Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will bring forward legislative proposals on the introduction of (a) call-in and (b) scrutiny arrangements for the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

The Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill, when enacted, will require all combined authorities to establish at least one overview and scrutiny committee to scrutinise decisions and actions, and make recommendations to the authority. Such a committee will be able to call-in decisions of the combined authority and mayor and recommend that the decision be reconsidered.

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority has – ahead of the legislative requirement – established such an overview and scrutiny committee. The Bill also requires the Secretary of State to make secondary legislation about membership of overview and scrutiny committees, which the Secretary of State intends to do as Parliamentary time allows. We are confident that with these legislative provisions each combined authority will have robust scrutiny arrangements commensurate with the powers the authority will exercise.