Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

moved Amendment No. 204F: 204F: Before Clause 105, insert the following new Clause— ““CHAPTER A1 Transfer of functions Transfer of functions The Secretary of State shall by order provide for the following functions to be transferred from any regional or statutory bodies to relevant local authorities— (a) housing; (b) planning; (c) transport; (d) learning and skills; (e) economic development.”” The noble Lord said: This is a major amendment. At Second Reading, many noble Lords mentioned that this piece of legislation does not demonstrate the radical devolutionary proposal anticipated in the White Paper. We remain the second most-centralised country in Europe after Malta. This proposed new clause would seek to ensure that the Government fulfilled their rhetoric by putting in the Bill a truly devolutionary measure. If local authorities are community leaders, surely they should have strategic powers over housing, planning, transport, learning and skills and economic development. Those powers are held by central government and government-controlled quangos which cannot possibly know the local needs of every town, county and shire in England. This clause addresses the concerns expressed by many interested parties, including the LGA. Unfortunately, the noble Lord, Lord Bruce-Lockhart, has had to leave us this afternoon, otherwise he would have spoken in support of the amendment. It is common sense to realise that place-shaping will occur only when those who are close to their communities, those who know the unique strengths and weaknesses of their areas, and those who are elected by their people are handed proper control of the areas that they govern. In an era of globalisation, we still have one of the most centralised and inflexible states in the world. To compete at a global level, and to ensure prosperity and a better quality of life, we need our economy to be flexible. I am sure that it is because of the over-regulated and overcentralised features of our state that some of our great cities—Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle—are only half as prosperous as their European counterparts. An analysis carried out by the LGA and the EC demonstrates hard economic evidence that it is at the geographical level of the city, the city region or shire that the economy functions. However, the economy can only function to its potential when local authorities can make their own decisions and implement local solutions to the unique challenges that face their local areas. That will happen when local authorities can make their own judgments; for example, with regard to benefits, welfare-to-work rules and when there is a more devolved framework for skills. That will ensure that there is no skills mismatch between local people and industries that occupy that area, ensuring fuller employment and prosperity. On housing, the top-down target mechanism will never succeed. The Government should be bolder in enabling councils to deliver their supply of new housing. All those points are intertwined. Essentially the crux of the matter is that local authorities should have the power to make decisions that will affect the economic development of their unique place. The Bill appears to have ignored the recommendations made by the Lyons report, which would have been key to the devolutionary measures that we seek. Flexibility will come only when powers are localised. I beg to move.