Alistair Burt (Shadow Minister (Communities and Local Government), Communities and Local Government; North East Bedfordshire, Conservative)

I have a couple of general questions. I am not sure what is behind the substitution of the title “senior executive member” for “elected mayor” in the clause, and I would be grateful if the Minister could let us know.

Phil Woolas (Minister of State (Local Government & Community Cohesion), Department for Communities and Local Government; Oldham East & Saddleworth, Labour)

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question. To which provisions is he referring specifically?

Alistair Burt (Shadow Minister (Communities and Local Government), Communities and Local Government; North East Bedfordshire, Conservative)

Throughout the clause, the term “elected mayor” is taken out and “senior executive member” is substituted. I wondered what the rationale for doing that was. It is a genuine question—I simply do not know.

Phil Woolas (Minister of State (Local Government & Community Cohesion), Department for Communities and Local Government; Oldham East & Saddleworth, Labour)

Perhaps if I explain the purpose of the clause, that will answer the question.

Sections 14 to 16 of the 2000 Act deal with how functions are discharged by the executive of a local authority. Specifically, they provide that functions that are the responsibility of an executive may be discharged by members of the executive, committees of the executive, or officers of the council. Currently, where there is a mayor and cabinet executive, the mayor can either discharge a particular function or arrange for that function to be discharged by the executive, an individual member of the executive, a committee of the executive, or an officer of the authority. By contrast, where there is a leader and cabinet executive, it is the authority as a whole that makes those decisions unless, of course, it leaves those decisions to the leader.

Clause 39, which we have just debated, makes changes to the form of executive arrangements in England. As a  consequence, clause 40 provides that, in future, all decisions about how executive functions will be discharged should remain in the hands of the mayor in the case of a mayoral executive; similarly, they should rest with the leader in the case of either a leader and cabinet executive or an elected executive, as in the model that we have just debated.

That means that, in future, all council leaders in England will have the same powers as mayors currently have to decide how executive functions are discharged. The arrangements in Wales, subject to the caveats that I referred to earlier, will remain unaltered. Therefore clause 40 strengthens the role of the leader and will help to deliver the conditions for the strong and accountable leadership that we have been discussing.

The provisions in the clause apply to all three models, so it is helpful to have a single term that refers to all three models, because the Bill, if Parliament allows it, will place the executive power in the leader’s office, whether that be a mayor, a directly elected leader of a directly elected executive, or an indirectly elected leader. It is simply common sense to have a single term.