My Lords, as noble Lords have explained, this group of amendments considers various aspects of the membership of combined county authorities and combined authorities, and the voting rights of members.
Amendment 70, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Foster of Bath, seeks to require equal membership for all the members of a combined county authority, removing the flexibility that the Bill currently provides. I listened carefully to the noble Lord but I have to come back to a point that I made in an earlier debate: it is vital that the primary legislation on combined county authority membership retains this flexibility and enables the local area to make the decision about membership.
The practice within the existing combined authority model illustrates why. It is very common for the constituent councils of the existing combined authority model to have equal membership, but this is not always the case. For example, in the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, each constituent council nominates one member of
the authority and collectively they agree another three members so as to achieve political balance. This would not be possible if the legislation was amended as proposed.
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I can assure the noble Lord that the proposed membership arrangements of a combined county authority will be subject to thorough scrutiny. The membership will be reflected in the statutory instrument establishing the CCA, which will be consented to by all constituent councils of the CCA, agreed by government and approved by Parliament.
Amendment 73, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Taylor of Stevenage, seeks to prevent a non-constituent member of one combined county authority being either a full constituent or non-constituent member of another CCA. As we discussed in an earlier group, a non-constituent member is a representative of a local organisation or body—for example, a district council, local university or neighbouring council—who can attend combined county authority meetings to input their specific local knowledge into proceedings.
Preventing a non-constituent member becoming either a full or non-constituent member of another combined county authority may prevent useful cross-area working between CCA areas and collaboration within a CCA. A local authority that is a member of one CCA may be prevented from collaborating with a neighbouring CCA, or an organisation, such as an integrated care partnership or a university, which works across more than one combined county authority may be prevented from working with both CCAs. I hope the noble Baroness agrees that a local area, rather than central government, is best placed to determine how to work with its local stakeholders.
Amendment 81, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Scott of Needham Market, seeks to require combined county authorities to appoint a representative from parish councils within the CCA’s area to the membership of the CCA’s overview and scrutiny committee. We recognise that it could be appropriate for representatives from parish councils to be members of an overview and scrutiny committee considering matters raised by the combined county authority.
However, again, our approach is that these issues—both who should be representatives and which representatives should be invited—are best decided locally. The powers which already exist provide for combined county authorities to invite representatives of parish councils, along with other appropriate persons, to be members of their overview and scrutiny committees. Given that localist approach, we do not consider this amendment to be necessary as all the powers are already available to achieve what the noble Baroness is seeking.
Of course, I recognise that the noble Baroness is perhaps seeking to place a requirement on combined county authorities to invite parish council representatives. While the Government have the power through regulations to make it mandatory that representatives of parish councils should be members of combined county authority overview and scrutiny committees, our view is that this kind of central diktat approach is not in keeping with the spirit of localism or the collaborative involvement we are seeking and wish to see at the local level.