Clause 120
Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]
9:45 am
Rosie Winterton (Minister of State (Yorkshire and the Humber), Department for Communities and Local Government; Doncaster Central, Labour)
Clause 120 lists the partner authorities for the purposes of MAAs with duties. That list is the same as the list of partner authorities for local area agreements set out in the Local Government and Public Involvement in Heath Act 2007. If, as has been requested by local government, we are going to put MAAs on a similar statutory footing to LAAs, it is obviously appropriate that the lists of partners are consistent. Amendment 159 would remove reference to the functions of the Secretary of State that are carried out by Jobcentre Plus, the Highways Agency and the probation service. That would have the effect of making the Secretary of State a partner authority for all purposes. I think that that relates to some previous amendments, as perhaps the hon. Lady has said, which were tabled out of a concern about the statutory role of the Secretary of State in the approval of MAAs. There is, therefore, a problem with the amendment.
Amendment 160 would prevent the Secretary of State from removing bodies from the list of partner authorities. The problem with that is that it would prevent the Secretary of State from making changes to take account of changes in the machinery of government, and from keeping the list up to date. For those reasons, I urge the Committee to reject the amendments.