Clause 3 - Creation of combined fire and rescue authorities: supplementary
Fire and Rescue Services Bill
9:25 am
Mr Nick Raynsford (Minister of State (Local and Regional Government), Office of the Deputy Prime Minister; Greenwich and Woolwich, Labour)
I only regret that I was not present at your agreeable dinner last night, Sir Nicholas, but I hope that the equally agreeable evening that I shared with my family will ensure that the mood that you described is replicated on this side of the Committee.
I hope that we can conclude our discussion on clause 3 and move on to the many other important measures in the Bill. In our second sitting on Tuesday, I explained that clause 3 largely follows the existing Fire Services Act 1947 in setting out the financial and administrative matters that an order combining fire and rescue authorities must or may cover, including the appointment of new members to a new authority. Subsection (3)(a) also allows the Secretary of State, where appropriate, to appoint a minority of authority members to provide wider experience, including the managerial expertise that may be required if combination is required to tackle the failure of existing authorities.
We had an extensive and energetic discussion of the latter point, and I am aware that not all hon. Members agreed with me. In particular, the hon. Member for Cotswold (Mr. Clifton-Brown) was worried that the Secretary of State appointees might be party to policy on operational decisions that effectively tied the hands of those representing local communities, forcing them to raise the level of council tax. I assure the Committee that it is to give the final say to local authority appointees that subsection (5) requires that precepting decisions be approved by a majority of those not appointed by the Secretary of State.