HL Deb 14 November 1989 vol 512 cc1227-30

1 After Clause 17, insert the following new clause—

"Schemes for basic, attendance and special responsibility

allowances for local authority members

" —(1) The Secretary of State may by regulations authorise or require any such relevant authority as may be specified or described in the regulations to make a scheme providing for the payment of—

  1. (a) basic allowance for every member of the authority who is a councillor;
  2. (b) an attendance allowance in relation to the carrying out by any such member of such duties as may be specified in or determined under the regulations; and
  3. (c) a special responsibility allowance for any such member who has such special responsibilities in relation to the authority as may be so specified or determined.

(2) Regulations under this section may also authorise or require a scheme made by a relevant authority under the regulations to include provision for the payment to appointed members of allowances in respect of such losses of earnings and expenses as —

  1. (a) are necessarily sustained or incurred in the carrying out, in connection with their membership of the authority or any committee or sub-committee of the authority, of duties specified in or determined under the regulations; and
  2. (b) are not of a description in respect of which provision is made for an allowance under any of sections 174 to 176 of the Local Government Act 1972 or sections 46 to 48 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.

(3) Without prejudice to the generality of the powers conferred by subsections (1) and (2) above, regulations under this section may contain such provision as the Secretary of State considers appropriate for requiring a scheme made by a relevant authority under the regulations —

  1. (a) to make it a condition of any payment by way of allowance that, in the financial year to which the payment would relate, the aggregate amount which the authority has paid out or is already liable to pay out under the scheme does not exceed such maximum amount as may be specified in or determined under the regulations;
  2. (b) to make provision for different maximum amounts to be applicable, for the purposes of any such condition, in relation to different allowances or in relation to different members or members of different groups;
  3. (c) to make provision in relation to claims which cannot be paid by virtue of any such condition and provision for the payment to members of the authority who are councillors of an amount by way of supplement to the basic allowance where, in any financial year, the aggregate paid out or owing under the scheme is less than an amount specified in or determined under the regulations;
  4. (d) to provide that the amount authorised by virtue of subsection (2) above to be paid by way of allowance in any case shall not exceed such amount as may be so specified or determined;
  5. (e) to contain such provision as may be so specified or determined with respect to the general administration of the scheme, with respect to the manner in which, time within which and forms on which claims for any allowance are to be made and with respect to the information to be provided in support of any such claim;
  6. (f) to contain such provision as may be so specified or determined for avoiding the duplication of payments or of allowances, for determining the bodies by which payments of allowances are to be made and for the apportionment of payments between different bodies.

(4) Regulations under this section may—

  1. (a) prohibit the payment, otherwise than in accordance with sections 174 to 176 of the Local Government Act 1972 or sections 46 to 48 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 or in such other cases as may be specified in the regulations, of any allowance to a member of a relevant authority who is a councillor or to any appointed member of a relevant authority;
  2. (b) impose requirements on a relevant authority with respect to the publication, in the minutes of that authority or otherwise, of the details of amounts paid in pursuance of a scheme made under the regulations; and
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  3. (c) contain such incidental provision and such supplemental, consequential and transitional provision in connection with the other provisions of the regulations as the Secretary of State considers appropriate.

(5) In this section "relevant authority" means —

  1. (a) a local authority of any of the descriptions specified in any of the paragraphs of section 20(1) below, other than paragraphs (d) and (j), or in section 20(2) below; or
  2. (b) any body on which a body which is a relevant authority by virtue of paragraph (a) above is represented and which is designated as a relevant authority for the purposes of this section by regulations made by the Secretary of State; and references in this section to an appointed member, in relation to a relevant authority, are references to any person who is a member of the authority without being a councillor or who is a member of one or more of the authority's committees or sub-committees without being a member of the authority."

The Commons agreed to the above amendment with the following amendment—

2 Line 77, leave out second 'or'.

Lord Hesketh

My Lords, I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 2 to Lords Amendment No. 1. At the same time I shall speak to Commons Amendments Nos. 3 and 4 to Lords Amendment No. 1, Commons Amendment No. 24 to Lords Amendment No. 23 and Commons consequential Amendment No. 25.

These are all minor technical amendments to the provisions on councillors allowances which this House agreed at Report stage should be included in the Bill. Amendments Nos. 2 and 3 to the new clause to be inserted after Clause 17 ensure that appeal committees set up by governors of maintained schools continue to be able to receive allowances under the new arrangements.

Amendment No. 4 enables the Secretary of State to provide that members of bodies to which the provisions apply are to be treated as councillors for the purpose of the new allowances. Without this members of the London and metropolitan joint authorities would not be able to receive attendance or special responsibility allowance as they do at present. Finally, Amendments Nos. 24 and 25 make minor changes to the repeal of the existing provisions for allowances for members of the Broads Authority.

The amendments are necessary if the new arrangements for councillors' allowances are to operate effectively and I commend them to the House.

Moved, That the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 2 to Lords Amendment No. 1. —(Lord Hesketh.)

Lord McIntosh of Haringey

My Lords, we have no objection to the content of these amendments. They do indeed remedy errors which were made when earlier amendments were introduced during the passage of the Bill. However, we are reaching a stage where the Government are rethinking a Bill as it proceeds on its course and the situation has got beyond a joke. It is bad enough for this enormous number of amendments to be introduced during the Bill's proceedings in this House, but when we find that we do not even have it right when the Bill leaves this Chamber and that it must be corrected during consideration of Commons amendments to our amendments, the matter has really gone too far.

On Question, Motion agreed to.