Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Graham Allen and Greg Clark

Monday 6th June 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Graham Allen (Nottingham North) (Lab)]

T8. Will the Secretary of State inform the House of the latest position on the devolution deal in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire?

[Greg Clark]

As the hon. Gentleman knows, the discussions in the north midlands are well advanced. While a top-down process, dictated from Whitehall, might be tidier than the current negotiated process, in which proposals are made from the bottom up, I think he would accept that that would be to miss the point.

Local Government Finance

Debate between Graham Allen and Greg Clark

Thursday 17th December 2015 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend, who has been a persistent and effective campaigner, drawing attention to the special costs that the most sparse rural authorities face in providing services. We have gone a long way, based on the evidence we have seen, to address those needs. I and my colleagues will be happy to meet my hon. Friend and other colleagues to discuss how it will work out in practice.

[Mr Graham Allen (Nottingham North) (Lab)]

Does the Secretary of State accept that the paradox of the statement is exemplified by my own city council, which has had a reduction of nearly 50% in its central Government grant since 2010, yet also a massive increase in responsibilities? Pretending that adult social care can be picked up by a 2% increase in council tax is obviously nonsense. He realises, I am sure, that to resolve his dilemma, he should enable—as every other western democracy has—local authorities throughout England to retain and raise funds of their own so that they can effectively no longer be an agent of central Government. That, surely, is the difference between devolution and decentralisation.

[Greg Clark]

The hon. Gentleman will know more than most that simply looking at central Government grant in an age in which local councils, at their own request and following their own campaign, are increasingly in charge of their own resources, is not the right way to consider the issue. We should look at the total resources available, including the business rate revenues, in respect of which Nottingham and Nottinghamshire authorities are doing very well, rightly attracting more businesses and expanding businesses. That is a buoyant source of income for his city and his county.

Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill [Lords]

Debate between Graham Allen and Greg Clark

Wednesday 14th October 2015 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

I can certainly give that commitment. Hon. Members will have seen that the programme motion has the Committee stage being taken on the Floor of the House, as is appropriate.

[Mr Graham Allen (Nottingham North) (Lab)]

I congratulate the Secretary of State on bringing forward this Bill and on the hard work he has done over many years in bringing devolution to our cities. Will he accept from me that bringing devolution down from Whitehall to town hall is not enough in itself? Will he look a little further at what we call “double devolution”, or taking devolution down to the communities and neighbourhoods, as we are trying to do in Nottingham at this very moment?

[Greg Clark]

I will indeed, and I would like to reciprocate the hon. Gentleman’s compliment. Both in his role as Select Committee Chair in the last Parliament and through his personal work in Nottingham, driving the regeneration of what he terms the outer estates in his city, the hon. Gentleman brings and personifies a degree of local knowledge of the problems and of the people, many of whom he has introduced me to on my visits to his city, which it would be impossible to replicate in Whitehall. That provides a good example of why we need to devolve in exactly the way that the hon. Gentleman said.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Graham Allen and Greg Clark

Tuesday 14th May 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Graham Allen (Nottingham North) (Lab)]

Q15. What steps his Department has taken to promote the growth of a municipal bond market in the UK.

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Greg Clark)]

Under the prudential system, local authorities are able to borrow for capital projects, providing they can afford the borrowing costs. Local authorities can choose the source of these funds and they are free to use municipal bonds where they wish to do so.

[Mr Allen]

I thank the Minister for his warm welcome for my second report about the financing of early intervention, entitled “Early Intervention: Smart Investment, Massive Savings”. One of the report’s recommendations was to free up local authorities to issue early intervention social impact bonds in order to fund early intervention in the localities. Will he meet me to discuss how we can take this forward?

[Greg Clark]

I certainly will meet the hon. Gentleman, who has been a pioneer in these matters. I have been very taken with his report’s recommendations. He points to some initiatives taking place in the US to have social impact bonds, and the authorities in London are keen on this, too. I am sure that he will want to continue his campaign; he will find a receptive counterpart in me.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Graham Allen and Greg Clark

Monday 30th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Graham Allen (Nottingham North) (Lab)]

14. What his policy is on taking localism further towards independence of local government.

[The Minister of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Greg Clark)]

I warmly welcome the public debate that the hon. Gentleman has led with the Local Government Association. He and I share a strong view that we must disperse power in our society. The Localism Act 2011 is an important step in that direction, but I regard it as a point of departure rather than a destination, and I encourage every council to respond to his report.

[Mr Allen]

The Minister will know that there is a strong and growing all-party campaign in the House and outside for statutorily defined independent local government. Does he think there is something in the DNA of the British people that means that, unlike the Italians, Germans, Americans, Canadians and everyone else in a western democracy, they are incapable of deciding how to run their own affairs locally and need Whitehall to tell them how to do it?

[Greg Clark]

Like the hon. Gentleman, I think that exactly the opposite is the case and that our towns, cities and communities across the country will prosper when they have the opportunity—and, indeed, the right—to do things their way, rather than the way Whitehall dictates.

Core Cities

Debate between Graham Allen and Greg Clark

Thursday 8th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

There is recognition that whatever the intentions behind the regional agencies, whether RDAs or regional arrangements more generally, they had become instruments—or, as it were, embassies—of Whitehall in the country. Our preferred approach is to devolve powers to cities so that they can revive their reputation of being able to determine their own future and stand proudly in the world as beacons of investment.

[Mr Graham Allen (Nottingham North) (Lab)]

As Chair of the Select Committee on Political and Constitutional Reform, I strongly welcome the principle and philosophy behind today’s announcement and the co-operation with the core cities in moving the proposals forward. All parties should ensure that they are on the right side of the ambition of local government for greater independence. Is the Minister aware that local government in this country is one of the few in any of the western democracies to remain a creature of statute? Will he consider pushing localism much further towards genuine independence, as is enjoyed in other western democracies? The Local Government Association is currently looking at that and might well campaign on it in the new year.

[Greg Clark]

I commend the work of the hon. Gentleman and his Committee. He is right that we want to improve the standing of local government and its ability to be recognised as having—in effect—a constitutional significance that cannot simply be brushed aside. As he will know, our reforms in the Localism Act 2011 move considerably in that direction to establish a general power of competence for local government, so that it no longer exists to do those things that it is told to do by Parliament and central Government. Instead, the default should be the other way around: councils should be able to do things unless they are explicitly prevented from doing them by Parliament. The Act is a huge step in that direction, but I look forward to the report from the hon. Gentleman’s Committee—it will be taken very seriously in the Government.