Clause 25
Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill [Lords]
12:45 pm
Mark Prisk (Shadow Minister, Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform; Hertford and Stortford, Conservative)
I am grateful for the Minister’s opening remarks on the clause. It is important and establishes the principle of primary authorities. Key to this matter is moving on from the familiar and established procedure of home authorities. If I made an unkind and unnecessary remark towards the city of Liverpool, I am more than happy to withdraw it. It is good to see that there are collaborations. I gather from the Minister that there are collaborations in the west midlands. The car dealership that he referred to, which we will now know as McFadden Motors, will clearly be able to trade across the west midlands with some confidence.
The primary authorities established by the clause lead me to the written evidence submitted by Hertfordshire county council, which I saw this morning. It raises a good and practical series of points. There is one particularly important point on the practical and resource implications of changing from the home authority to the primary authority. I am a Member of Parliament for Hertfordshire and county hall is in Hertford in my constituency. For those who are not familiar with Hertfordshire, it is already established as a home authority for Tesco, Dixons, Nissan, Renault and Orange. It has three dedicated offices working on that role.
I refer hon. Members to the first page of the document from Hertfordshire county council. It states:
“Under the current proposals in the Bill it is estimated that this resource”—
the resource in terms of homes for primary authorities—
“would need to increase by at least 100% assuming that only the largest businesses take advantage of the Bill's provisions. If smaller businesses take advantage of the primary authority provisions in the Bill, this increase could be multiplied several times. We estimate that up to twelve full time officers would be needed to service the increased needs of the thousands of businesses based in Hertfordshire under the requirements of the Bill.”
Three officers are currently required, but that figure could rise to 12. Even if only the largest of the businesses—say only six of them—currently working with the council as a home authority continue to work with it when it is a primary authority, the latter’s resource commitment will double.
The Minister and most Committee members will be aware of the long-held understanding between the Local Government Association and Her Majesty’s Government that additional duties placed on local authorities, in legislation, will be reflected in formula funding. Will that understanding be honoured? Will any duties placed on local authorities under this Bill be directly reflected in their formula funding?