Local Audit and Accountability Bill [Lords]

My right hon. Friend makes a reasonable point. The audit regime is just part of the process of tr...

I entirely agree with my right hon. Friend’s observation about the great opportunities we are giv...

My hon. Friend makes a reasonable point. There was a box-ticking culture, and local authorities w...

The Bill might appear to some to be rather dry—[Hon. Members: “No!”] I am relieved to hear that.<...

On the point about the value-for-money component of the audit, I and a friend of mine, John Hatch...

I shall come to the need to maintain a value-for-money focus in the work of the successor bodies ...

The right hon. Gentleman will know that the Bill enables the National Audit Office to provide val...

I entirely accept the hon. Gentleman’s point. It seems to me that there is a case for both. Havin...

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for being so generous in giving way. Is it not the case...

I do not accept the argument that the Freedom of Information Act is superfluous, because it depen...

On precisely what grounds does the right hon. Gentleman think that judicial review could take pla...

It would be a very important legal argument as to whether the courts would attach weight to what ...

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for giving way; he is truly being generous with his tim...

The hon. Gentleman makes a perfectly fair point, partly because of the changing way in which peop...

Should the main concern not be the best use of council resources? Is it really a good use of thos...

That is a fair point, as I have said, but perhaps the hon. Lady should have a conversation with t...

Does my right hon. Friend agree that, while an awful lot of people may miss statutory notices, so...

I accept my hon. Friend’s point. If the system is changed in the future, as long as people knew w...

Just tell us.

The Secretary of State obviously forgets that he criticised Luton for its publication. I have the...

He doesn’t know his own Bill.

No, the Secretary of State does not know his own Bill and he does not want to hear what his Conse...

We all understand that it can be desirable for councils to run political campaigns and that it wi...

Let us take the case of High Speed 2 and the concerns that have been expressed by some of the rig...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

No, I have been very generous in giving way.

The great localist is, in this Bill, asking to...

Nonsense!

The right hon. Gentleman shakes his head and says that it is nonsense, but he is undone by his ow...

rose—

I will give way so that the Secretary of State can clarify that point.

It is important to address this rather silly suggestion. From the published plans and what we kno...

First, that is not the view held by the Leeds city region, and secondly, the House will have noti...

I am happy to say that what the right hon. Gentleman wants to achieve—to ensure that authorities ...

I am genuinely grateful to the Secretary of State for that assurance, and I look forward to worki...

I was delighted to hear my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State finish an important piece of ...

It would certainly help consideration of the Bill on Second Reading if the hon. Gentleman listed ...

The right hon. Gentleman obviously knows that the only roles in Gilbert and Sullivan I could do a...

A constituent of mine is a member of an active parish council in my constituency. She raised conc...

Many responsible local authorities communicate sensibly and proportionately with their constituen...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I give way to my former shadow.

Might the current Mayor of London’s ability to get his message out and his not having to rely on ...

Now that, like me, the hon. Gentleman has time to reflect from the Back Benches, he might conside...

I am following the thread of the hon. Gentleman’s argument. Is he actually saying that the Gatesh...

What I am saying is that the Gateshead Post was entitled to its view because it was not paid for ...

The hon. Gentleman has expressed his opposition to press releases being distributed by local auth...

Yes, but I did not use them to attack the policies of the Opposition in party political terms. I ...

You could.

Well, we could try to resolve many things by way of a judicial review, but whether that would be ...

The hon. Gentleman has shared his thoughts on a range of publications by London local authorities...

Order. The hon. Gentleman is new to the Dispatch Box, but

I ...

There is often a material difference, depending on the precise nature of the language used and th...

I quite understand the intention behind this measure, but could my hon. Friend help me with this ...

In the case of the majority of the larger levying authorities—it does not apply to some smaller o...

The Government have presented us with yet another very bad Bill. Indeed, it is so bad that it is ...

When I was a portfolio holder on Winchester city council, I had to respond to the comprehensive a...

The hon. Gentleman makes an extreme point to illustrate his argument. No one is justifying unnece...

The hon. Gentleman is being generous in giving way. I am puzzled by the putative ideas on the sav...

Let me quote people who perhaps know a little more about these things than me. The draft Local Au...

How does the hon. Gentleman square that with the Competition Commission’s recent report into stat...

The hon. Gentleman is a big champion of vested interests in the private sector, so I am not surpr...

It has a Tory majority.

Indeed. As I understand it, those were the unanimous findings of the Communities and Local Govern...

I was interested in the comments by the shadow Secretary of State, because the explanatory notes ...

But not—[Interruption.]—as my right hon. Friend the Member for Leeds Central (Hilary Benn) is poi...

I had better start by declaring that I am a vice-president of the LGA, as it is being mentioned r...

I want to address three issues. The first is the Bill’s failure to acknowledge the fears for prob...

On that point, is my hon. Friend familiar with the PricewaterhouseCoopers citizens jury which sho...

There is a general worry about what happens after privatisation. My hon. Friend cited a number of...

Many local newspapers already print the council newspaper, thereby providing an income stream and...

I hate the word “synergy” but there is a potential for synergy between the local authority and so...

Last time I spoke on local government matters of this complexity—this is a complex Bill—a colleag...

This has been a lively debate on an important Bill and it is a pleasure to follow the contributio...

One simple measure to expand the market might be to prevent an audit firm from being the auditor ...

My hon. Friend made a very interesting speech and I hope that he will follow the passage of the B...

Right hon. and hon. Members have raised a number of important points in the debate, and I look fo...

May I suggest that the Minister meet Transparency International UK and go through its report? Per...

As a general matter of principle, I am happy to meet anybody who wants to talk about any part of ...

Where is the evidence?

The right hon. Gentleman keeps asking for evidence, but my hon. Friend the Member for Bromley and...

Will the Minister at least acknowledge that levying bodies could, if the referendum goes against ...

I do not accept that. The hon. Gentleman tried to make a good argument for his point of view—he w...