Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am very grateful to the noble Baroness for the way in which she opened the debate on her amendments. I am pleased to know that we share so many of the assumptions about the values of local authorities and democratic arrangements. What divides us is not principle but some aspects of process. I am very grateful for the way in which she debated the detail in Committee and made such a positive and important contribution. Where we differ is that the noble Baroness suggests a different way for local authorities to provide information to local people about the functions and democratic arrangements of public bodies that provide or shape public services in the area. Amendment 3, in the names of the noble Baroness, Lady Warsi, and the noble Lord, Lord Hanningfield, would simply replace Clause 2, which defines the duty of the connected authorities, with a general requirement on local authorities to promote understanding of the democratic arrangements of the connected authorities that the local authority considers appropriate. I fully understand the intention behind the amendment. Let me explain very briefly why Clause 2 is slightly repetitious given our earlier debates, and why we have sought to establish a list of connected authorities. It is simply because we want to be clear about the minimum extent and scope of the requirement. We want to be assured that everyone, no matter where they live, will be able to understand more than they do now about the public authorities in addition to the local council that affects their life. These public bodies impact directly on the key services—safety, health, education, transport, waste and economic prosperity—which, so far as the general public are concerned, work in mysterious ways. They are all services that people would like to know more about and, we argue, need to know more about. These services will all benefit from closer engagement with local people, as well as wider involvement and representation. They are on the list because they have asked to be on it—they want that greater engagement. I wrote to noble Lords on 27 February to explain more fully the three criteria that we used in developing the list. First, the bodies included must have a strong presence in the local authority area; secondly, they must make decisions that are directly relevant to people in the local area, and therefore it is right that their governance arrangements are better known; and, thirdly, they must provide opportunities for the public to participate in or influence the making of decisions. We have taken a broad view of the opportunities to participate because we think that both participative and representative routes are important ways to influence services. My letter explained that those opportunities vary between the different bodies, depending on their function and structure. Each organisation has designed mechanisms that suit its particular area of operation, and we certainly do not intend to alter that. These opportunities include a wide spectrum of involvement such as: contributing views and influencing policy, for example by taking part in consultations or panels; directly electing representatives; making representations to councillors and other representatives; and standing as a councillor or taking on other civic roles such as that of a school governor. We want this duty to be appropriate and not overly burdensome. We do not want to impose on local authorities a long list of every public organisation that has an interest, however remote, in their area. It is always difficult to know where to draw the line, and some people may interpret the criteria slightly differently. However, as I say, we have aimed to reflect those bodies of interest to most local people. We believe that by so doing we can guarantee that the same opportunities exist for all communities. That is why I cannot accept the amendments to replace Clause 2, with its set of clear purposes and the lists of connected authorities, with the amendments which would leave it up to every local authority to choose how to proceed. That is not because we do not trust local authorities—far from it; the raft of freedoms and flexibilities in recent years stand witness to that—but because this is a new opportunity to open up parts of public life and policy which are so significant that they should be included in statute for all communities to take advantage of. There is consensus around this. The list has been drawn up in consultation with the LGA and the representatives of these bodies. They are content, indeed enthusiastic, to be included in the list. I repeat that there is nothing in the legislation to stop councils promoting understanding of any other organisation that has a particular relevance in the area. Each local authority will decide how best it can fulfil this duty so as to complement the public relations work that the organisations do themselves. We seek a simple, single port of call provided by local authorities on behalf of organisations so that information is presented in a strategic and accessible manner, and consistency in the amount and quality of information available on the different bodies. The aim is not to replace the efforts that connected authorities already make in promoting themselves but to supplement and support that. I know that the noble Baroness was anxious about that. I take the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Tope, in the previous debate: the statutory guidance must be proportionate and not over-prescriptive. That is a very important point to put on the record. We will encourage councils to work jointly with the connected authorities to maximise the benefit of any existing campaigns to promote the organisations, avoid duplication of effort, and extend the reach of these campaigns more widely than the bodies could do alone. We appreciate the intention of Amendment 10, in the names of the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, and the noble Lord, Lord Tope, on regional development agencies, as they are, indeed, significant regional players. I reassure noble Lords on the critical point. If a local authority believes that the RDA structures and activities are relevant to its area, there is nothing at all to stop it promoting understanding about its work. However, RDAs are not active in every region and are certainly not active in the same way. They do not primarily engage directly with local people and therefore do not meet the relevant criteria. They do not meet the criteria for having a local presence and providing opportunities for people to influence and participate in shaping service decisions. However, given government Amendments 5 and 6, on partnership work, which we have just addressed, we would expect that partnership work with local authorities and RDAs would be covered already by the duty. There is also the issue, which noble Lords have not raised, of the Homes and Communities Agency. That is on the list, and it could be argued that they are similar bodies. I want to explain why the HCA is there. It is a nascent organisation. Given the range of powers of the HCA and people’s interest in its activities, we have erred on the side of caution and responded to the HCA, which wanted to be on the list. As the HCA matures and its processes become established, we would look to review its inclusion on the list. I have taken the advice of the chief executive of the HCA, Sir Bob Kerslake, who has said: ""The vision of HCA is focused around people and places. To create the places where people want to live, work, shop and entertain themselves, you need to engage and involve the local communities to help shape, deliver and sustain the place they carry out all this activity in. HCA will be working with our delivery partners, especially the local authorities, to ensure that there is the opportunity, not a one off opportunity either, for appropriate local involvement in defining and delivering the type of place they want"." I am happy to have that on the record. Government Amendments 11 and 12 are in response to the helpful reminder about parish meetings given by the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, in Grand Committee. Parish councils in England and community councils in Wales are included in the list of connected authorities under subsections (3) and (5) respectively. That means that principal authorities in two-tier areas in England and throughout Wales will be required to promote understanding of democratic arrangements at this tier of local government in their area. Where parishes exist in unitary areas in England, they will also count as connected authorities, and those councils will therefore be required to promote understanding of them to local people. As the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, pointed out, in some areas the democratic arrangements at parish and community level are carried out through parish or community meetings rather than through parish or community councils. We understand that leaving parish and community meetings off the list of connected authorities might, therefore, have led to a gap as regards our intention to include the range of democratic arrangements at the parish and community level. This government amendment, helpfully prompted by the noble Lord, seeks to plug that gap. I am very pleased that he is pleased with that. I beg to move.