Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

As the noble Baroness said, my noble friend Lady Hamwee and I have put our names to this amendment, which was suggested by the Local Government Association and we are pleased to do so for all the reasons enunciated by the noble Baroness. Long years in your Lordships' House have taught me that it is conceptually impossible for two government departments to make contradictory comments. This cannot happen. But certainly the LGA brief gives that impression, so I am pleased that we can give the Minister the opportunity to restore my faith that such contradictions cannot happen. As the noble Baroness said, the response to the consultation said specifically that legislation was not needed, yet the BERR e-mail quoted said specifically that legislation would be needed in order to delegate. I am sure that the Government agree, as they said they did in the consultation, that delegation from the RDAs is not only desirable but necessary. I think that we all know that there is really no such thing as regional economies fitting exactly the boundaries of the government regional offices; the reality is that beneath national level we do have the sub-regional economies, as the noble Baroness has described. If this is to work effectively, the RDAs must be able to delegate to local authorities or groups of local authorities. At best there seems some doubt—I put it no stronger than that—that that is legally permissible. I hope that the Minister will tell us that it is, but to put it beyond any doubt this amendment should appear in the Bill. Therefore, we are very pleased to give our support to the amendment.