Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

New clause 4 would give councils greater flexibility about the arrangements of their wards or divisions. It gives councils the ability to initiate a move to single-member electoral areas by granting them a power to make requests about such provision in their area. It does that in a way that safeguards propriety and avoids any risks of perceived gerrymandering, unlike the amendments that Conservative Members have tabled. The new clause achieves those safeguards through maintaining the involvement of the independent Electoral Commission and the independent boundary committee. The new clause delivers the White Paper commitment to give local authorities holding whole council elections the freedom to move to single-member electoral areas. By that, we mean district wards or county divisions, although most of the latter are single-member areas. Single-member areas can deliver stronger accountability. They provide a strong link between the councillor and his or her electorate and give clarity of leadership to the locality. Calls for single-member wards are well established. In 1986, the Widdicombe Committee recommended them, stating that they"““provide a strong link between the member and his or her constituent””." In 1995, the Local Government Commission for England supported the Widdicombe recommendations for single-member wards. We are giving local authorities the opportunity to act on those recommendations, if they wish to do so. It is a matter for the authorities. We also recognise that single-member electoral areas are not always the right solution. There may be individual local circumstances, such as the geography of the area, that make multi-member wards more appropriate. Single-member electoral areas are clearly not a sound electoral option when there are elections by thirds, since that would result in not all the council’s electors having a vote in an election. That position should be avoided whenever possible. There is no question of requiring single-member electoral areas everywhere. We are giving local authorities the choice of requesting them when they consider it right to do that. Councils that do not have whole council elections will not have such a choice. Those that have whole council elections can make the choice as they see fit. Again, it is a devolutionary measure. Councils that want single-member electoral wards can request the Electoral Commission to direct the boundary committee to undertake a review of their area and make recommendations. If there is a large demand for single-member areas, the Commission would have to establish a work programme and decide on the timing of the reviews. In conducting those reviews, the boundary committee will be required to have regard to statutory criteria used for electoral reviews. Those are: reflecting community identity and interests, ensuring effective and convenient local government, and providing equality of representation. If the boundary committee considers that those statutory criteria cannot be met everywhere for the council under review with single-member electoral areas, it will exceptionally be able to recommend one or more multi-member electoral areas for that council in order to provide a better balance between the statutory criteria. New clause 6 and the remaining Government amendments in the group make the necessary consequential and paving provisions to allow part 2 of the Bill to operate effectively. That includes ensuring that the boundary committee can, in conducting electoral reviews, obtain the information that it needs from local authorities. Taken together, the new clauses and amendments deliver our White Paper commitment to devolve to councils the initiative to seek single-member electoral areas where it is right to do so.