Yet again, as ever, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Coaker, for his comments and his support in this. He is absolutely right to mention the debate on the West Midlands the other day; I am personally glad that this debate has not been as excitable as that one.
I want to try briefly to run through a few things. One thing that I want to set out concerns the public consultation; it relates specifically to the noble Lord’s question on what engagement has been done and some of the local views that were expressed.
4.15 pm
The noble Lord asked what engagement there has been. In addition to the consultation, my understanding is that there has been engagement at a local level with the mayor, the PCC and the returning officer. In terms of the local MPs, there was a debate in the other place the other day. The noble Lord is absolutely right that there should be more engagement; if this is passed, the work will then start on making sure that the electorate, as they will be, are informed of what is taking place. I do not have specific details as to what the steps and plans will be, but I assure the noble Lord that I will write to him setting that out.
As I said, the public consultation ran from 20 December to 31 January and the Government’s response was published when this order was laid before Parliament. Just over 3,000 responses were received—a great deal more than have been received by other consultations on similar devolution proposals. As was noted in the debate in the other place, 65% of those responses expressed the view that they did not agree with it. However, my understanding is that some of those responses were not specifically about opposition to this; it may just have been that they were expressing views on local issues rather than being opposed to this per se.
That consultation helped obtain views and information for the Home Secretary, rather than just find out who was opposed to it. While the numbers for and against the transfer were taken into account, the most helpful aspect of the consultation, for the purpose of making the decision, was the information provided in the responses. The Home Secretary’s decision was informed but not bound by the responses in that consultation. In making his decision, the Home Secretary also had regard to information concerning the statutory tests and duties relevant to his decision. Ultimately, the Home Secretary is satisfied that the making of this order meets the statutory tests required of him.
I have been handed a note from the department saying that, in terms of the earlier points I was trying to make—I am more than happy to write to the noble Lord as well—local MPs and the mayor were involved in the consultation last December. The mayor, the PCC and the local authorities all support the merger. Once the election is called, the candidates can be announced in due course, as the noble Lord will know all too well.