§ Baroness Hamweeasked Her Majesty's Government:
What enactments have so far been identified as likely to require modification or to have their application excluded pursuant to Clause 15(1) of the Local Government Bill 1999, assuming the clause to be enacted in its current form; and [HL1958]
What powers have so far been identified as likely to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of Clause 15(2) of the Local Government Bill 1999, assuming the clause to be enacted in its current form. [HL1959]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Lord Whitty)We are currently in discussion with a number of interested parties in order to build up a consensus on how best the Secretary of State could make use of these powers should they be granted to him by Parliament.
Those discussions are taking place on the basis of a paper which was prepared for the House of Commons Standing Committee which considered the Local Government Bill. That paper, in providing an illustration of the possible uses for these powers, identified four areas: facilitating joined-up service delivery including working across organisational boundaries to provide integrated public services; the development of more services delivery models with an emphasis on partnerships, clarifying the circumstances where local authorities can provide goods and services to others; and making better use of local authority assets. A copy of 166WA the paper has been placed in the House Library. It is proposed to go out to consultation on a package of detailed measures in the summer of this year.