Local Government (Religious etc. Observances) Bill (Money)

Penny Mordaunt Excerpts

Tuesday 16th December 2014 Commons Chamber

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

I beg to move,

That, for the purposes of any Act resulting from the Local Government (Religious etc. Observances) Bill, it is expedient to authorise the payment out of money provided by Parliament of any increase attributable to the Act in the sums payable under any other Act out of money so provided.

May I associate myself with your remarks, Madam Deputy Speaker?

The Government are keen that the Bill should move forward, and the passing of the money resolution is an important step in that process. The costs to local authorities of implementing the new freedoms in the Bill—to include prayers as part of official business, and to facilitate and support activities with a religious dimension—are seen as a new head of expenditure to be met out of the grants that authorities already receive from central Government. The motion refers to payments under other Acts being increased as a result of the Bill because, technically, a new head of expenditure is a notional increase for the purposes of Commons financial procedure, even though it might not, in fact, give rise to an increase in expenditure.

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Rossendale and Darwen (Jake Berry) for his work on the Bill. The House last debated it on 21 November, when the Government’s support for the Bill was made clear. We support allowing the members of local authorities the freedom to pray if they wish to and making this a matter of local choice once again.

We consider the provisions in the Bill to be important. They right a wrong decision that was taken by the High Court when it ruled that councils had no power to carry on the centuries-old tradition of holding prayers at their meetings. The costs associated with the provisions are negligible. The Bill will not compel anyone to pray or any local authority to include prayers in their official business, nor does it define what constitutes prayer. The Bill will ensure that local authorities can support, facilitate and be represented at events with a religious element. Again, nothing in the Bill will compel a local authority to do anything that it cannot already do, such as organise a Remembrance Sunday event safely by closing a road for a short time. Rather, it protects local authorities from those with an axe to grind, who might wish to challenge such a decision. As far as local authorities are concerned, we expect any new expenditure to be negligible.

I commend the motion to the House.