Clause 48
Greater London Authority Bill
2:15 pm
Yvette Cooper (Minister of State (Housing and Planning), Department for Communities and Local Government; Pontefract and Castleford, Labour)
We have discussed the nature of the assembly’s role and the Mayor’s role in determining the budget. The Government think that there are adequate safeguards to ensure that the assembly has the resources it needs and can exercise its scrutiny function properly.
With reference to the proposals, we should recognise that back-office functions at city hall are already usually shared between the Mayor and the assembly. The clause will require the Mayor to consult the assembly before entering into any arrangement for the GLA to delegate or take on functional bodies’ back-office functions. The assembly will also be free to agree protocols or service level agreements with any functional body that provides a back-office function for the GLA.
We think that the amendment’s intentions are already captured in the Bill. A series of appropriate mechanisms—protocols, existing arrangements, the budget and the Mayor’s requirement to consult—will provide the kind of safeguard that hon. Members require.