Sustainable Communities Bill

If I have understood the hon. Gentleman correctly, the answer is yes. As I said in Committee, on the transfer of function the Government’s objective is to provide much greater flexibility in how local agencies can achieve objectives. That is at the heart of the Bill. If an authority wanted both to transfer and to change the method by which it did something—it would want to do that; otherwise who was doing it would be the only issue—and the change in method came up against a problem with the existing law, we would obviously have to deal with that. However, that is the case anyway because a problem arises if a local body cannot carry out a function because the law is in its way. Local people and local authorities will have the opportunity to use a process to do something about the situation. Let me return to a point that was made on Second Reading. There is no compact with local areas in this country. We have one with employers and employee representatives, so we understand that concept, although it has differed over the years and parties have different views on the form that it should take. The Bill provides for a compact with local areas. I will try to reassure hon. Members on both sides of the House. The Government’s existing central-local partnership with the Local Government Association involves voluntary meetings. Indeed, the LGA is a voluntary body, which was why we had difficulty when drafting the selector proposals. Another advantage of the Bill is that because it locks in the relationship between the Government of the day and the LGA in a mutually beneficial manner, it gives councils a powerful reason why they should be members of the LGA. The substance of that relationship will be based in law, although one cannot legislate for how the relationship works in practice. Hon. Members might not be aware that as part of the central-local partnership, the LGA meets not only my Department, but all the Departments in Whitehall. A side benefit of the Bill, albeit an important benefit, is that the association will be given real meat. We all want a strong LGA.