Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

My Lords, I add my congratulations to the noble Baroness, Lady Campbell. I am sure that her clear insight into so many of the problems in our society, mentioned in the Bill, will be of great benefit to the House. I hope that we can look forward to repeat performances of her informative and excellent speech while we debate the Bill in the days and weeks to come. The Second Reading of what is quite an extensive Bill presents the House with an opportunity to make comments and suggestions that will I hope lead to an excellent Act of Parliament and bring about improved benefits for the people who need and rely on our health and social services. I am disappointed that the representations made by Burnley and Pendle councils that they should become a unitary authority have so far been unsuccessful. During the consultation period, I wrote to the Secretary of State, adding my support for what Burnley and Pendle had suggested. I declare an interest in that I chaired the taskforce that examined the sad events that occurred in Burnley in June 2001. It was invited to make recommendations within an action plan for the future. Included in the 80-plus recommendations that we made at the time was that Burnley Borough Council should put its view, and that of a number of its partners, regarding the benefits of a single unitary authority to Government during the consultation on the then forthcoming White Paper on regional government. The arguments for unitary local government are compelling. It can deliver local services at lower cost; it is more accountable for its services because there is a greater transparency for who is responsible for them. It can also bring a joined-up approach, leading to higher quality services. In contrast, I believe that two-tier local government is less economic, responsive and coherent. As has been mentioned, the Government are considering 16 unitary bids. They have rejected bids from district councils in Lancashire. If the 16 bids are successful, Lancashire will, as I understand it, be the only remaining two-tier shire area in the whole of the north of England. There are special reasons why I believe that the unitary solution is so important to local government in Lancashire. In my report into the 2001 disturbances, I recommended that Burnley council should pursue this unitary status because in my opinion, a unitary council would be better able to build cohesive local communities. I shall briefly explain to the House in more detail why I wish to press the case for unitary local councils in Lancashire. Common sense would suggest that two tiers of local government cost more than a single tier. Taxpayers’ money is being wasted on two cohorts of councillors, two sets of senior managers, two lots of council buildings and even duplications in services. It is estimated that savings from the 16 bids being considered by the Government amount to £200 million. The business case submitted by Burnley and Pendle showed that creating a unitary council for the two areas would deliver savings of between £2 million and £8 million per annum. Common sense suggests also that when two different councils provide local services, it is not always obvious who is responsible for what. This confusion leads to dissatisfied residents being passed from pillar to post. Why? The district council cleans the roads, but the county council maintains them; the district council provides the housing adaptation grants, but the county council makes the assessment of need; the district council decides street names,but the county council replaces streetlights. This confusion about services in two-tier areas leads to a democratic deficit. In districts such as Burnley, there is often a strong sense of local identity, with people looking to the district council to fix their problems. However, the vast majority of local taxes collected by district councils is passed upwards to the county council. The county council makes the big decisions, often many miles away from local communities and with little understanding of local concerns. In Burnley, while the six county councillors in Preston have the power to spend the money, it is the 45 district councillors who feel the democratic pressure and do the majority of the constituency casework. Unitary councils are better able to deliver quality services, because they can devise coherent, joined-up services. The Government recognised some time ago that if we want to encourage enterprise, increase community safety and improve people’s health, we need joined-up government. A significant barrier to this is two-tier local government. The borough of Burnley has some of the country’s highest levels of deprivation, worklessness and crime. Educational attainment is low and life expectancy is below national averages. However, Burnley is also a place of great potential. It has beautiful rural settings; it attracts hundreds of millions of pounds of investment in the town, which has a unique industrial heritage. The diverse people of Burnley have a strong sense of community. In other words, Burnley faces the same tensions and challenges as our cities, but unlike our cities, is not led by a unitary council. Meeting these challenges requires strong leadership, which is a key element of the Bill. Strong leaders have a clear vision and a shared strategy. Two-tier local government is surely a barrier to this. I shall give noble Lords a practical example. Local councillors in Burnley know that the long-term sustainability of the town is dependent on increasing the skills and attainments of its young people and encouraging new enterprise. Despite this, and following lengthy negotiations, the district council had forcibly to evict the county council from a gritter depot so that the site could be used for a new sixth-form college, university faculty and business park. Meanwhile, the county council resorted to a compulsory purchase of land from the district council to build a new secondary school. If we want to see a transformation in the quality of life in a place such as Burnley, we need a local government structure in which a single accountable council is able pull local services in the same direction to suit local needs. As neighbouring councils, Burnley and Pendle submitted a joint bid for unitary status to the Minister. It was a first-class submission. The two areas face many of the same challenges, and local councillors share the same aspirations for their areas. The bid passed every criterion set by the Department for Communities and Local Government except one, and, for this reason, was rejected. All the bids in Lancashire were turned down because they did not address the remaining two-tier structure across Lancashire. I share the views expressed by Members of Parliament for the constituencies in Lancashire. In a recent debate on this issue in Westminster Hall, overwhelming support was expressed for calls for the Government once and for all to resolve local government organisation in Lancashire. I, too, encourage the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to look at this as a matter of urgency. I turn to another matter that emerges from the Bill: the role of the primary care trust in the east Lancashire area, formerly the Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale PCT. It is an award-winning PCT and got its awards mainly in the field of patient care. In its new form, the East Lancashire PCT is already demonstrating the benefits to be derived from formerly separate groups working together. Will the Minister assure me that nothing in the Bill will jeopardise the current structure, which is working so well? In outlining the Bill’s key themes the Minister referred to the need for strong local leadership, and as an old local councillor in a London borough I welcome that. I was fortunate enough to serve under some very strong leaders in Camden, and believe that strong leaders are essential for creating strong communities and providing high quality services. It is my experience that there is better accountability and greater levels of participation when people know who is in charge, and the evidence shows that the new leadership models introduced in the Local Government Act 2000 have brought real local benefits. So it must be right now to strengthen and further build on these models. I note and welcome the fact that these leadership proposals have been welcomed by both the LGA and local government. The evidence also shows that direct elections provide the strongest and most visible local leadership. But I agree that the decision on whether areas should elect a directly elected mayor should be a local one. The Bill requires that local authorities which currently operate executive arrangements move to one of three new leadership models: a directly elected mayor witha four-year term; a directly elected executive with a four-year term; or an indirectly elected leader with a four-year term, where the council operates whole-council elections. The Bill means that all council leaders and mayors will serve a four-year term and that all executive powers are vested, including powers to appoint other members to the executive and allocate portfolios. The Bill seeks to introduce provision to enable local authorities to adopt either a directly elected mayor or a directly elected executive without the need for a referendum. As I understand it, people will still be able to demand in a petition a referendum on a mayoral or directly elected executive model. Local people will, as I understand it, be fully involved in these decisions. Before drawing up proposals to change executive arrangements, local authorities must consult local government electors and other interested parties. All of those facets are to be welcomed for involving local people. Local government electors will be able to petition their authority to hold a referendum on a mayor or directly elected executive, and local authorities will be expected to consult widely before deciding to adopt a directly elected model. Local people will still be able to demand a mayoral referendum. I welcome so many facets of the Bill but it would be wrong for me to take up more time now to say so. There will be many more opportunities to look closely at some of the issues that the Bill raises. For now, I simply express the hope that the Bill will have a constructive passage in the days to come. I conclude by wishing my noble friend the Minister a quick and speedy recovery to full health.