Local Audit and Accountability Bill [HL]

Lord Christopher Excerpts

Monday 15th July 2013 Lords Chamber

I know that the noble Lord wants specific arrangements in place at present. However, as I said before, we cannot give those in this House. There will be further discussions in the other place relating to the specific elements that the noble Lord has raised. That is not to say that I am not grateful to him for having done so. It is important that we put down the fact that work will carry on over the next few months so that we can come to conclusions about these arrangements. I hope that the noble Lord will feel able to accept my explanation, and I thank the noble Lord, Lord Palmer, for giving me some very rousing support.

[Lord Christopher]

My Lords, before the noble Baroness sits down, will she kindly explain a point on which I am very unclear? Some time before 2017, someone will have to decide whether the existing contracts are to be extended or not. My view is that they should be extended because they are cost-effective. Who will handle that, and who will deal with the situation that would arise if perhaps a small number of local authorities covered by a particular contract do not wish to renew while the remainder do?

[Baroness Hanham]

My Lords, the current contracts are due to last until 2017, and there will then be an interim arrangement between 2015 and 2017, as I have described. After 2017, unless for some reason it is decided universally to extend the contracts again en bloc—which is completely outside what we are talking about today, and it is probably unlikely—it is for the local authorities to make their own decisions about the contracts: where they want them to be, and with whom. Following 2017, within that interim period between 2015 and 2017, local authorities will have to decide what they will do and how to manage it.