Clause 42 - Local government finance reports: Wales
Local Government Bill
11:00 am
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Cotswold, Conservative)
That is very helpful, Mr. Conway.
Clause 42 is the paving clause, which provides for local government reports for police and other authorities in Wales. Schedule 2 is important because it sets out the entire financing provision made by the Welsh Assembly to each Welsh local authority. I want to ask the Under-Secretary of State for Wales several questions. How will the Welsh Assembly set out its proposals, publish them, pay for them, recalculate them and amend them? The schedule does not appear to include any power of appeal for local authorities, but surely there must be an appeal mechanism or some form of consultation to put right any mistakes made by the Welsh Assembly because it will not get it right in every case. Some mechanism is needed whereby each local authority can make additional representations once the financial settlement has been published. Finally, will bodies have recourse to the High Court for judicial review against decisions of the Welsh Assembly with which they are aggrieved?