Local Government Ombudsman (Amendment) Bill (Money)

I beg to move,"That, for the purposes of any Act resulting from the Local Government Ombudsman (Amendment) Bill, it is expedient to authorise the payment out of money provided by Parliament of any increase attributable to the Act in the sums payable under any other Act out of money so provided." Going back to yesterday's debate, I appear to be the ““accredited person”” to move today's motion. I see that my hon. Friend the Member for North East Somerset (Jacob Rees-Mogg) is not in his place today, but this is a private Member's Bill moved by my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch (Mr Chope), so this is a unique debate. We are debating the motion because the Government are keen that the Bill in its amended state should move forward. The passing of a money resolution is an important step in that process. The costs to local authorities of implementing the new duties in the Bill—to give written notification of decisions and to review the decisions—are seen as a new head of expenditure to be met out of the grants that local authorities already receive from central Government. Similarly, any increase in the administrative costs of the local ombudsman service associated with the Bill will be seen as a new head of expenditure to be met from the grant that the ombudsman receives from central Government to fund the organisation. The motion refers to payments under other Acts being increased as a result of the Bill, because, technically, a new head of expenditure is a notional increase for the purposes of Commons financial procedure, even though it might not, in fact, give rise to an increase in expenditure. Against that background, I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch for his work on the Bill. I thank him for working so constructively on the proposed amendments, which mean that I can confirm the Government's intention to support it in its amended state. The Bill was last debated on 18 March. At that stage, the Government were unable to support it. However, it received its Second Reading and the amendments made since make it acceptable to the Government. We think that the Bill will perform a valuable function. It is right that if a local authority decides to stop or impose restrictions of the kind referred to, the reasons should be set out in writing. There should also be an appeals mechanism if the decision is a negative one. The fast-tracking procedure is helpful. We think that the costs associated with the Bill are, in fact, negligible.