Draft West Midlands Combined Authority (Functions and amendment) Order 2017

Andrew Percy Excerpts

Monday 27th March 2017 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 West Midlands Combined Authority (Functions and Amendment) Order 2017.

It is a deep pleasure, Mr Evans, to serve under your chairmanship. If made, the draft order, which was laid before the House on 6 March, will bring to life the devolution deal that the Government negotiated with the West Midlands on 17 November 2015. The draft order will confer new powers on the Mayor and the combined authority, as set out in the groundbreaking and exciting devolution deal, particularly regarding transport, housing and regeneration, air quality, smoke-free premises, places and vehicles, antisocial behaviour and culture. The overall result will be to create for the West Midlands arrangements that should—and we hope will—materially contribute to the promotion of economic growth across the area, improve productivity and, of course, facilitate investment and the development of the area’s infrastructure.

From chairing previous statutory instrument Committees, Mr Evans, you will be aware that this devolution deal is one of a number that we have negotiated, in fulfilment of our important manifesto commitment to devolve powers from Westminster to local communities that choose to have an elected Mayor. Through the deal, the West Midlands combined authority will receive a devolved transport budget, new housing and regeneration powers, and control over an investment fund of £36.5 million a year for 30 years, with the aim of boosting growth and prosperity in the area.

The implementation of the deal agreed between local leaders and the Government has seen two orders already pass through the House: first, the West Midlands Combined Authority Order 2016, which, unsurprisingly, established the combined authority, and secondly, the West Midlands Combined Authority (Election of Mayor) Order 2016, which created the position of Mayor for the West Midlands. The first election will take place on 4 May.

The statutory origin of today’s draft order is in the governance review and scheme prepared by the combined authority with, of course, the consent of the constituent councils: Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton. The draft order is made in accordance with the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009. The scheme sets out proposals for powers to be conferred on the combined authority, with some to be exercised by the Mayor, and for funding and constitutional provisions to support the powers. As required by the 2009 legislation, the combined authority and the councils consulted on the scheme proposals. The consultation ran for seven weeks, from 4 June to 21 August 2016, and the combined authority provided the Secretary of State with a summary of the responses last September.

Before laying the draft order before Parliament, the Secretary of State considered the statutory requirements of the 2009 Act and is satisfied that they have been met. In short, that means that any transfer of powers should lead to an improvement in the exercise of the statutory functions across the West Midlands combined authority area. The Secretary of State has also had regard to the impact on local government and communities, as required by the legislation. Furthermore, the seven constituent councils have consented to the making of the draft order.

Turning, hopefully briefly, to the detail of the draft order, the Mayor takes on responsibilities for a devolved and consolidated transport budget under the deal, and a key route network of local authority roads. The West Midlands is substantially more advanced on the key route network than other devolution deal areas, which is why those particular routes are listed in the draft order. The draft order also confers powers to enter into agreements with highways authorities, Ministers and Highways England in relation to the maintenance of roads; powers to promote road safety and to regulate traffic; powers to operate a permit scheme to control the carrying out of works on the combined authority roads; and powers to collect contributions from utility companies for diversionary works needed as a result of works on the key route network.

More generally, the Mayor will have powers to pay grants—in practice, for highways maintenance—to the seven constituent councils of the combined authority, with the condition that the Mayor have regard to the desirability of ensuring that the councils have sufficient funds to discharge their highways functions effectively. With the assistance of the combined authority, the Mayor will exercise compulsory purchase powers in relation to housing and regeneration—the same powers that presently reside with the Homes and Communities Agency. The draft order provides that the functional powers of competence already exercisable by the combined authority can also be exercised by the Mayor.

The draft order will confer a number of powers on the combined authority, in addition to its existing transport, economic development and regeneration powers. These will include issuing penalty charges in respect of bus lane contraventions across the entire combined authority, as well as powers and functions of the HCA relating to improving the supply and quality of housing—a really important power, which also includes securing the regeneration or development of land or infrastructure, and supporting the creation, regeneration and development of communities. These powers will be exercised concurrently with the HCA.

The combined authority will receive powers to designate mayoral development areas, leading to the creation of mayoral development corporations—the first such corporation, which has been approved already in this place, is in the South Tees devolution area. Powers relating to air quality will be devolved, too, as will powers to be an enforcement authority in relation to the prohibition of smoking in premises, places and vehicles; powers to issue civil injunctions for antisocial behaviour on the bus and tram network; and powers to take a role in cultural activities, with the provision and support of cultural events and entertainments across the combined authority area.

The draft order provides for the necessary constitutional and funding arrangements to support the Mayor and the combined authority, including the establishment of an independent remuneration panel to recommend the allowances of the Mayor and deputy Mayor. It also provides for the addition of five new non-constituent councils, which will not be full members of the combined authority and will not take part in the elections, but which will be around the table for important decisions. Those five new non-constituent councils—North Warwickshire, Rugby, Shropshire, Stratford-on-Avon and Warwickshire—will join the existing five non-constituent councils of Telford and Wrekin, Tamworth, Nuneaton and Bedford, Cannock Chase, and Redditch.

The draft order will come into force on 8 May when the West Midlands Mayor takes office, with the exception of the provision relating to the establishment of an independent remuneration panel, which will come into force on the day after the draft order is made, to ensure that arrangements are in place for when the Mayor is elected.

In conclusion, the draft order will devolve brand-new, far-ranging powers to the West Midlands and will put decision making in the hands of local communities. We hope, through these deals, to help to rebalance the economy and create prosperity across the West Midlands and in the other devolution deal areas that we have negotiated. I commend the draft order to the Committee.

--- Later in debate ---

[Andrew Percy]

I am delighted that the hon. Gentleman spotted my deliberate mistake. I was making sure that people were awake for this important Committee. I may have inadvertently said Bedford when I meant Bedworth—I apologise if I did indeed say that. It was a deliberate accidental mistake, if such a thing can exist. My geography gets a little pasty south of Sheffield, being a proud Yorkshireman.

I welcome the fact that the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Oldham West and Royton, welcomes the draft order. He tends to be consistent in his contributions to these debates: he welcomes the general principle, but then he goes on to criticise the draft order. All I will say is that we must be doing something right with these deals, because two of his parliamentary colleagues have decided that these roles are so important and interesting that they have deserted the parliamentary Labour party to run for Mayor in Liverpool and in Manchester.

We are, of course, attracting big names. I cannot remember the name of the Labour candidate for the West Midlands, but I can remember the name of Andy Street, who is the excellent Conservative candidate. He is obviously the only candidate with a proper vision for the whole of the West Midlands, and we expect him to do very well come the elections. I am sorry that I cannot remember the name of the Labour candidate, but the fact that we are attracting big names to run for these roles is an indication of how much influence the new combined authorities have.

I think the shadow Minister made two policy announcements today: he recommitted the Labour party to the establishment of metropolitan councils, and then he said, “We want to be equals with Scotland and Wales.” I am not sure whether that is a new Labour policy of a Parliament for England, but those were two interesting Opposition policy announcements.

The shadow Minister said that there will be no real powers and he talked about local taxation. Shortly, local authorities will be able to retain 100% of business rates, and the Government have given them much more freedom with business rate discounts. We have given them flexibility to offer reductions, should they wish to do so.

[Jim McMahon]

Does the Minister accept that there is a world of difference between fiscal retention and fiscal devolution?

[Andrew Percy]

We are giving much more control and certainty to local authorities than ever was the case when the hon. Gentleman’s party was in government.

[Jim McMahon]

The good old days.

[Andrew Percy]

Well, they were not really good old days. If they were such good old days, Labour would not have left office with unemployment much higher than it was when they came to office, the economy would not have tanked and people would not have voted them out. They cannot have been that jolly. Certainly, the people in my constituency who were sacked on the Labour party’s watch do not think of them as good old days.

[Jim McMahon]

Is that in the draft order?

[Andrew Percy]

I am just responding to the hon. Gentleman’s point. I have noticed in a number of these debates that he makes a point, I respond to it and then he has a go at me for doing so. It is an interesting debating technique.

The hon. Gentleman also mentioned employment and skills. He said there is nothing in the draft order about the DWP and skills. The truth is that combined authorities will have full retention of the post-19 budget by the start of the 2018-19 academic year, and they will also chair the area-based reviews for post-16 skills provision. That includes the power to co-design employment support for the hardest-to-help claimants. Of course, that will be done in partnership with central Government—the DWP—because, quite rightly, they have a national framework for what they want to achieve in getting people back to work.

The deals confer a power that does not presently exist, which enables the new local structures to co-design that employment support. I would have thought that the hon. Gentleman would agree that the best way to achieve for people who are looking for work or who have employment and skills issues is with a partnership between central and local government. The co-design power, which the hon. Gentleman was a bit sniffy about, is actually really important, and I think the West Midlands will value it.

I do not think there is much more to say than that. I wish the shadow Minister well with his shed building—I am available to come and open it. Come the 2020 election, he will go to his potting shed and prepare for what he will hope will be a flatlining number of Labour MPs. I do not think he will go to his potting shed to prepare for victory.

I commend the draft order to the Committee, and we wish Andy Street all the very best for the upcoming election. I know that the people of the West Midlands will be tuned into this Committee. They will have heard the plugs for both the Labour and the Tory candidates, so we will have made a definitive impact on the election. This is an important milestone and an important step in bringing this devolution deal to fruition.

Question put and agreed to.