Draft North Yorkshire (Structural Changes) Order 2022

Mike Amesbury Excerpts

Monday 21st February 2022 General Committees

[Mike Amesbury (Weaver Vale) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Pritchard.

I thank the Minister for her introduction to the draft statutory instrument and her informative remarks. The SI will create a unitary authority for North Yorkshire in place of several districts. I understand that the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee in the other place marked this and two other draft statutory instruments on the creation of unitary authorities as instruments of interest. Some questions remain on the criteria for the approval of unitarisation, which I will raise with the Minister on those instruments as well.

As I once again have the pleasure of speaking on a statutory instrument with the Minister, I will touch on a number of points and ask some questions. Will the attitude that is taken to unitarisation be taken to devolution deals across the piece, including in areas that respond to the framework in the levelling-up White Paper? I am a committed devolutionist by principle. What I mean by devolution is shifting genuine power and resources to localities. Of course, that is where the levelling-up White Paper falls short—on fiscal devolution.

What assurances can the Minister give about the new unitary authority? She said that it would be sustainable and, indeed, she referred to cost savings over a period of time. Will she expand on that?

Secondly, will the Minister give assurances on the new devolution deals, which areas may decide they want to march forward with? I know that the Merseyside city region will be going for greater devolution powers, and there is certainly consensus in my area of Cheshire and Warrington to go for a deal.

On identity, the Minister mentioned Scarborough and Harrogate. Those are quite distinct areas with which I am familiar. How will we ensure that they have a sense of place and ownership in terms of the locality, the services and the budget? How will those localities have a genuine say to ensure that there is no democratic deficit? Rather than devolving powers upwards to the new body, it is crucial that there is that strong interplay.

I note that in the consultation, 53% of respondents supported the single unitary proposal, as opposed to splitting the area. Will the Minister expand on that point? I will again touch on the criteria and how those are met in our discussions on future SIs.

The Minister referred to the disposal of land, which will be important in the transition to the new unitary. I would be interested to hear if there are any investments that need to be transferred, or any budget surpluses or debts that might need to be consolidated, especially given that local government has been hollowed out by 50% over the past decade, according to the National Audit Office.

I have asked the Minister a number of questions. We do not oppose the order, but I look forward to the answers.

[Kemi Badenoch]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for supporting the proposals and for asking several questions. I should be able to answer them and, if not, I will provide additional detail in our regular meetings.

The hon. Gentleman asked whether the structural changes order will be standard across all devolution deals. That will be the case for those that the former Secretary of State led in 2020, before the levelling-up White Paper.

The hon. Gentleman asked about sustainability and what the deal will look like. The assurance I can give him is that this is just the beginning of the process; it is not the end. Now that we have got to this stage of the process, we will work closely with the new unitary to decide exactly what the devolution deal will consist of. I cannot answer his questions about which investments will move from one set of councils to the final one, but I do know that the process is locally led. All the councils agree that this is what they want and that it will be good for them. I think we can trust in the ability of the people on the ground in North Yorkshire to deliver on that, and the Department will support them as much as possible.

The hon. Gentleman asked about Scarborough and other councils that may feel lost, given the size of the new unitary, and about whether they will fit in with what happens across the wider area. That will always be a risk when we unitarise. Some things will be lost, but the trade-off is that there are more benefits from moving to a single-tier system. I believe that that council specifically is supportive of this change.

[Mike Amesbury]

Surely there is something in place for the likes of Scarborough, Harrogate and Richmondshire. What new structures will be put in place? Will there be a district committee system?

[Kemi Badenoch]

I am not sure that I understand the hon. Gentleman’s question. I had assumed that he was asking how we will ensure that councils that are different, such as Scarborough, are not lost in this devolution and unitarisation. I cannot provide him with the detail at the moment, but I can write to him with further detail. Officials worked with the councils to do much of this work before I came into post. I am ensuring that the process carries on and that we do not run out of time before the electoral process. If he is happy to wait, I can provide additional detail.

With levelling up, we are trying to ensure that the decisions that are made come not from the top down, but from the people and elected officials on the ground who know what is needed to improve their local areas. That is the approach that we have taken through these structural changes orders, which came before the levelling-up White Paper, and that we will take going forward. We hope that we can get agreement on that across the House in order to do the best for local people across the country.

Question put and agreed to.