Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

moved Amendment No. 156:"Page 69, line 39, at end insert—" ““      A joint committee of two or more local authorities which is discharging, in relation to an area of outstanding natural beauty, functions of those authorities under sections 89 and 90 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (c. 37).”” The noble Baroness said: My Lords, Amendment No. 159 seeks to add volunteers working under the direction of an officer of a local authority to the categories of person through whom a Part 8 function can be discharged by a local authority. Part 8, Chapter 1 of the Bill, which deals with agreements with and between designated bodies, involves some rather technical areas of the law, including this particular clause. In discussing this part of the Bill in Committee, we mentioned that it may be helpful if we wrote on a number of the points that had arisen. My noble friend Lord Bach’s letter of 16 March went into some detail on these points, including the role of volunteers working for local authorities. I hope that the noble Baroness, Lady Byford, found that letter helpful. The noble Duke, the Duke of Montrose, mentioned in Committee the increasing role that voluntary organisations play in supporting local authorities and the wide range of important work that volunteers undertake. I want to stress Defra’s commitment to the use of volunteers, which is already well established in the department’s activities. I would also like to assure the noble Baroness that the Bill, as currently drafted, does not in any way constrain the use by local authorities of the voluntary and community sector in discharging functions under Part 8 agreements. The amendment is therefore unnecessary as it would not open up any new avenues for using the voluntary sector. There is, however, a risk that the amendment could lead to some confusion in accountability for discharging the function. Clause 82, as I said, is a rather complex area of the law and deals with the ways in which local authorities can organise themselves internally in order to discharge their responsibilities under Part 8 agreements. These are the so-called ““executive arrangements”” and the wording in the Bill reflects similar provisions in the Local Government Act 2000. I must stress that it is not the purpose of this clause to deal with relations between local authorities and the outside world. In fact, it would not be appropriate here to deal with arrangements between local authorities and volunteers or voluntary organisations. Volunteers are not part of the executive arrangements within local authorities’ boundaries. Part 8 does not need to address the use of volunteers because local authorities have existing powers to engage external organisations across the full range of the public, private and voluntary and community sectors. I hope that I have given adequate assurances that local authorities can indeed engage the voluntary and community sector in discharging functions under Part 8 agreements and there is no advantage to the sector in mentioning it in this part of the Bill. I therefore invite the noble Baroness not to press this issue. Amendment No. 156 adds to the list of designated bodies at Schedule 7 joint committees of local authorities discharging functions in relation to AONBs. The addition responds to an issue raised in Committee by the noble Baroness, Lady Miller of Chilthorne Domer. She observed that joint committees of local authorities can be a good way of facilitating partnership working. We said that we believed there to be a good case for easing restrictions on delegations to joint committees discharging functions in relation to AONBs, and this amendment is our proposal to achieve that end. AONB joint committees discharge similar functions to conservation boards of AONBs, which are included in the existing list of designated bodies. The addition of such joint committees to the list will thus ensure that they, too, can enter into Part 8 agreements. The sole purpose of Amendments Nos. 157 and 158 is improving the clarity of the Bill. The first amendment substitutes a better form of words for Clause 81(1). The second clarifies a reference in Clause 81 to another clause in the Bill. These changes remove the risk of ambiguity and possible doubt in the interpretation of the clause. They do not add to, reduce or change the existing powers in the Bill. I hope that the noble Lords will agree that that is sensible for a technical area of the law. I beg to move.