Jim Fitzpatrick (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry; Poplar & Canning Town, Labour)

Good morning, Mr. O’Hara. It is good to see you presiding over our proceedings. I am sure that I speak for the whole Committee when I say that we are sorry to hear that this is the last sitting over which you will be presiding, because I am sure that we shall be engaged all the way through to our closure next Tuesday evening. We are grateful for your assistance in keeping us focused and on course.

Clause 38 places a duty on the Mayor and the assembly to address climate change. I am not sure who has arranged the weather for the debate today, but it is clearly appropriate. The Mayor is required under the duty to take action to help mitigate and adapt to climate change. He is also required to take the Government’s climate change policy into account when exercising any of his statutory functions. He must comply with any guidance or directions issued by the Secretary of State in performing that duty.

The assembly is required under the duty to take into account the Government’s climate change policy when exercising any of its statutory functions. It is also required to comply with any guidance or directions on climate change in respect of how it performs it duties.

The duty will ensure that action to tackle climate change is taken by the Mayor and the assembly on an enduring basis in Greater London. In fulfilling that duty, the Mayor can draw on his existing wide-ranging powers under the Greater London Authority Act 1999 to promote the improvement of the environment in fulfilling the duty. The requirement for the Mayor and the assembly to comply with any guidance or directions by the Secretary of State in respect of how the duty is performed will stop any damaging conflict between GLA policies and the Government’s policies in addressing climate change. A unified and consistent policy approach is necessary to optimise carbon reduction and adaptation to climate change.

Tom Brake (Shadow Minister, Department for Communities and Local Government; Carshalton & Wallington, Liberal Democrat)

I support the clause, but I want to clarify whether the Minister believes that the duty that will be placed on the Mayor in respect of climate change will be applicable to other mayors in future. Let us suppose, for example, that Birmingham chose to go down the mayoral route. Will the clause be setting a precedent and is it something that the Minister thinks it might be appropriate to be covered in the Local Government Bill that will be debated soon?

Jim Fitzpatrick (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry; Poplar & Canning Town, Labour)

I am sure that colleagues who are drafting the Local Government Bill will be taking account of the measures in this Bill, given that the Department for Communities and Local Government is responsible for both measures. I cannot say that a similar duty will automatically be placed on future mayors but, given the duty that is being imposed on the Mayor and the assembly, I should be surprised if it were not applied consistently throughout local government in future.