Business Rate Supplements Bill

I shall speak also to Amendments 9, 10 and 32. I appreciate that Clause 3(5), which would be amended by the first three amendments in this group, is designed for the particular structure of the Greater London Authority; it refers to the GLA and to "functional bodies", the term that is used for the four so-called functional bodies, and it picks up on the mayor’s relationship with London Transport and with London’s regional development agency, the London Development Agency, in particular. My amendment probes whether it would be appropriate to allow other levying authorities not just to contract with third parties, including their RDAs and private sector commercial organisations, but to make arrangements for, say, the RDA to carry out the work that is in prospect. I have assumed that Clause 3(5) means something more than a fairly normal contract with a third party, because of course third parties are going to be contracted to undertake the work. Does it mean here that the functional body is to be given some discretion by the GLA? If it does not mean that, why is it necessary? To widen the argument to the other authorities, is it not important that they contract with bodies to achieve an outcome, perhaps with discretion as to how to achieve it? I do not see why they cannot be allowed to do that. The implication of Clause 3(5) is that there is some restriction on the other authorities, and, in these days of partnership working, that restriction does not seem appropriate—if my reading of it is right. I prepared this amendment before I realised that a similar amendment had been moved in the Commons by my honourable friend the Member for North Cornwall, but my reasons are not the ones that he was using; they go rather further. Amendment 32 would require an explanation in the prospectus of whether there is to be a special purpose vehicle, its governance arrangements and its proposed project management. Again, businesses that think other than fairly superficially about a proposal are going to want to know about governance—a very important point to which the noble Lord, Lord Bates, has tabled an amendment in a later group—because energetic organisations understand the importance of good project management, and this is all about assisting them to assess the project that is put before them. I beg to move.