Clause 2
Greater London Authority Bill
10:30 am
Michael Gove (Shadow Minister (Housing), Communities and Local Government; Surrey Heath, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 30, in clause 2, page 2, line 21, leave out
‘or any of the functional bodies’
and insert
‘, any of the functional bodies or such body representative of the London borough councils’.
The amendment is simple and intended to clarify the consultation procedure that the Mayor must go through. The Greater London Authority Act 1999 lists bodies to be given priority in consultation. We seek to amend it to ensure that the consultation procedure takes into account one vital, currently missing body.
If there is a theme or leitmotif that we shall attempt to introduce in our scrutiny of the Bill, it is the importance of ensuring that devolution goes to the lowest possible level. One of our concerns is that while the Bill will grant welcome additional powers, which currently lie with central Government and their agencies, to the accountable office of the Mayor, it will also take from the boroughs powers that should remain in their hands without ensuring that they and the assembly have a balancing role in ensuring that the Mayor’s functions are discharged effectively.
In keeping with that theme, the amendment would add to the list of primary consultees the constituent body that represents London councils, so London Councils—formerly the Association of London Government—should have equal consultation status with the Greater London assembly. It seems appropriate that that body should be given that status, because so many of the Mayor’s responsibilities depend on the boroughs for their effective discharge. The original conception of the Mayor’s role was strategic. In that respect, many of the delivery functions outside the scope of the functional bodies devolve on to the boroughs. It is only appropriate, therefore, when it comes to the preparation of the Mayor’s strategies, that the Mayor take full account of what London boroughs think, through the representative body that speaks for them all. I hope that the Government have no objection to making this small but constructive amendment, in the spirit of increased and enhanced scrutiny and the principle of devolution.