§ Mr. Tony Banksasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will direct the London Residuary Body to pay its outstanding telephone and Post Office franking charges.
§ Mr. TraceyNo. The settlement of its bills is a matter for the London Residuary Body.
§ Mr. Tony Banksasked the Secretary of State for the environment how many meetings have taken place between his Department and representatives of the London Residuary Body since 31 March.
§ Mr. TraceyOfficials meet the LRB frequently to discuss the full range of tasks for which the LRB is responsible. However, not all of these meetings are co-ordinated centrally, and no central record is kept of all the meetings which take place.
§ Mr. Tony Banksasked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will direct the London Residuary Body to answer all reasonable queries from members of the public;
(2) if he will direct the chairman of the London Residuary Body on the matters to be included in its annual report:
(3) why he is not prepared to direct the London Residuary Body to provide information requested by right hon. and hon. Members; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. TraceyThe conduct of day-to-day affairs of a Residuary Body is a matter for it, and my right hon. Friend would not normally seek to intervene or to act as intermediary between the Residuary Body and those who seek information on its affairs. The power of direction which the Secretary of State has by virtue of Section 65 of the Local Government Act 1985 is a normal feature of legislation setting up non-departmental public bodies, but it is meant as a reserve power rather than a means of regular intervention.
As the principal means of reporting to Parliament on the activities of the residuary bodies, my right hon. Friend will lay their annual reports and statements of accounts before 66W the House when these documents are avaialble; he has no proposals at present to make directions on the contents of residuary bodies' annual reports, but these documents are currently under discussion and the aim will be to ensure that they provide as full an account as necessary.
I am confident that the residuary bodies will themselves provide information in response to all reasonable queries, without the need for a direction from the Secretary of State.
§ Mr. Tony Banksasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what controls he exercises over the affairs of the London Residuary Body.
§ Mr. TraceyThe control which my right hon. Friend exercises over residuary bodies are as follows:
- —power to establish residuary bodies, appoint chairmen and members and (with Her Majesty's Treasury) determine their remuneration; power, in certain circumstances, to remove a member (section 57 and schedule 13).
- —power to approve the purpose for which residuary bodies may borrow money (schedule 13 of the Local Government Act 1972 as applied to residuary bodies by section 75).
- —in connection with land, the provisions that:
- (a) the acquisition of land by residuary bodies required for the exercise of their functions requires the consent of the Secretary of State (schedule 13 paragraph 7);
- (b) disposal of land by residuary bodies is subject to directions and to consent where disposal for less than best price is proposed (schedule 15 paragraph 7);
- (c) the Secretary of State has powers to direct disposal of residuary body land (part X of the Local Government Planning and Land Act 1980 as applied to residuary bodies by schedule 13 paragraph 15).
- —power to direct a residuary body to recover sums from local authorities which they received in contravention of section 91 (schedule 15).
- —power to direct a residuary body in the exercise of its functions (other than management of superannuation) and a duty to publish direction (section 65).
- —power to direct the content, form and methodology of residuary bodies' statements of accounts (section 78) and a duty to lay the statements of accounts and any audit reports on them before Parliament (section 79).
- —duty to lay the annual reports of residuary bodies before Parliament (schedule 13) and power to require a residuary body to provide information to the Secretary of State relating to the discharge of its functions (schedule 13).
In addition, my right hon. Friend has the following powers (excluding spend provisions):
- —power to confer by order on residuary bodies any statutory functions exercisable in relation to property, rights or liabilities they inherit (section 62) and to commute by order smallholdings and housing payments due to residuary bodies (section 64).
- —power to provide by order for residuary bodies to make grants to eligible charities out of receipts from land disposal (section 49).
- —power to specify by order the description and distribution of money received by residuary bodies (section 77).
- —power to provide by order for the transfer or disposal of a residuary body's functions, property, rights and liabilities and give effect to a scheme for its winding up (section 67).
All references to sections and schedules are to the Local Government Act 1985 unless otherwise specified.
§ Mr. Tony Banksasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the current responsibilities of the London Residuary Body.
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§ Mr. TraceyThe London Residuary Body has the following main responsibilities:
- —to make compensation payments to staff of the GLC who were made redundant or employed on less favourable terms at abolition;
- —management of the GLC's debt, and superannuation fund;
- —to close the GLC accounts;
- —to sort out records and files for onward transmission to successor bodies, and to tidy up unfinished business generally;
- —to manage inherited property, and unextinguished rights and liabilities not transferred to functional successors;
- —to provide certain specialist services, including computer services, scientific services, research and intelligence, and miscellaneous transport services (all at the request of London boroughs), and Urban Traffic Control, on behalf of the Secretary of State for Transport;
- —to plan the onward transfer, disposal or sale of property and for the continued provision of any of these services that remain necessary after the residuary body has been wound up.
A description of the duties and responsibilities of all residuary bodies is set out in DOE circular 8/86, a copy of which is in the Library.