Local Government Ombudsman (Amendment) Bill (Money)

Christopher Chope Excerpts

Thursday 8th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Christopher Chope (Christchurch) (Con)]

I am sorry that this debate is limited to 45 minutes, but I am delighted that the Government have moved this motion and that they support the Bill. The Minister might have confused someone following our proceedings when he said that the amendments made the Bill acceptable to the Government. My hon. Friend is jumping the gun, because the Bill before us is as printed; it has not yet been the subject of any amendments. It will be for the Committee to decide whether the Bill should be amended. In due course, if it goes through Committee and comes back here on Report, it will be for the House to decide whether the Bill is in a form that it can accept.

It is unfortunate that there has been such a significant delay between Second Reading on 18 March—consideration was not completed on that date, but the Bill received a Second Reading in June—and the subsequent period, during which we have been waiting for the money resolution. Without a money resolution, a Public Bill Committee cannot consider a private Member’s Bill that requires such a resolution or even to get the issue before the Committee of Selection. A Committee to look at the Bill cannot be set up unless the Government deign to introduce a money resolution.

It used to be the custom and practice that a money resolution for a private Member’s Bill that had been given a Second Reading would, as night follows day, be introduced by the Government within a short period thereafter, enabling the House to proceed with the Bill by setting up a Committee for its detailed consideration. What is happening now, however, and has been happening throughout this long first Session of the current Parliament, is that the Government are using their power in relation to money resolutions effectively to curtail the private Member’s Bill process. There have been times when not a single private Member’s Bill has been in Committee, because the Government have been using the money resolution procedure as, in effect, a veto.

As you know, Mr Deputy Speaker, I am inherently supportive of my hon. Friend the Minister, and I do not want anything I am saying to be interpreted as being particularly critical of the Government. If they are indeed enthusiastic about the Bill, however, it is a pity that it will go into Committee, at best, shortly before the very last private Member’s day. It seems as though the Government are able to have the best of both worlds. They are able to say that they support the Bill, but by delaying the money resolution—although I accept that we are discussing it now—they are delaying its progress and implementation.

Today is something of a red letter day. This is my first private Member’s Bill that has secured a Second Reading, it is the first that will be given a money resolution—I am anticipating the House’s decision—and it will, I hope, be able to go into Committee. I am grateful to all my colleagues who have supported it. I am also encouraged by the fact that the Minister does not think that it will cost anything. He said in his speech that the motion was technical, and would not result in significant additional public expenditure. The whole purpose of the Bill is to reduce the burden of public expenditure and regulation on ordinary members of the public, and I should have been concerned if the resolution had been required in order to increase it significantly. I take the point made by the hon. Member for City of Durham (Roberta Blackman-Woods) in that regard.

I am delighted that we have at last been given the chance to adopt a money resolution, and I hope that the motion will be carried without the need for a Division. I look forward to working with Members in all parts of the House in due course to establish whether the Bill can be improved in Committee in a way that will satisfy my hon. Friend the Minister, but he must not anticipate matters and assume that it has already been amended, because it certainly has not been.

[Mr Clive Betts (Sheffield South East) (Lab)]

It is rather an unusual experience to hear the hon. Member for Christchurch (Mr Chope) support a private Member’s Bill in the Chamber. He generally has another function in life: to prevent new rules and regulation contained in private Members’ Bills from being inflicted on people.

I want to raise two issues. First, discussing a money resolution relating to a Bill giving new powers to a person who does not currently exist is a slightly strange experience. I understand that there is no local government ombudsman at present, which is a matter of concern to me. The other day I received a letter from the permanent secretary at the Department for Communities and Local Government, Sir Bob Kerslake—in response to a letter I sent to the Secretary of State—which provided the helpful explanation that the process for appointing an ombudsman had been halted because the Government were reconsidering the nature and focus of the post in the light of last July’s public services White Paper.

We have all experienced appointment procedures in which the candidate was not deemed suitable, there was disagreement about the candidate, or we reviewed what the candidate should be doing in the light of the appointment process itself. That appears to be the case in this instance, but the difficulty is that the interviews for the post were held in February. The Select Committee on Communities and Local Government was due to hold hearings to ratify the appointment, but it was only in November that the Government decided to terminate the process. That is nine months of dealing completely inadequately with an appointment to an extremely important position.

[Mr Chope]

The hon. Gentleman’s criticism of the Government rather mirrors mine of the delay in tabling the money resolution. In the light of his concern and interest, would he be willing to serve on the Public Bill Committee to look at the measure in more detail?

[Mr Betts]

I will come on to my concerns about the Bill in a second.

[Mr Betts]

Yes. I made my point about the ombudsman, because there are concerns about the delay to the service itself. Candidates have been waiting for nine months, and that is not an acceptable way of proceeding—I wanted to put that on the record.

I understand your strictures, Mr Deputy Speaker, about the money resolution and not discussing the Bill. However, I return to what the Minister said about not envisaging the measure costing anything to local authorities. There is potential for costs and the spending of extra money precisely because of the way in which the Bill is drafted and how it deals with the extension of powers relating to health and safety. It creates a relationship between the ombudsman and the local authority that is different from the relationship in any other matter that an ombudsman considers. On any other matter, the ombudsman can produce a report that an authority is bound to consider and tell the ombudsman what action it will take, but in this instance there is no requirement for the authority to act in line with the ombudsman’s recommendations.

As drafted, the Bill includes a clear right of redress for the ombudsman against local authorities, including the ability to compel them to pay compensation to event organisers for events that are unreasonably banned or restricted. That is where money comes in. The power that is granted in respect of that issue is different from the power in other issues with which the ombudsman deals. The power to spend the money does not rest with the local authority—it effectively rests with the ombudsman—so we are almost giving a blank cheque or an undetermined ability for the ombudsman to decide in any case how much the local authority should pay in compensation, with the cost to local council tax payers determined by an unelected official, rather than elected councillors.

That is a fundamental issue of public expenditure that the Bill, as drafted, opens up. The Minister may discuss amendments, but the promoter has said that the Bill has not been amended yet. As drafted, that is precisely what it would do, and I have serious concerns about it. The Minister cannot say that under the Bill as drafted there are no spending commitments, but he can say that there are potential spending commitments, which will be determined by unelected people. The counter-argument might be that, as the measure applies only to events that have been unreasonably banned there is a right for judicial review—in which case, why do we need the Bill? However, there is the potential for money to be spent.

[Mr Chope]

The hon. Gentleman will be reassured to learn that the amendments I have in mind will address his concerns about costs, and I hope that that is a consolation for him.

[Mr Betts]

I am more than happy to accept the hon. Gentleman’s assurance—perhaps that is what the Minister was alluding to. However, it is rather difficult to debate the Bill as drafted when there are amendments of which we are not aware that would alter its capacity to incur public expenditure. That is what we are addressing and, on that point, I shall conclude.