§ Mr. Wheelerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list his reserve powers in respect of functions of the Greater London Council, together with any related functions in respect of which appeal may be made to him or his approval required.
§ Mr. KingSo far as I am aware, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State does not have any general "reserve" powers in respect of the functions of local authorities in general, or the Greater London Council in particular. Various enactments provide that the exercise of specific functions by local authorities is subject to the consent or direction of, or appeal to, Ministers. Other Acts contain default powers: that is, powers for Ministers either to transfer local authority functions to another local authority or to exercise the functions themselves in cases where an authority fails to discharge its functions adequately, reasonably, or at all. I regret that there is no readily available and comprehensive list of the default powers or the specific powers of control conferred on Ministers in relation to the GLC.