Sustainable Communities Bill

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for that helpful intervention, which I wholly endorse. The Bill is about enabling people; part of its driving force is to encourage greater participation so the least we can do is present the measure coherently and intelligently. Officials sometimes say that does not matter as long as we get the necessary powers. I do not agree. A Bill needs to tell a clear story about what it is trying to achieve and how it intends to do it. We should be clear. My second point is about substance. If we are to accept—as a compromise—that the new freedom of local authorities should be restricted to arguing for reallocation of functions, we need comfort that what we believe is implicit in the Government’s position is made explicit in the Bill: if functions are transferred, money should follow. It makes no sense to transfer functions without resources. I believe that is implicit in the Government’s proposals but we want it made explicit. If functions and money are transferred, local authorities should have discretion over policy as long as they have regard to the objectives of their locally agreed community strategies—or sustainable community strategies, as we understand they are to be called. That is important for the reasons given by my right hon. Friend the Member for West Dorset (Mr. Letwin) on 23 May. We do not want it to be necessary for remit to follow function, so that, for example, if a local authority takes over the functions of a Business Link it will not necessarily have to take over the statutory remit of that body. We want local authorities to be free to innovate, as long as they can be seen to be working towards achieving a locally agreed target under the local authority agreement process. We want local authorities to have that right not least because it will incentivise greater co-operation. In such circumstances, Business Link would have to work harder to go with the grain of what the community wants, because otherwise it would risk losing resources or function. Fundamentally, such a right gives us a mechanism to shake up the system—to correct failure and encourage innovation when things are getting jaded and complacent. I am sure the Minister agrees, because he is not complacent. I read the Committee proceedings of 23 May carefully and when the Minister was questioned by my right hon. Friend the Member for West Dorset about remit following function, he said:"““That is not my intention.””––[Official Report, Sustainable Communities Public Bill Committee, 23 May 2007; c. 147.]" He then enthusiastically gave us examples of best practice and innovation, such as the south Devon youth club that had left a big impression on him when he visited it. When we stated that we wanted a presumption that local authorities should be able to get the Secretary of State’s approval to take over spending, he said, ““I agree””. I am not trying to embarrass him by reminding him of his comments—as an experienced Minister he is beyond that; I am simply trying to explain that the new clause has been tabled in good faith.