My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have made a variety of points on the order. Perhaps I may apologise to noble Lords for being late. I was happily having a cup of tea with the noble Baroness, Lady Hollis, and I did not hear my phone ringing to say that our business had started. I apologise to noble Lords for being a little late.
I shall start with the question from the noble Lord, Lord Shipley. He asked if I could confirm the election of a mayor in 2017. Once the order is made, a mayoral election will be held on 4 May 2017 and if further orders are not agreed, the mayor will be elected and he or she will chair the combined authority, but will have no powers to exercise individually. The combined authority will have only its existing functions; that will be the situation if further orders are not agreed from now on in.
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The noble Lord also asked me whether the Government will respond to the PAC comments on a review of scrutiny when we debate the next combined authority orders. Yes, we will be happy to set out any response
that we have made. He talked reasonably about the scale of responsibilities of an elected mayor in relation to the PAC comments. We are very confident about the capacity of a mayoral form of governance to undertake the functions being given to mayors. The success of the London mayor and the use of elected mayoral governance across the world’s cities lend support to this. Elected mayors provide a strong and accountable form of governance—a single point of accountability which is needed to support the wider range of powers that is now being devolved.
The noble Lord thought I might not have mentioned the north east. I did mention it, but the noble Lord, Lord Beecham, provided some details on it. A draft of the order creating an elected mayor has been laid before Parliament. The noble Lord, Lord Beecham, gave the date as early in September and I understand that is absolutely correct.
The noble Lord, Lord Storey, talked about the name. I have a hazy memory of the Liverpool city region and the name. I do not know if this is right, but I seem to recollect that there could not be agreement on the naming of the region and there was a lot of toing and froing before the name was decided upon, which included the name of every single local authority in the city region, just to keep everyone happy. It is amazing how people can get hung up on a name and I agree that a simpler name might have been a better idea. However, the name cannot be formalised unless everybody agrees. Hence we have quite a lengthy name for this combined authority.
The noble Lord, Lord Alton, talked about the bad old days—I do not disagree that Liverpool was a particular example—and selling the benefits of the mayor. I recall that when the idea of a London mayor was first mooted, people were terribly sceptical about it and were not sure it would take off. In fact, successive London mayors have been very good leaders and there is great competition for the post. It is, therefore, important that it is both valued and sustained going forward. I agree with selling the benefits, which I hope we will be able to do across the country in due course. He talked about the fatalism of local areas and leaders. I hope that, with the election of mayors and mayoral combined authorities, people’s minds will suddenly grasp the job of being a local authority councillor or a mayor for a combined authority and see what can be achieved at local level. This is often far greater than what can sometimes be achieved in government.
The noble Lord asked about transport arrangements. I will go through a list of all of it, and I am sorry if I go on a bit. The combined authority will take on responsibility for some functions in relation to transport and strategic planning; the devolved funding of £30 million a year over 30 years; the control of 19-plus adult skills; the devolved approach to business support from 2017 and the early adoption of the subsequent agreement; the agreed early adoption of the government pilot for 100% business rates retention; additional new powers over transport and further commitments for the area and Government to work together on children’s services, health, housing and justice.
The noble Lord also made a point about HS3 versus HS2. I am such an advocate for both: the noble Lord will probably have got this from some of the
things I say in the Chamber, but I do not think it is an either/or. We have to have both. The east/west links are just as important as the north/south ones.