Clause 1 - Civil defence: grants
Civil Defence (Grant) Bill
10:30 am
Mr Tim Collins (Westmorland and Lonsdale, Conservative)
As you, Mr. Griffiths, will have noticed, my name appears on the amendment together with that of the hon. Member for Winchester (Mr. Oaten). Perhaps the Government Whip is a little sensitive about yesterday's developments—[Interruption.] He has indicated, by a sedentary intervention, that he is not totally content.
As the hon. Member for Winchester has said, one of the amendment's purposes is to establish what the Government think about the subject under discussion. Although the Minister is likely to refer us to standard procedures relating to the allocation of grants to local authorities under other legislation, several points require clarification.
The lines that the amendment would delete contain a reference to the designated Minister. Although such a reference is standard practice in legislation, will the Minister clarify which of his colleagues at the Cabinet Office he would expect to be the designated Minister for those purposes—would it be him or someone else? The situation has changed: responsibilities were transferred earlier in 2001 from the Home Office to the Cabinet Office, and local authorities would like to know which Minister they should be lobbying with regard to those purposes and whether a particular portfolio within the Cabinet Office would normally be expected to have responsibility for the allocation of grants.
Will the Minister also share his thoughts about the general view that he would expect the Government to take across the board—or, specifically, Cabinet Office Ministers to take with regard to this particular instance? What criteria would they use to assess whether it they should use different formulae or criteria when making determinations for different authorities? Is it simply the case, as the hon. Member for Winchester said, that the Minister wishes to have the flexibility to take account of unexpected circumstances, or does he wish, in general, to have the power to distinguish between, for example, urban and rural authorities—or to make special provisions for authorities with major concentrations of population that might be subject to particular forms of civil contingency planning, or for authorities with a coastline or a large amount of territory that is affected by flood plains or rivers? What criteria might the Government wish to use to draw distinctions between local authorities?
The Minister will be aware that there is always enormous tension—some might go so far as to say resentment—among local authorities when distinctions are made. It will always be the case that no two local authorities will be treated in a way that leaves both of them happy. However, it is important to have clarification on the reasons why local authorities that regard themselves as similar are treated differently by the Government for these purposes.
Finally, should the amendment fall and subsection (3) remain unaltered, does the Minister expect Government decisions under this heading to be subject to the normal processes of judicial review? If a local authority felt that a ministerial decision was unreasonable, even allowing for the flexibility granted under the Bill, could it still ask the court for a view on whether the Government had acted unreasonably or on the basis of demonstrably faulty information? It would reassure me if the Minister were to say that the normal procedures would remain in place. In certain circumstances, local authorities may wish to avail themselves of that important backstop.
I hope that the Minister will be able, perhaps with advice, to answer some of those questions. If he cannot answer them now, perhaps he will do so in correspondence.