I am very grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Shipley, because the last thing I would wish to do is mislead this Committee or lead it down a path that led nowhere. Rather than go round in circles, as I suspect we might if I continued, I would be very happy to take up that suggestion and add it to the agenda of this rather lengthy round table we are planning.
Moving on to the amendment tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, I completely agree with her on the need for the constituent members of a combined county authority to agree to the conferral of local government functions on a CCA. This is recognised in Clause 16, which provides that the consent of all the constituent councils is required if the Secretary of State is to make regulations conferring any such functions on a CCA. It is essential that all the constituent councils have agreed to the regulations that establish and confer powers on the new institution to support the collaborative working that is essential for a successful CCA.
I turn to some of the broader issues raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle, on Clause 25 standing part. I take on board her instinctive antipathy to the concept of having elected mayors, but let me outline the case in their defence. We have seen from our existing mayors how strong local leadership can enhance economic and other opportunities. Mayors act as champions for their areas, attracting investment and opportunity to their places. They provide that single point of accountability to local citizens. Our devolution framework in the levelling-up White Paper places a strong emphasis on the importance of high-profile, directly elected local leadership, strong local institutions, and joint working across sensible and coherent economic geographies. We believe that high-profile, directly elected leaders—such as a mayor—will be most effective in
driving levelling up in an area. Such strong local leadership is essential for delivering better local outcomes and joined-up public services.
As such, level 3 of the devolution framework in the White Paper, which is the highest tier, requires an institution to have a directly elected mayor to access the fullest range of functions and funding. In the case of a combined authority, we have seen that directly elected mayors are the clearest and lightest-touch way to provide that single point of accountability that I have referred to, which enables greater risk taking in decision making. In the case of a local authority, a directly elected mayor increases the visibility of leadership and helps create a greater convening power to delivery place-based programmes. That visibility is not to be derided. The Evaluation of Devolved Institutions report in 2021 found that nearly three-quarters of respondents —72%—across all combined authority areas reported that they were aware of who the mayor of their local area was. London, with 97%, and Manchester, with 88% of respondents, reported the highest level of awareness of who their mayor was.
Many noble Lords will be aware of mayors around the country who are already playing an incredibly powerful role in driving economic growth, as well as improving public services and giving local areas a real voice on the national stage. West Midlands would be a good example, where Andy Street has led work to form Energy Capital with the aim of creating a competitive, secure modern energy system that provides low-cost, clean and efficient power, while Andy Burnham and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority have created Our Pass, a membership scheme to provide free bus travel across Greater Manchester for young people. It greatly improves their ability to take advantage of the city-region’s amenities.
Clause 25 enables regulations to be made for a combined county authority to be led by a mayor. It introduces Schedule 2, which sets out the detail of the electoral arrangements. As I have said, this opens the way for a combined county authority area to benefit from the strongest devolution offer available. As I also mentioned earlier, combined county authorities do not have to have a mayor; they can choose to be non-mayoral. We believe that that choice should be made by the local area, in line with our localism principles. Non-mayoral CCAs can access level 2 of the devolution framework, which in itself is valuable and powerful. This clause provides the mechanism for delivering our aim of having strong, visible and accountable leaders to take devolved powers and budgets, and drive the levelling up in their areas.
Amendment 113, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle, seeks to insert a requirement into Clause 26 for there to be a referendum before the Secretary of State may make regulations to provide that a combined county authority should have an elected mayor, and for this question to be approved by a majority of local government electors. I have probably said all I can on the pros and cons of referenda. I am, generally speaking, not a fan, and I have to say that I agree with the point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, about the cost of putting on a referendum.
Lest there be any doubt about local public involvement, however, I absolutely agree that it is important that the public are consulted on a proposal to introduce a combined county authority mayor in their area, hence the requirement for public consultation in Clauses 43 and 45. For the record, again, Clause 43(4) states that, prior to submitting a proposal for establishing a combined county authority to the Secretary of State, the local authorities proposing to establish it must undertake a public consultation on the proposal in the area that the CCA will cover. If those local authorities are proposing that there is an elected mayor for the CCA, that will be set out in the proposal.
Clause 45(3) includes similar provisions for a proposal from a combined county authority to make changes to existing arrangements relating to that CCA, including introducing an elected mayor for the CCA’s area if moving from a non-mayoral CCA. The authorities or the CCA must undertake a public consultation in those circumstances and submit a summary of consultation responses to the Secretary of State alongside their proposal.
When deciding whether to make the regulations to establish or change a combined county authority for an area, including introducing an elected mayor, one of the tests that the Secretary of State must consider is whether the area’s public consultation is sufficient. If they conclude that it is not, Clauses 44 and 46 provide that the Secretary of State must himself or herself undertake a public consultation before any regulations can be made. So we believe that the existing clauses provide for sufficient local consultation on the introduction of a mayor or a CCA. I know that that reply will not make the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, any happier, but I believe we are closer to her position than perhaps she thought we might be.
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Amendment 114, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Shipley, and the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock, seeks to ensure that a deputy mayor of a combined county authority cannot be appointed without scrutiny and agreement. The appointment of a deputy mayor is a significant one. The statutory deputy mayor is a member of the combined county authority who would act in the place of the mayor if, for any reason, the mayor is unable to act or the office is vacant. As it is a mayoral appointment, the mayor should have the ability to choose the deputy of their choice as the person who would stand in for them, providing continuity and strong leadership in such an event.
The noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock, asked about accountability mechanisms in these circumstances. Alongside the clear need for mayors to be able to choose their deputy from the authority membership, CCAs are required to have at least one overview and scrutiny committee. This is the mechanism by which mayoral decisions will be assessed and scrutinised, together with those of a deputy mayor where they have been required to take over from the mayor.
I turn to Amendment 116A, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Stunell. Clause 30 enables regulations to be made so that a combined county authority mayor can jointly exercise any mayoral general functions
with a neighbouring local authority. Such regulations may set out the detailed operational arrangements, such as membership, chairing and voting powers, and political balance requirements. This amendment would remove the possibility for joint committee appointments to not be politically balanced. We have to resist that, as there may be circumstances in which politically balanced committees are not possible or appropriate. For example, in an area where both the combined county authority and neighbouring local authority are dominated by one political party, it may be desirable for the joint committee to not reflect this and instead include opposition councillors from a different party to ensure a rounded approach. This provision applies to all local authority and combined authority joint committees. This amendment would mean that combined county authority joint committees would be out of step with all other local government institutions.
Amendment 120, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Shipley, seeks to ensure the combined county authority agrees which police and crime commissioner functions exercised by the deputy mayor for policing and crime can be further delegated to any other person. Combined county authority mayors with PCC functions may appoint a deputy mayor specifically for policing and crime to carry out such PCC functions as may be delegated to them by the mayor. The authority has no role in the exercise of these functions, nor in scrutinising the performance of the mayor and deputy mayor for policing and crime in exercising these functions. This is provided by a statutory police and crime panel for the area. While scrutiny of the role and performance is crucial, it is important that this is done via the panel and that nothing can fetter the deputy mayor for policing and crime’s discretion to further delegate the functions they exercise.
Finally, Amendment 122, tabled by the noble Lord, would lower the threshold at which the Secretary of State would be required to intervene in a proposal by a combined county authority’s mayor to implement the single employer model for fire and policing, uniting both services under a single operational lead. The amendment would mean that only 51% or above, as opposed to two-thirds or above currently, of constituent members of the combined county authority would be required to oppose the mayor’s proposal to implement the single employer model in order to trigger a number of actions involving the Secretary of State. These actions are: a requirement for the mayor to share all representations from authority members about the proposal with the Secretary of State, a requirement for the Secretary of State to commission an independent assessment of the proposal and a decision, and a requirement for the Secretary of State to publish that assessment. It should be for the combined county authority mayor to determine whether to implement the single employer model for these two key public protection services for which they have responsibility. As such, a threshold of two-thirds feels more in keeping to us.
I hope that the noble Lord and the Committee will find these comments helpful and that the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, will feel able to withdraw Amendment 67.