My Lords, the Minister is right to say that the Government are devolving significant new powers to Greater Manchester and perhaps to some other authorities as the process rolls forward. However, what they are not doing is accompanying the devolution of powers with anything like sufficient additional resources. The 10 local authorities in Greater Manchester will receive £30 million a year for 30 years for infrastructure projects. That is £900 million over 30 years. At the moment, these councils have suffered a loss of £1.7 billion a year in respect of their budgets. That is likely to rise to £2 billion a year across the Greater Manchester area by 2020. Far from meeting the needs of these authorities, £900 million over 30 years is really a flea bite in comparison with what those councils are having to contend with in terms of providing services.
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There is also a question in my mind about the figures the Minister referred to in relation to the number of houses to be built. It is suggested that
£30 million will build 15,000 houses. I just do not see how the arithmetic adds up. If the cost of building a new house is, say, £150,000, which is probably about right, you would get only 2,000 houses for the amount of money that the Government are apparently putting in. How is the figure of 15,000 justified?
In addition to these significant financial issues, one has to welcome the approach to health and social care. This is going to be something of a pilot project to bring together these two crucial areas of public service, particularly given the enormous pressures they are being subjected to through the National Health Service and local government. It is not yet clear how this will work out. One wishes Manchester well. If I were in an area which was going ahead with devolution—and, alas, I am not at the moment—I would be a bit cautious about rushing in to follow where Manchester is currently treading. I think it will be very difficult to bring together those two services at any level, particularly at that sort of level. I wish it success but, again, without adequate financing it is difficult to see how that can be sustained. A degree of caution needs to be exercised before other authorities plunge down that route.
There is also a question about the degree of public support for this. The Minister referred to the consultation exercise that has taken place, as did the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, whose report on the matter can be described only as dripping with scepticism about the nature of the process, because out of the huge number of people living in that area—1.9 million people, apparently—all of 169 individuals contributed to the consultation process. Rather more participated in the previous consultation, which took the form of a referendum about having an elected mayor for Manchester. I cannot remember the turnout but I remember the result, which was that 60% rejected that proposal, and I am sure the turnout was rather higher than is represented by 169 out of 1.9 million voters. That looks rather like Old Sarum’s last election in 1830 when I think there were 11 electors. I am not quite sure what the turnout was, but it is not a very impressive figure, and it is hardly better in terms of Greater Manchester.
When it comes to voting, I was caught today by a report in the Times. I wonder whether the Minister can help me about this, because apparently there are to be new requirements for people to prove their identity as they go to vote. This will apparently require photographic evidence of their identity, which could include producing a passport, a driving licence or a utility bill. Apparently this is to be piloted. I do not know where, but perhaps the Minister can tell us. This is a very serious matter. It assumes that people have one or more of these items. If you are a young person, you are unlikely to have a utility Bill and you may well not have a passport or a driving licence. How then are you to prove your ability to vote? There is apparently to be some sort of application that you can fill in, in addition to the electoral register, which may facilitate the outcome. Surely these changes are likely to lead to a reduction in the number of people voting.
I suspect that that is perhaps an underlying motive for those who have advocated this, and I think the finger then points at Sir Eric Pickles, who not surprisingly
and not for the first time has entered into controversial areas such as this in a way that is likely to benefit the Conservative Party. All I can ask the Minister today about this is whether he can confirm that Greater Manchester’s election of a mayor will not include voting on the basis of the proposals to which I have referred and which are mentioned in the Times today. It would be extremely unsatisfactory if a somewhat questionable process anyway were to be affected by a change of that kind. I hope he can give an assurance at the very least that Greater Manchester will not be one of the pilot areas for this potentially controversial process, which I take it will at some point require parliamentary approval. I do not know whether the Minister is up to speed on this—I would not blame him if he is not—but if he is not, he will of course no doubt write to me and to other Members of the House.