Sustainable Communities Bill

The right hon. Gentleman is correct. The Bill does not mention that issue, but this is a good opportunity for me to counter the story in this morning’s papers, which was prompted by his colleagues, whose calculations of potential council tax figures are based, in part, on the suggestion that we will create more parishes. The right hon. Gentleman has a point about this being a Second Reading debate, but I would ask the Opposition parties whether they will give a commitment that if the Bill were to become law and local priorities were not met, because the Government, supported by Parliament, felt that it would be wrong to localise certain aspects, there would not be a call for further taxation to meet those priorities. Secondly, can they guarantee that no criticism would be made of the amounts of money raised by local authorities through council taxes as the result of the need to implement those plans? As the right hon. Gentleman said, it is the money that causes the difficulty. I have further questions about the Bill. How will the arrangements fit with local accountability for other public services? The hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs (Nick Herbert) mentioned the police. The police authority in his constituency is accountable to the county councils—the combined police authority. Indeed, the chair of the police authority is Councillor Peter Jones, a county councillor. The police’s local priorities are already governed by local authority representatives. The debate behind that, which we are having today, is the feeling that many people have that they have no influence on that, but that is why I believe that the problem is best addressed by considering the empowerment of local elected representatives as well as forums such as community calls for action. However, the measures in the Bill may be unnecessary in the light of the changes that have already been made in the local structures and other proposed changes. We have already mentioned the Secretary of State’s role and the Bill may be criticised for not taking into account other local government legislation, not only the Bill on Monday. A major issue of policy that relates to this Bill is the performance framework. The Government’s intention is that the performance framework—the auditing of the performance of local areas, which will move from the comprehensive performance assessment to an assessment of the outcomes under the sustainable communities plan in the local area agreement—will involve a radical shift towards local accountability and will be backed up by new measures on overview and scrutiny. The measures that we shall debate on Monday are the other side of the coin of this debate. There are some deficiencies in the Bill, as well as some unintended consequences. As it stands, the measure would centralise rather than devolve, because of the role given to the Secretary of State. If it is the will of the House that the Bill goes into Committee, I give an undertaking that we shall engage with all seriousness in the debate. I know that the House will reciprocate in that process, should it take place. Today’s debate has been useful in highlighting points raised in the campaign and by Members outside this place. I shall answer some of the questions put by Members today. The hon. Member for Ruislip-Northwood, who moved the Bill so eloquently, talked about pooled funding through local area agreements and local targets. I think that I have answered that point. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Stroud (Mr. Drew) on his campaign; indeed, I believe that he is still an elected parish councillor—