Draft Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield Combined Authority (Election of Mayor) Order 2016

Andrew Percy Excerpts

Tuesday 19th July 2016 General Committees

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Andrew Percy)]

I beg to move,

That the Committee has considered the draft Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield Combined Authority (Election of Mayor) Order 2016.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Gray, for my first draft order as a Minister. The order was laid before the House on 27 June 2016 and will, if approved, create the position of mayor for the Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield combined authority, also known as the Sheffield city region combined authority, with the first election to be held in May 2017. It will set the first mayoral term for a duration of three years, with the next election in May 2020 and subsequent four-year terms. As a proud Yorkshireman, it is very nice for one of my first acts in this role to be that of devolving power and some funding away from Westminster and up to Yorkshire, where it will be better dealt with.

[The Chair]

Order. Will the hon. Gentlemen who are not yet properly dressed please leave the room, get properly dressed and return?

[The Chair]

Yes, you do, and your tie—[Interruption.] And you will not complain about the Chair’s order either. I am so sorry to interrupt, Minister.

[Andrew Percy]

The Government committed in their manifesto to

“devolve far-reaching powers over economic development, transport and social care to large cities which choose to have elected mayors.”

To give effect to that commitment, the Government passed the Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016. As set out to the House during the passage of that enabling legislation, the Government have introduced clauses to allow directly elected mayors for combined authorities. It is considered necessary that where major powers and budgets are being devolved, local people know who is responsible for decisions. Mayoral governance is one way of delivering that.

The order is a milestone in the implementation of the devolution deal agreed between the Government and local leaders in the Sheffield city region. I welcome the positive response to the proposal from many in the region. The order follows the establishment of the combined authority on 1 April 2014, from which time the combined authority has been serving the Sheffield city region, bringing together across the area the closely inter- connected issues of transport, economic development and regeneration. As a neighbouring MP to the South Yorkshire region—including Doncaster, which I am very fond of—it is good to know that these great Yorkshire cities and towns are working together for the good of their people.

On 2 October 2015, the Government and the combined authority announced a devolution agreement that provided an offer of powers and budgets from Government on the basis that the area will deliver certain reforms and measures, including adopting a directly elected mayor covering the whole of the combined authority area. The agreement included that the mayor of Sheffield city region will be responsible for a consolidated, devolved transport settlement. There is a good history in South Yorkshire of local authorities working together on local transport matters.

Following the introduction of the necessary primary legislation, the mayor will be responsible for the franchised bus services, which in turn will support the combined authority’s delivery of smart and integrated ticketing across the constituent councils. She or he will take on responsibility for an identified key route network of local authority roads and for strategic planning, including the responsibility for creating a spatial framework for the city region. In turn, the combined authority will take on the devolved funding of £30 million a year over 30 years to Sheffield city region. The combined authority will also have control of the devolved 19-plus skills funding.

[Sarah Champion (Rotherham) (Lab)]

Will the Minister give way?

[Andrew Percy]

Of course, I would be delighted.

[Sarah Champion]

On the £30 million a year, will the Minister confirm whether that is new money or coming from already ring-fenced local authority money?

[Andrew Percy]

This is gain share funding, so it will be a mixture of capital and revenue devolved from central Government. There are opportunities for other funding to be devolved in future, whether through the bus service operators grant or other areas of budget.

As well as control of the devolved 19-plus skills funding, the combined authority will also have joint responsibility with the Government to co-design employment support for harder-to-help-claimants. I know that will be welcomed in the region. We also want to see a devolved approach to business support from 2017 to be developed in partnership with Government. In addition, the Government have agreed to a pilot scheme in the Sheffield city region combined authority that will allow the area to retain 100% of any business rate growth beyond that forecast.

In delivering the full range of commitments in the devolution deal the Secretary of State intends, subject to statutory requirements and parliamentary approval, to make further orders to implement the deal. Subsequent orders will include the transfer of budgets and powers in planning, transport, education and skills.

[Gill Furniss (Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough) (Lab)]

As a Sheffield MP, it is only right that I pay tribute to the council leader, Julie Dore, who secured a very good deal for Sheffield through very hard-headed negotiations. I would like to ask the Minister about the €200 million European structural funding. Since the Brexit vote the other week, things are very uncertain. Can the Minister guarantee that the replacement of such funding will be in place if European funding is withdrawn?

[Andrew Percy]

I thank the hon. Lady and welcome her to the House. As we give effect to the will of the people of Sheffield—indeed the whole of South Yorkshire voted quite heavily for Brexit—it will be for the new Prime Minister to trigger article 50 at the appropriate time and begin those negotiations. Working with colleagues across Government, we are very keen to get that certainty about what happens to structural funding—the European regional development fund—in future. We are working on that and hope to be able to give guarantees at some point in the future. This is UK taxpayers’ funding, which goes to the European Union and comes back and is a portion of what we receive.

[The Chair]

Order. I am sorry to interrupt the Minister. We are drifting very far from the statutory instrument we are discussing today. Perhaps the Minister can turn to the SI itself.

[Andrew Percy]

I am always happy to talk about the European Union and the decision of the people of South Yorkshire.

[The Chair]

But not at this Committee.

[Andrew Percy]

But not at this Committee, I accept. But we will seek to get those guarantees.

The draft order establishes a mayor for the city region, sets the dates of elections and the first and subsequent term lengths. As required, all the constituent councils have consented to the order being made and the Government have laid the draft order, having had consideration of the statutory requirements. As required, we are now seeking Parliament’s approval before making the order.

Let me make a couple of points about the role of the mayor, although I do not wish to detain the Committee much longer. The order is about delivering devolution and empowering local authorities to set their own policy agendas. Before becoming a Minister somewhat surprisingly at the weekend—I was no more surprised than some of my colleagues—I always tried to champion more devolution to our regions. Other members of the Committee have also played an important role in that, so I welcome the creation of this new role in the combined authority.

It is important to emphasise the mayor will work closely alongside local council leaders. The hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough mentioned an excellent leader in Sheffield. They will sit together on the combined authority board and drive forward the economic opportunities presented by devolution for South Yorkshire, with the mayor acting as chairman of the combined authority and providing a single voice for the area that can be prominent nationally and help to drive the devolution agenda.

There has been a robust debate about the role of mayors, not just in South Yorkshire but elsewhere in the country. It is important to note that no one area has been required to adopt the mayoral model. The Government’s position is that if an area is to have a mayor, it will be because that area, through its democratically elected representatives, has chosen to have one. It is important to stress that devolution deals are a two-way process.

[Angela Smith (Penistone and Stocksbridge) (Lab)]

I congratulate the hon. Member on becoming a Minister and hope that he enjoys his new role. Surely the devolution deal on the table was available only if we accepted an elected mayor, so it was not exactly a choice. We had to have a mayor before we could have the money.

[Andrew Percy]

I take the hon. Lady’s point. As I have said, we have made it clear that this is a two-way deal. As such, the Government’s view is that the accountability offered by a mayor is desirable and this forms part of the devolution deal. It is right that a mayor forms part of the deal—as I say, it is a two-way process—but nobody is forced to accept that. If the local authorities had decided not to adopt this devolution deal, they would not have required a mayor, but I take the hon. Lady’s point.

In conclusion, if the draft order is approved, it will open the way for the full implementation of a devolution deal for the Sheffield city region across South Yorkshire. It is therefore a significant milestone on the devolution journey, which we hope will lead to greater prosperity, a more balanced economy and economic success across the Sheffield city region and the country. As a Yorkshire MP, I welcome the transfer and devolution of powers to South Yorkshire. I hope this is the start of a continuing process of more powers and more funding for our region.

We are committed as a Government to this journey, because there is a real opportunity for areas to assume powers and budgets that will help places achieve their full potential, hopefully take control of their growth and, importantly, have a positive impact on the lives of local citizens, in this case across the whole of South Yorkshire. I commend this draft order to the Committee.

--- Later in debate ---

[Andrew Percy]

It is a delight to have the hon. Member for Easington as my shadow Minister today. We did, as he said, serve on the Health Committee together. I think we got on all right. I will not sully his career any further by saying that we agreed on things. I am not sure that would be welcome in today’s Labour party, but we did get on very well and it is a pleasure to see him across the room today.

I will not deal with the issue of EU funding again; that would be straying, Mr Gray. I think I was quite clear on that. We are still a member of the European Union and until we leave, nothing has changed. In terms of the consultation, we have been quite clear that it is for local authorities themselves to determine how they engage with the public on these devolution deals. They are the democratically elected representatives of their areas. If they wish to adopt a devolution deal on this model, including an elected mayor, that is for the local authorities to determine.

I spent 10 years as a councillor on Hull City Council in Yorkshire. One problem with accountability and responsibility as a city councillor is that we did not have anybody speaking for our city as a single voice, and there was a weakness in that. I take the point that not every model necessarily works everywhere, but I want to see regional faces more involved in policy making down here and in policy development. Our traditional local authority structure sometimes makes that difficult. Leaders come and leaders go; they do not always speak for the whole of their council and authority. Having somebody who is a name with specific powers can be positive although, of course, there are always arguments on both sides. The more we can get people whom the public can see are clearly accountable, the better. That is something I always believed when I was a councillor.

I also welcome the shadow Minister’s tacit support for more devolution.

[Grahame M. Morris]

May I clarify? It is not tacit support. For more years than I care to remember, I have been an enthusiastic proponent and supporter of devolution, but it needs to be real devolution. On the issue of a precondition of an elected mayor, I know the Minister is honest and sincere, but the truth is that that has been a gun held to the heads of local government leaders: if they want this deal, they must accept an elected mayor. I think that is fundamentally wrong.

[Andrew Percy]

I have dealt with the mayoral issue as best I can. On devolution, having served as a local authority councillor for 10 years, I think the Government are doing a great deal more than previous ones to devolve powers. I sat in a local authority where we were constantly told what to do by central Government. We were repeatedly told we were being given powers and some funding. Occasionally that funding would appear for two or three years and then disappear. We would take on all the responsibilities and get none of the resources.

This Government have gone much further than any in recent history to reinvigorate local government and communities through this devolution package, which local authorities are free to accept or decline as they see fit for their area.

We will not stray into local authority funding today but the budgets have been broadly flat. Many local authorities in this particular area receive a lot more per head than those in other areas, including mine. On expansion, I can confirm to the shadow Minister that there is a consultation out at the moment to expand the area, including Chesterfield, Bassetlaw and other councils in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. I spoke to my parliamentary neighbour the hon. Member for Bassetlaw (John Mann), one of the shadow Minister’s colleagues, last night. He is a big supporter of this, as are many people in the region. We would have to table an order to extend the area and we would expect that to happen later this year. Those areas will be included if they choose to join the mayoral model before the elections. Their electors will then take part in the mayoral elections next year. It would be wrong to include them after that, in my view.

I think I have dealt with the shadow Minister’s points. I welcome his enthusiastic—not tacit—support for devolution. I commend the order as the start of an exciting process for South Yorkshire, north Nottinghamshire and north Derbyshire.

Question put and agreed to.