Local Government Bill [HL]

No, my Lords. We were then in a very different economic situation. What is more, when this process was started, with a Liberal Democrat minority administration running the city of Norwich, the financial figures were incomplete. The revised financial figures, which have been accepted by the department and embedded in its impact analysis—it is available to the noble Earl and I am sure that he has studied it—show that the original figures have been overtaken by events. I shall proceed to give the revised figures in a moment. Perhaps I may continue my response to the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss. In the hierarchy of value, the cheapest option is a unitary county of Devon and a unitary county of Norfolk, which nobody wants. The second-cheapest option is unitary Norwich and unitary Exeter. The most expensive option, which neither the Permanent Secretary nor the noble and learned Baroness mentioned, is the status quo, which is exactly what the Minister is proposing in the Bill. Therefore, I hope that if we revert again, for the fourth time perhaps at Third Reading, to the Permanent Secretary as the chief auditing officer, it will be with all three options in mind and not just the two. The Minister’s own figures in her recent letter of 22 July, which have already been quoted by my noble friend Lord McKenzie, show just how substantial would be the cost savings and value for money resulting from unitary structures. This is where, I suggest, the noble Lord, Lord Tope, is wrong. The Minister’s letter—I am sure that he has it to hand, so that he can confirm the statistics that I am about to quote—shows that, from year 2, the savings will exceed costs. To deny local authorities the opportunity to achieve those savings is to add to the costs and council tax of local citizens at just the same time as the Government are requiring cuts of 25 per cent or more. The Minister’s letter shows that, by year 2 of the transition period, savings will exceed the cost of transition and that, by year 4 and thereon, the savings will be nearly £4 million a year for the city of Norwich. Norwich has around 40,000 properties and the savings from unitary structure will be £4 million. In other words, there would be savings to every household in Norwich of £100 a year on the Minister’s own figures if Norwich were to be unitary. That £100 a year has been denied the people of Norwich and similarly, I presume, the people of Exeter, either through their being better off or the authority being better able to provide appropriate services. I therefore hope that when the noble Lord, Lord Tope, says that we cannot afford the cost of reorganisation, he is respectful of the Minister’s own figures, from her own letter of 22 July, which show exactly the opposite. The third argument for unitary status, over and beyond better services for our citizens and better value for money, is greater citizenship, accountability and transparency. City hall becomes a one-stop shop. I always knew when someone was about to complain, because they stopped talking about the ““city council”” of Norwich and started talking about the ““city corporation”” before letting fly. People in the Norwich area have something like four local authorities providing their services. Of course, they do not know who does what, to what standard, at what value for money or with what outcome. We are then surprised by low voter turnouts for elections to authorities whose very structures and very responsibilities baffle most citizens. After all, under some of our existing two-tier structures, local authorities are increasingly run by the few people who can be bothered to stand, elected by the few people who can be bothered to vote. Voting turnout is, usually, significantly higher in unitary authorities and significantly lower in two-tier structures precisely because there is not the democratic deficit in unitary government that there inevitably is in two-tier structures. Finally, unitary structures work because they are simpler and clearer for other bodies, agencies and outside organisations to work with. That is whether they are businesses seeking to expand or relocate, voluntary organisations wanting support for their hunt for capital for premises or revenue for staff, or public agencies such as health authorities, sports bodies, tourism agencies and the like. I repeat the question asked by my noble friend Lord Howarth—after all, Mr Pickles comes from Bradford and the Minister also comes from an area with a good, strong, competent unitary authority, to which I pay all credit. Would the Minister welcome, say, the adult or children’s services in her former authority going to Boris or the GLA, and if not, why not? After all, there is far more sense in that proposal for a densely populated London area, where the boundaries between boroughs are perhaps more artificial than in some existing two-tier structures. No one doubts that unitary local government is where we will be; it is only how long it takes us to get there. Enlightened Conservatives, led by the noble Lord, Lord Deben, who was then John Selwyn Gummer, and Mr David Curry—I pay credit to them, as they were always collaborative, open and accessible—made strong strides in that direction in the mid-1990s, resulting in the Conservatives sponsoring 100 or so new unitary authorities. That was party blind. Labour councils, Lib Dem councils, as they came to be, and Conservative councils all benefited from two Ministers who were committed to the principles and values of local government, as Labour Secretaries of State were. The unitary authorities introduced in the past few years under Labour have gone, too, to authorities that will be Conservative, Lib Dem and Labour. In other words, the history of the move towards unitary local government has been party-politically blind in accepting the value of unitaries, particularly for cities and in terms of clarity, accountability and better value for money. As a result, it has had all-party support. It is this Government who have chosen that the two cases of Norwich and Exeter, both county boroughs for centuries, are not to regain that status or to be able to offer their citizens those same values of transparency, accountability and value for money. This amendment lays open the possibility that, down the line, future bids for unitary status may be considered with an open mind and in a non-party way by the Secretary of State and it asks that those criteria be published. If we choose, we can rebuild that party-blind consensus to support the localism of local government to which the coalition gave such support in their post-election manifesto. However, you cannot do that while supporting a Bill like this and rejecting an amendment like this. That is to refuse to accept unitary structures in the future for cities such as Norwich and Exeter, which on every count—value for money, clarity of services and accountability to the electorate—offer cheaper and better services for residents. You cannot do that and then refuse these amendments.