Clause 30
Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]
1:30 pm
Sarah McCarthy-Fry (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Communities and Local Government; Portsmouth North, Labour)
I am glad that we all agree that overview and scrutiny is an important way of ensuring local accountability and transparency. Moreover, it is an important tool for empowering communities and enabling local people, through their democratically elected representatives, to participate. However, we must ensure that all lead councils rise to the standards of the best, and that all are aware that this powerful tool is an effective means of driving improvement.
For effective scrutiny, it is important that there is proper officer support and that officer resources are in place to provide that support and advice. The evaluation document, “The New Council Constitutions: The Outcomes and Impact of the Local Government Act 2000”, made a number of important points. First, less officer support is provided for scrutiny compared with executive functions. Secondly, scrutiny works best and is more robust in areas in which resources are committed. Thirdly, scrutiny arrangements are not as robust as executive arrangements. Moreover, we looked carefully at the Centre for Public Scrutiny survey, which sought views from the local government sector on the single element that would do most to improve the overview and scrutiny function. One of the highest responses was to provide more resources and staff.
We also consulted extensively on how to implement the proposals for scrutiny and support set out in the White Paper, “Communities in control”. The Centre for Public Scrutiny thought that that would be essential, if scrutiny is to benefit from the new powers and responsibilities outlined in the White Paper. We looked at three corporate statutory posts, which, experience has shown, are the foundation for ensuring that councils devote sufficient attention and support to those key functions in a way that is appropriate to their local circumstances.
We have given careful consideration to views expressed in the consultation, which make a compelling case for our proposal to replace the requirement on lead councils to have a scrutiny officer who is responsible for supporting the work of their overview and scrutiny committee, which does not have to be their only role. We are not saying that councils should have one person who only does that. We leave that decision to local councils.