary responsibilities. The Mayor is accountable for the budget of LFEPA. However, despite that responsibility, his influence over the authority’s elected members is currently limited to approving the appointment of London Assembly Members and councillors to LFEPA. Enabling him to appoint two members to the board through his own nomination will—alongside the Clause 27 provision to which I will refer in a moment—provide more effective recognition of these responsibilities and benefit the communities that LFEPA serves. Amendment No. 47, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Hanham, proposes that the provision for the Mayor to appoint two members by his own nomination be left out. I cannot accept that amendment, nor can I accept Amendment No. 48, which the noble Baroness said she will not move. There is a growing realisation that the composition of the LFEPA board does not truly represent the diverse communities which make up the extraordinary city of London. A public body such as LFEPA needs to represent groups such as women and black, Asian and ethnic minority Londoners. As noble Lords will be aware, at the end of last week the Mayor refused to approve the nominations of five London Assembly members and four councillors on the grounds that the board would not be sufficiently representative of those groups. I do not propose to comment on the merits of the Mayor’s actions as his decisions on whether to appoint those nominees are a matter between him, LFEPA, the Assembly and the London boroughs. The noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, summarised that approach by saying that this is not the place to debate particular actions of particular mayors. However, I am happy to clarify the provisions under which he made that decision. Under Schedule 28 to the GLA Act 1999, the Mayor appoints nine members of the Greater London Assembly and eight members of London boroughs councils nominated by the boroughs. Subject to the requirement to ensure political balance, the appointment is within the Mayor’s statutory discretion. The current position is that he has appointed eight Assembly and borough members to LFEPA in accordance with paragraph 10(3) of Schedule 28. The quorum is five, of which at least one must be an Assembly representative and one a borough representative. As a result, LFEPA remains in operation. Appointments have been made to the board, the quorum is achieved and therefore LFEPA exists.