Cities and Local Government Devolution [Lords] Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-21
Topic: Government Operations
David Nuttall (Conservative, Centre-right): With the authority of my hon. Friend the Member for Altrincham and Sale West (Mr Brady), and having listened carefully to the Minister’s comments, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Clause 5 Functions Amendments made: 5, page 4, line 26, at end insert ", or (c) so far as authorised by an order made by the Secretary of State— (i) for a person appointed as the deputy PCC mayor by virtue of an order under paragraph 3(1) of Schedule 2, or (ii) for a committee of the combined authority, consisting of members appointed by the mayor (whether or not members of the authority), to exercise any such function ‘( ) An order under subsection (3)(c)(ii) may include provision— (a) about the membership of the committee; (b) about the member of the committee who is to be its chair; (c) about the appointment of members; (d) about the voting powers of members (including provision for different weight to be given to the vote of different descriptions of member); (e) about information held by the combined authority that must, or must not, be disclosed to the committee for purposes connected to the exercise of the committee’s functions; (f) applying (with or without modifications) sections 15 to 17 of, and Schedule 1 to, the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 (political balance on local authority committees etc)." This amendment makes provision for a mayor to arrange for the person appointed as the deputy PCC mayor or a committee of the combined authority to exercise a general function which is exercisable by the mayor, if authorised to do so by an order made by the Secretary of State. Amendment 6, page 4, line 39, leave out paragraph (b) and insert— "(b) in accordance with arrangements made by virtue of this section or section 107DA." This amendment provides for a general function exercisable by the mayor for the area of a combined authority to be taken to be a function exercisable by a committee or by the deputy PCC mayor, where arrangements have been made under provision inserted by amendment 5 or new section 107DA, inserted by amendment 8. Amendment 7, page 5, line 3, at end insert— "() provide that functions that the mayoral combined authority discharges in accordance with arrangements under section 101(1)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972 (discharge of local authority functions by another authority) are to be treated as general functions exercisable by the mayor (so far as authorised by the arrangements)." This amendment enables the Secretary of State to provide by order that functions of a mayoral combined authority discharged in accordance with arrangements under section 101(1)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972 are to be treated as general functions exercisable by the mayor of the authority. Amendment 8, page 5, line 16, at end insert— "107DA Joint exercise of general functions (1) The Secretary of State may by order make provision for, or in connection with, permitting arrangements under section 101(5) of the Local Government Act 1972 to be entered into in relation to general functions of a mayor for the area of a combined authority (2) Provision under subsection (1) may include provision— (a) for the mayor for the area of a combined authority to be a party to the arrangements in place of, or jointly with, the authority; (b) about the membership of any joint committee; (c) about the member of the joint committee who is to be its chair; (d) about the appointment of members to a joint committee; (e) about the voting powers of members of a joint committee (including provision for different weight to be given to the vote of different descriptions of member) (3) Provision under subsection (2)(b) to (d) may include provision for the mayor or other persons— (a) to determine the number of members; (b) to have the power to appoint members (whether or not members of the combined authority or a local authority that is a party to the arrangements) (4) Provision under subsection (2)(c) may include provision as to the circumstances in which appointments to a joint committee need not be made in accordance with sections 15 to 17 of, and Schedule 1 to, the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 (political balance on local authority committees etc). (5) In this section references to a joint committee are to a joint committee falling within section 101(5)(a) of the Local Government Act 1972 that is authorised to discharge, by virtue of an order under this section, general functions of a mayor for the area of a combined authority."—(James Wharton.) This amendment enables the Secretary of State to make provision by order enabling the combined authority to enter into arrangements to discharge general functions of the mayoral combined authority jointly with one or more other local authorities or combined authorities. Clause 5, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill. Schedule 2 Mayors for combined authority areas: police and crime commissioner functions Amendments made: 23, page 26, line 33, leave out "police and crime commissioner functions" and insert "functions of a police and crime commissioner" This amendment makes a minor drafting change to paragraph 1(1) of new Schedule 5C to achieve consistency with the language used in new section 107E(1) as inserted by clause 5 of the Bill (to which sub-paragraph (1) cross-refers). Amendment 24, page 26, line 34, at end insert— ‘( ) A duty under this Schedule to make provision by order is a duty to make such provision in an order made at any time before the first election of a mayor who, by virtue of an order under section 107E(1), is to exercise functions of a police and crime commissioner." This amendment clarifies that an order made under new Schedule 5C can be made at any time before the relevant mayor is first elected and makes it plain that a Schedule 5C order can be made subsequently to an order under new section 107E. Amendment 25, page 30, line 12, at end insert— ‘( ) Subsections (5) and (6) of section 107C, so far as relating to the exercise of PCC functions, are subject to any provision contained in an order under this Schedule."—(James Wharton.) This amendment ensures that an order under new Schedule 5C can make provision to prevent a person who is acting in place of a mayor with police and crime commissioner functions from carrying out particular PCC functions such as issuing or varying a police and crime plan, consistent with the current position in respect of actin PCCs. Schedule 2, as amended, accordingly agreed to. Clauses 6 and 7 ordered to stand part of the Bill. Clause 8 Other public authority functions