Lord Wharton of Yarm
Main Page: Lord Wharton of Yarm (Conservative - Life peer)Draft Tees Valley Combined Authority Order 2016
Lord Wharton of Yarm Excerpts(8 years, 9 months ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (James Wharton)
I beg to move,
That the Committee has considered the draft Tees Valley Combined Authority Order 2016.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Bone. At the outset, I should declare my interest, in every sense, in a draft statutory instrument that is an important piece of legislation for the area that I represent and the Tees Valley as a whole.
The draft order, which was laid before the House on 11 February 2016, if approved, will create a combined authority for the Tees Valley. It will be made pursuant to the provisions of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009, as amended by the Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016.
The Government are committed to
“devolve powers and budgets to boost local growth in England”,
and combined authorities are the mechanism for doing that. The process to establish a combined authority is instigated from the bottom up. It is led by the councils involved and, in this case, the proposal was made by the five constituent councils of Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, and Stockton-on-Tees. If the draft order receives parliamentary approval, the Tees Valley combined authority will be the sixth established in the past five years.
Establishing the Tees Valley combined authority is a first step in the implementation of the devolution deal agreed by the Government and local leaders in October 2015. The Secretary of State intends, subject to statutory requirements and parliamentary approval, to make further orders to implement that deal fully. Measures will include the creation of a mayor and the transfer of budgets and powers in skills and transport, as well as the establishment of the first mayoral development corporation outside London.
The draft order provides for the constituent councils to assume responsibility for economic development, regeneration and transport across the Tees Valley. It will enable the five councils and their partners, including Tees Valley Unlimited, to work together more effectively and efficiently to promote growth, secure investment and create jobs. There will be a separate order to create the position of mayor; the mayor will be elected in May 2017. Further future orders will provide the combined authority and the mayor with additional responsibilities reflective of the proposals in the devolution deal.
In laying the draft order, we have followed the statutory process specified in the 2009 Act, as amended by the 2016 Act. I confirm to the Committee that we consider the statutory tests to have been met unambiguously by the proposal, so we seek the Committee’s approval of the draft order.
In considering the draft order to create a combined authority for the Tees Valley, we have reached another significant milestone in the Government’s agenda to make a real difference to communities throughout the UK and in particular in the north of England, where we want to build and deliver on the northern powerhouse and to unlock the huge economic potential that we know exists. If the order is approved it will open the way for the five councils in the Tees Valley to work together in a formal capacity across the areas of economic development, regeneration and transport. That will empower local decision makers and will be a first step in the implementation of the Tees Valley devolution deal. I commend the draft order to the Committee.
The Chair
It is very good to see so many extra Members here today. I remind everyone that Members who are not on the Committee may take part in the debate, but cannot vote.
James Wharton
We have had an interesting and wide-ranging discussion. First, I commend the comments of the hon. Member for Nottingham North, who is a consistent and passionate advocate of devolution. He talked of the merits he sees in what is being done, but as is his habit on these occasions, he then talked of where he would like us to go further. I have no doubt that the broad thrust of what he said is true—this is only one more step on a very long journey—and I welcome the enthusiasm with which he engages with this subject and the expertise that he has brought to the Committee. We may not always agree on which steps should be taken in which order, but his contributions are always informative and helpful. I welcome them and thank him for making them.
That approach is one that some of the other Members here would do well to heed. At times this morning, the debate appeared to become broader—one that was of course within the remit of the order under consideration, under the guidance of your chairmanship, Mr Bone—about local government revenue and funding settlements, but that is a separate matter. The money that comes with the combined authority—£15 million a year over 30 years, which can be borrowed against and used to drive economic growth—will be in the hands and control of local decision makers and is entirely separate from the local government settlement that individual authorities receive, whether people support them or not.
James Wharton
It is therefore a shame that so many of the comments seemed to focus on matters that are separate from what fundamentally we are here to discuss. More significantly, those comments were negatively phrased, as if Members have a lack of ambition for the Tees Valley and a lack of faith in the people of the Tees Valley to control their destiny and their future and to use the powers that devolution will give them to create economic growth.
We are entering an exciting period for the Tees Valley, and the combined authority will make a significant contribution towards further enabling that close co-operation—that working together among authorities—that already takes place in the Tees Valley. The combined authority is an important step towards our devolution deal and delivering on that commitment, but I want to see it go further. I welcome further proposals from the Tees Valley, whether that is the combined authority or local leaders, on the powers they would like to see and the future devolution deals they would like to do.
Today, we are taking a significant step in delivering on the deal that has been signed. We are committed to meeting our obligations under that deal. We are looking forward to continuing the work on taking that further, and we are always happy to work with constructive local partners who want to build the economies of their areas and who want to work hard to deliver a better future for their residents. For those reasons, I commend the order to the Committee and the House.
James Wharton
How can I not respond? I will keep my comments brief, Mr Bone, for fear that the longer you are in the Chair in your neutral capacity, the less time you will have to contribute to the broader European debate. I would not want to keep you from that important task.
It is important to be clear about the separation of the two issues. There is the broader issue of local government funding, which is a matter that the House has discussed at some length and, I am sure, will continue to do so. There is then the issue of the funding that goes to the combined authority as a result of the deal it has entered into, which includes some of the funding streams that hon. Members have spoken about, including the £15 million a year, which will make a significant difference to the Tees Valley economy if it is used in the right way. In principle, the people who best know how to use it in the right way are those who know the economy and the area, are who are chosen locally to make those decisions.
It is absolutely the intention of the Government to meet the obligations in the deal that has been reached with local authority leaders of the Tees Valley. We are committed to doing that and we continue to work on it. The order is an important step towards delivering that, which is why I am pleased to commend it to the Committee.
James Wharton
I will give way, but I hope that we are then able to make progress in an area on which, actually, there is probably broad support.
Alex Cunningham
I am grateful to the Minister for giving way. My hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham North demonstrated that he might not be a mathematician but could the Minister tell us what value could be derived from £15 million in terms of borrowing? What would that mean for capital projects for the Tees Valley?
James Wharton
It is not for me to tell the Tees Valley how to use the money that would become available to it, but £15 million a year is the starting agreement. There will then be an assessment of how the money is used, with an opportunity to expand the fund. It will be for the Tees Valley to look at how it best wants to use it—whether it is to borrow or invest, and what it wants to invest it in.
The fund is £450 million over the life of the commitment that the Government have made, and there is potential to increase it when we look at how it is used and how economic growth is generated with it. Ultimately, it will be for the local authority, the combined authority and the mayor, when they are elected, to determine how it is best used. It is welcome and it is additional funding coming to the Tees Valley that would not be coming but for the agreements that have been made and for the deal that is being done. The deal, important as it is, moves closer to completion through what we are here to discuss.
Mrs Lewell-Buck
Is the Minister seriously suggesting that £15 million is compensation for more than £200 million-worth of cuts? He cannot be for real.
James Wharton
As I have tried to explain, the Minister is trying to say that what is happening in local government spending with the need to bring down the deficit that the Labour Government left the country with—the economic disaster that we inherited in 2010—
The Chair
Order. I say gently to Opposition Members that they raised the issue, and the Minister has every right to say what he thinks.
James Wharton
Thank you, Mr Bone. The economic disaster that was left behind after 13 years of Labour Government is something that we need to put right. We worked hard for five years in coalition to make progress towards that goal. We had a general election in which people could express their verdict on what that Government did. We are committed to continuing to bring down the deficit and to bring spending under control. However, that process is separate from the combined authority agreement and the additional funding that is coming in.
Regardless of the arguments about local authority funding, where that money should be spent and what settlements should be agreed with each local authority area, we are talking about an agreement that will deliver additional funding for the Tees Valley. That is welcome and it will help to drive growth. That is why, despite the comments that diverted somewhat from the core area that we were here to discuss—the combined authority and what it means—and despite the temptation for Opposition Members to discuss local government funding in a broader sense, what we are here to discuss is something that should be and, indeed, probably is welcomed by both sides once we cut through the smoke and noise that surrounds much of the debate.
The provision is about extra money, more powers, local control, real devolution and delivering on a deal that was agreed between local people and the Government. It will be good for the Tees Valley and for the people and the communities who work there, and I commend it to the Committee and to the House for that reason.
Question put and agreed to.
Resolved,
That the Committee has considered the draft Tees Valley Combined Authority Order 2016.