Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

I shall speak also to Amendments 157 and 158. At Second Reading I mentioned that repealing what have become known as the Widdicombe rules would do a great deal to extend involvement, which is what so much of this Bill is about. These amendments come from the Local Government Information Unit. I understand that the LGIU met the Minister and discussed them before today’s proceedings. I was not at that meeting but the LGIU tells me that the discussions followed from these amendments and the briefing I have. The amendments, taken together, are a lot of words but a fairly short and simple group of points. The effect would be to repeal the legislation that establishes a salary threshold for politically restricted posts in local authorities. It would repeal the legislation requiring council employees to resign on nomination of a candidate in an election to be a councillor, as distinct from resignation on election, and would reduce to three months the period during which most former councillors are restricted from taking up employment with the council after their period of service comes to an end, retaining the current 12-month period for politically restricted posts and councillors who have been involved in the appointment of senior staff. The Councillors Commission called for the political restrictions based on salary level to be abolished. In response, in the White Paper, the Government indicate that they would abolish this rule while retaining restrictions on the most senior council officers and others in sensitive posts. The first amendment stems from the Local Government and Housing Act 1989, which requires every local authority to have a list of politically restricted posts, identifying three categories of posts that are deemed to be politically restricted on the basis of one or more defined characteristics. The categories are, first, specified posts, in which the postholders are restricted without a right to appeal for exemption. They include the head of paid service, the statutory chief officers and non-statutory chief officers and deputies, the monitoring officer and chief finance officer, who have featured already this afternoon, as well as officers exercising certain delegated powers and assistants to political groups. The second category of posts includes those paid at and above a certain level, who have a right to appeal for exemption on the grounds that they do not influence policy or speak on behalf of the authority. Remuneration that includes overtime, performance-related pay and so on, not simply basic salary, at present, taken on a spinal point on the scale, is just under £37,000. The third category includes sensitive posts. The postholders have a right to appeal for exemption on the grounds that the authorities applied the wrong criteria. Sensitive posts are those that have duty-related criteria, such as giving regular advice to the authority or speaking on behalf of it. The amendment provides for the removal of the category of posts determined by a salary threshold. This seems to be quite an arbitrary measure and would mean that the content of the post, as distinct from the salary that it carried, would be the determining factor in whether it was politically restricted. At the time of the original legislation following the Widdicombe committee, it was intended that this should apply to senior officers, as it is senior officers who are routinely involved in advising local authority members. It was thought that fewer than 3 per cent of local authority employees would be affected but in reality the number has been much higher. Under the legislation that we dealt with 18 months ago—the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act, as it now is—postholders can appeal to the local standards committee but, because the restrictions have been in place for so long, it has become implicitly accepted that there is a restriction. I am told that officers rarely apply for an exemption, even though they could. The Local Government Information Unit also understands that there are inconsistencies in the approach taken across the different authorities in England and Wales. Amendment 157 deals with disqualification. If an employee wishes to stand, he must first resign from his post. However, this loses for the local government sector the skills which employees have gained and which could be used very well in the position of councillor. Having to resign on nomination rather than on election requires an employee to be either very optimistic or very confident about election. I cannot imagine that those of us who were in employment, although not in the employment of a local authority, when we stood for election would have been required to resign before standing. I was not in employment; I was in a partnership, and the only comment that I received when I said that I was going to stand was, ““Won’t you be very tired?””, which was spot on. However, it was not suggested that I should give up the job. I should perhaps say that the standards framework would nevertheless continue to apply if there were any issues around that. Amendment 158 concerns the prohibition on appointment of councillors and ex-councillors to local authority posts under Section 116 of the 1972 Act. This is a prohibition for 12 months. In some local authority areas, the local authority is the largest employer because it employs people such as teachers and social workers. In my view and that of the LGIU, the 12-month restriction is a real handicap and, again, unnecessarily lengthy. The amendment would substitute a three-month period for those who have been in a politically restricted post or directly involved in the appointments process for senior council officers. There is an appreciation that it must not be regarded by local people that an appointment that was made before a councillor retired was in any way influenced by the hope of employment at a later date. I believe that the amendment would adequately meet the concerns which underlay the original legislation but with changes which reflect experience. I beg to move.