Regional Assemblies (Preparations) Bill
10:30 am
Mr Nick Raynsford (Minister of State (Local and Regional Government), Office of the Deputy Prime Minister; Greenwich and Woolwich, Labour)
I beg to move,
That—
(1) during proceedings on the Regional Assemblies (Preparations) Bill (except Clauses Nos. 1 to 4) the Standing Committee do meet on Tuesdays at half-past Ten o'clock and at half-past Four o'clock and on Thursdays at five minutes to Nine o'clock and at half-past Two o'clock, except that the Committee shall not meet on Thursday 5th December 2002;
(2) 10 sittings in all shall be allotted to the consideration of the Bill by the Committee;
(3) the proceedings shall be taken in the following order, namely—
Clauses 5 to 15, the Schedule, Clauses 16 to 18, New Clauses and New Schedules relating to Part 2, Clauses 19 to 22, New Clauses and New Schedules relating to Part 3, Clauses 23 to 29, and Remaining New Clauses and New Schedules and any remaining proceedings on the Bill,
(4) the Committee shall report the Bill (except Clauses Nos. 1 to 4) to the House not later than Thursday 19th December 2002.
We propose to meet twice daily on Tuesdays and Thursdays, except for Thursday 5 December when, as members of the Committee know, the Government will be making a statement on the local government formula grant review. It is the view of all parties that they want to concentrate on that important, but extremely complex issue.
May I say what a pleasure it is to be in Committee under your chairmanship, Mr. Butterfill? It is not something that I have enjoyed previously, but I have heard positive reports about you from my colleagues and others who have experienced your firm and fair chairmanship of other Committees. I am mindful that we owe you a debt, Mr. Butterfill, not only for your chairmanship of our proceedings, but for looking after our pensions. Those of us who may be approaching retirement age are particularly mindful of your assiduous care of such matters.
The Bill paves the way for referendums on whether elected regional assemblies should be established in the English regions outside London. Part 1 provides for the Government to cause referendums to be held on whether a region should have an elected assembly. It sets out the question to be asked and defines those who are eligible to vote. Part 2 provides for local government reviews to be conducted by the boundary committee for England before referendums are held. Part 3 provides for the Government to require the Electoral Commission to give them advice on the electoral areas for an elected regional assembly where the Government propose to establish one. Part 4 provides the power for the Government to pay grants to the voluntary regional chambers or assemblies, as they are often called.
The Bill will provide for the first time for regions to be given a distinct political voice and to have a real say over the decisions that matter to them. It is therefore an extremely important contribution towards the wider constitutional agenda of devolution and decentralisation to which the Government are committed. The Deputy Prime Minister and I have made clear that elected assemblies will take functions predominantly from Whitehall and its agencies, not from local authorities. In doing so, they will introduce a regional level of democracy as well as reduce bureaucracy. They can give regions the responsibility to take greater control over regional issues such as economic development and regeneration, planning, housing, transport, health, culture and the environment—important issues that are best tackled at a regional level. Such logic has lain behind our White Paper and the proposals that underpin the Bill.
I am sure that we will have energetic, detailed and, I hope, good-natured debates in Committee. The issues involved do not unite all parties. The official Opposition are opposed in principle to our devolution proposals. However, they were opposed to our proposals for devolution for Scotland, Wales and, indeed, London. Having initially opposed them and voted against them, Conservative Members then reflected on the matter, saw the good sense in what we were doing and changed their minds. I wager that a similar pattern will emerge under the proposals that we are about to discuss. We will hear much protest and opposition to the Bill in Committee, but after it is enacted, referendums are held and elected regional assemblies come into being—