Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

I hope that noble Lords will take the time to read what I have said in response to the amendments today on this part of the Bill. I am deeply disappointed and depressed by the parallel universe in which we seem to be living and by the fact that what I say about the arguments that are put to me does not seem to be sinking in at all. The Bill is for local authorities. It is not a Bill where the Secretary of State has powers to impose anything on local authorities; it is about local authorities finding their own best route to developing the economic potential of their areas. The two parts of the Bill are perfectly consistent. We are about both promoting democracy and giving local authorities more powers, greater autonomy, greater flexibility and greater freedoms to achieve what they need to meet the challenge of the economic and social situation, not only for the next year but for the foreseeable future. We will need every instrument at our disposal at local and regional level to make the necessary choices, based on intelligence. I hope that noble Lords will do me the courtesy of reading what I have said in response to their arguments in the course of this afternoon. The noble Baroness, Lady Warsi, said that it should be a matter for local government to set up EPBs. Yes, and it is. I confirm again that it is not our intention for central government to make any appointments to EPBs; rather, the membership arrangements should be a matter for the local authorities involved. The noble Baroness, Lady Warsi, was concerned about this at Second Reading. I reassured her then and I reassure her again. I can deal with Amendments 184, 184A, 187E and 188A quite swiftly by confirming that while the membership and other constitutional arrangements for an EPB should be set out in a statutory order as confirmation, for all the reasons I gave earlier, rather than being left to guidance, the membership of an EPB will be decided by the group of local authorities that wish to establish an EPB and will be set out in their scheme. This is not micromanagement. The scheme should include details of how the members will be appointed, what type of members will be permitted and the voting powers that will be given to different types of member. Likewise, in relation to Clause 84(2) and Amendment 184B, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, just as the local authorities themselves will determine the membership arrangements, so they will determine the remuneration arrangements of members of the EPB. It will be entirely up to them what they want to do and what is appropriate. Clause 84(4) details what provision may be made about the executive arrangements of an EPB. The effect of Amendment 185A would be to remove any information in the Bill about what ““executive arrangements”” meant or what they included. The noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, raised an important question here, but, as with many of these clauses, there is a precedent for our approach in the Local Transport Act 2008. Our view is that the executive arrangements are important and should be transparent. That is why it is necessary to include details of what they can and cannot cover in legislation. Similarly, Amendment 185B, laid by the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, and the noble Lord, Lord Tope, would remove from the Bill the stipulation that the EPB’s budget must be agreed by the EPB itself and not delegated. That is an important safeguard; it should be mandatory, and needs to appear in legislation. Amendments 185, 186 and 188 would prevent any non-local authority members being on the EPB. The issue is about who will sit on the EPB. The noble Lord, Lord Greaves, said that it will be alderman. However, as I said before, the majority of EPBs will be local authority-led and will have elected members of local authorities, and that will provide the accountability. But we want them to have the flexibility to have a board that is right for the constituent authorities and for the task in hand, and additional members may bring specialist expertise.