New Clause 20
Greater London Authority Bill
11:45 am
Jim Fitzpatrick (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry; Poplar and Canning Town, Labour)
We will also consult widely before making the order.
I am afraid that the Government cannot accept the amendment. As the hon. Gentleman said, the amendment would add local councillors who receive any allowance for executive responsibilities to the list of memberships explicitly referred to in section 25 of the 1999 Act which could be subject to the order by the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State already has the power to include councillors who are in receipt of an allowance for undertaking executive responsibilities, under section 25(1)(c), which allows the Secretary of State to specify the membership of other public bodies beyond the UK/European Parliaments to be covered in the order. Accordingly, the amendment is not strictly necessary and only highlights the fact that this category of political representative may be affected by an order under section 25.
Furthermore, the Government have no plans to extend our proposed revised order on the abatement of salaries to cover councillors who are in receipt of an allowance for undertaking executive responsibilities. Such an extension would raise a number of complicated issues, such as the treatment of councillors who undertake executive functions on a part-time basis, which would need to be considered carefully, as I am sure the hon. Gentleman would accept.