Select committee inquiry
Progress on devolution in England
Closed
What the inquiry looked at
“Relaunched inquiry: Progress of Devolution in England The Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee has relaunched its inquiry into progress on devolution in England. The inquiry will scrutinise the impact of recently agreed devolution agreements and ask if the transfer of further powers to England’s regions can boost local economies and provision of public services. Since 2014, cities and regions including Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and Cornwall have successfully negotiated bespoke devolution deals with the Governments. London gained greater devolved powers following the establishment of an assembly in 2000. Each devolution deal involves its own arrangements for funding and increased responsibilities, but can include greater powers over areas including business support, planning, transport and health. London, and eight of the ten areas with newly agreed devolution deals, established directly elected mayors to oversee the implementation of new powers. The inquiry will examine the impact of devolving increased powers in the cities and regions where deals have been agreed, and consider how any benefits can be realised in more areas of the country. It will investigate the effectiveness of the current strategy of developing bespoke deals region by region, and ask if increasing available powers without wider systemic changes would produce similar benefits. The Committee will investigate the roles of directly elected mayors, quality of scrutiny in decision making and public accountability. Chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, Clive Betts MP commented: “The approach the Government has taken is to develop bespoke arrangements for different areas, both in terms of the powers devolved to them and the administrative systems to execute them. We have launched this inquiry to understand the impact of the current approach. Has tailoring devolution to each locality improved decision making, the local economy and public services? “Most importantly, we want to discover what opportunities there are for improving outcomes across the country. Notably in areas such as transport and health where provision doesn’t match existing local government structures, but also in improving the local economy, environment and infrastructure. We will be looking to see how improved devolution can boost cities and regions, and how it can be implemented more quickly.” Evidence received for the inquiry in the previous Parliament can be found here .”
The committee's words, from the inquiry page on parliament.uk ↗.
What it found
In the committee's words, from the summary of Fourth Report - Progress on devolution in England ↗
The last five years have seen a considerable extension of devolution in England. From a situation where there was only devolution to London, a series of devolution deals have spread devolution from the Isles of Scilly to the Tweed. But devolution is not everywhere; instead it is predominantly concentrated in urban areas.
• We believe that in the remainder of this Parliament there should be further progress on devolution. Devolution must extend not only to combined authorities but to local government as a whole, and to rural as well as urban areas.
For devolution to be expanded, and to succeed, it needs support by central government.
• The Government should work with local government and other stakeholders to produce a devolution framework. The framework should include a set of principles committing the Government to devolution as an evolving process with a forward direction.
• Devolution should be the default option unless there is a good and compelling reason why a policy area should not be devolved, and the Government should consider following the model for the devolved nations, where there is a list of reserved powers and all other powers are available for devolution.
• Councils should also devolve to their local communities—devolution does not stop at the town hall door.
Devolution must be undertaken with the involvement of the people in the area where devolution is taking place. A weakness of past devolution in England has been the limited consultation with the public, especially prior to negotiations taking place. That needs to be put right. The local public should also be consulted on whether devolution should include having a directly elected mayor.
Financial devolution is necessary to ensure the success of devolution.
• The Government should explore alternative ways in which revenue can be raised by local councils, to reduce reliance on council tax and business rates. The Government should also commission research into how income tax or other national tax revenue could be allocated to local and combined authorities, or how a local income tax across a combined authority area could work.
In respect of funding, the principle of devolution funding should be that grants are given on a block basis to cover all services for which local and combined authorities have oversight, without ringfencing or competitive bidding. The Government should also bring forward as soon as possible its proposals for how the UK Shared Prosperity Fund will work.
What the government said
The government responded on 1 March 2022. The deadline was 1 December 2021.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response.
The page states that it is the government's response to the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee's report on progress on devolution in England, but it does not set out the government's overall position.
- The response was published on 25 February 2022 by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, as Command Paper CP 626.
- The full response is available as an HTML document and as a 24-page PDF, so the government's positions on individual recommendations are only in those documents.
- The page text provided does not state any agreement, disagreement, reasons or commitments, so none can be summarised from it.
Read the government's response ↗ Read the report ↗ Report an error
How the inquiry ran
Each dot is a dated item listed on this page, from the inquiry's opening on 9 March 2020 to its close on 2 March 2022. The dashed mark is the deadline Parliament records for the government's response.
- Oral evidence 5 sessions
- Report 1 Oct 2021
- Government response 1 Mar 2022
- Correspondence 2 letters
What it recommended 22 recommendations · 1 conclusion
1There has been important progress with devolution in England since our predecessor committee’s report in...
Concluded (the committee's words)
There has been important progress with devolution in England since our predecessor committee’s report in 2016. But further progress can and should be made over the course of this Parliament. The remainder of this report sets out our recommended next steps for extending devolution.
2Devolution across the United Kingdom has been pursued for different purposes, and its scope, structure,...
Recommended (the committee's words)
Devolution across the United Kingdom has been pursued for different purposes, and its scope, structure, and geography reflect this. There needs to be clarity on the most important purposes of English devolution. This can then guide discussions on the appropriate geography and institutions that are needed. The Government should clearly outline what it considers to be the purpose(s) of devolution and why those are the right ends for which devolution is the means. It should then consult widely with stakeholders and the public on its proposed purposes. Careful consideration should particularly be given to the purpose of combined authorities and the appropriate boundaries for them to have.
3To embed devolution at the heart of central government the new Secretary of State for...
Recommended (the committee's words)
To embed devolution at the heart of central government the new Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities should be responsible for vigorously driving forward English devolution and this should be explicitly stated as one of his responsibilities. Our predecessor committee’s recommendation of permitting local authorities to report on their interactions with different government departments in the annual report on devolution should be adopted to drive a culture of positive and proactive support across the whole of Whitehall for devolution. Furthermore, a council of all areas with devolution deals should be established and hold meetings at least twice a year with the Prime Minister.
4The lack of transparency and public engagement in the negotiation of devolution deals have not...
Recommended (the committee's words)
The lack of transparency and public engagement in the negotiation of devolution deals have not been addressed since our predecessor committee’s 2016 report. Both have remained minimal. We reiterate our predecessor committee’s recommendation that there should be greater efforts to engage the public before as well as after negotiations, through consultations, citizens assemblies and better publicity. To ensure that local councils use their limited resources on compiling proposals with a chance of being accepted, the Government should also publish the criteria it uses to assess and agree proposals.
5We approve of the principle of a devolution framework.
Recommended (the committee's words)
We approve of the principle of a devolution framework. It will provide clarity as to what is available for devolution. The Government should work with local government and other stakeholders to produce a devolution framework. To succeed, the framework must provide flexibility and be grounded in a comprehensive consultation with stakeholders to avoid being a top-down imposition from central onto local government. It should include a set of principles committing the Government to devolution as an evolving process with a forward direction. Devolution is not just about increasing the powers of combined authorities, but enhancing the powers of local government as a whole. A key principle should be that devolution is the default option unless Progress on devolution in England 63 there is a good and compelling reason why a policy area should not be devolved. The Government should consider following the model used for the devolved nations, where there is a list of reserved powers not available for devolution, with all other powers available for combined and local authorities. It should not be obligatory for any area to take on all of the available powers straightaway or at all. Furthermore, councils should also devolve to their local communities—devolution does not stop at the town hall door.
6Instead of using Greater Manchester as a yardstick, all existing places with devolution deals should...
Recommended (the committee's words)
Instead of using Greater Manchester as a yardstick, all existing places with devolution deals should be offered the same powers as all others currently have. They may not choose to immediately take them up, but the option should be available.
7We reiterate our recommendation from our recent report into local authority financial sustainability that the...
Recommended (the committee's words)
We reiterate our recommendation from our recent report into local authority financial sustainability that the Government should allow councils to retain 75% of business rates from 2022, and that it should not impose commensurate cuts to grant funding. The additional funding should then be put towards equalisation in a separate grant designed for this purpose. As we also recommended in that report, in the longer term, the Government should consider options for wider reform of council tax and business rates, including possibly replacing them with a proportional property tax.
8Financial devolution is necessary to ensure the success of devolution through giving devolved authorities greater...
Recommended (the committee's words)
Financial devolution is necessary to ensure the success of devolution through giving devolved authorities greater freedom from central government, enabling them to take longer-term decisions reflective of their strategic purpose, and enhancing their direct accountability to their electorates. It must be accompanied by redistributive measures to ensure areas with lower revenue raising potential do not lose out. We therefore recommend that the Government should: • explore alternative ways in which revenue can be raised, which could reduce reliance on council tax and business rates. • consider offering devolution of a tourism tax, possibly to combined authorities where the revenue can be redistributed as well as meet the costs incurred by tourists. • follow our previous recommendation to explore how to level the playing field between bricks and mortar retailers and online retailers. Further financial devolution could follow these measures if they prove to be a success.
9The Government should commission research into how income tax or other national tax revenue could...
Recommended (the committee's words)
The Government should commission research into how income tax or other national tax revenue could be allocated to local and combined authorities, or how a local income tax across a combined authority area could work, including details of tax setting, funding equalisation, and how HMRC can better identify where taxpayers live. The Government should consider permitting other measures, including land value capture for local authorities, to help them raise additional money.
10The Committee has persistently sought clarity from the Government about how the UK Shared Prosperity...
Recommended (the committee's words)
The Committee has persistently sought clarity from the Government about how the UK Shared Prosperity Fund will work. The Government has had over four years to design and bring forward a coherent alternative to the European Development Funds that will completely end in 2023. This delay has been unacceptable and requires an accelerated approach. The Government should bring forward as soon as possible its proposals for how the UK Shared Prosperity Fund will work, including the funding profile to be controlled by combined authorities or local authorities. The majority of the funding should be allocated as block grants with local and combined authorities empowered to allocate the funds within the general principles of bolstering regeneration and tackling unemployment and skill shortages already announced by the Government. The Government should confirm that the £1.5 billion, equivalent to that formerly provided by the EU, will be increased to retain its real value over time. It should also increase the total amount of funding for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to ensure that English regions that would have been eligible for greater sums of structural funding had the UK stayed in the EU and if the Government had strictly followed the EU’s former allocation of funds do not lose out by its guarantee to retain the existing amounts of funding for other parts of the UK.
11A sustainable approach to local government funding requires longer term budgetary arrangements and discretion for...
Recommended (the committee's words)
A sustainable approach to local government funding requires longer term budgetary arrangements and discretion for local authorities and combined authorities over how to spend. We therefore welcome that the 2021 spending review will be multi- year. This reflects the wider need for a long-term plan to support the finances of local government. We recommend that the principle of devolution funding should be that grants are given on a block basis to cover all services of which local and combined authorities have oversight, without ringfencing or competitive bidding.
12We retain our predecessor committee’s scepticism about whether health devolution accurately describes the current arrangements...
Recommended (the committee's words)
We retain our predecessor committee’s scepticism about whether health devolution accurately describes the current arrangements in Greater Manchester. It clearly does not in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. We support the recommendations of the Health Devolution Commission on the future of health devolution and the role that should be played by local and combined authorities in the new Integrated Care System. The Government should seek to implement these proposals. It should also explore the merits of establishing a London Health Commissioner to oversee all London health matters, and of devolving the London Ambulance Service.
13The devolution of the adult education budget should be part of the devolution framework, accompanied...
Recommended (the committee's words)
The devolution of the adult education budget should be part of the devolution framework, accompanied by transitional support and measures to mitigate differences in course options between areas. The same powers over adult education should be available to all areas with devolution deals. Further education, in particular FE colleges, should also be included in the framework. The Government should work with the Local Government Association to agree proposals as to how local authorities’ oversight of schools and their funding should be strengthened. This should include devolving the functions of the Education and Skills Funding Agency to county councils and combined authorities; and the transfer of the powers held by Regional School Commissioners to local authorities.
14The devolution framework should provide for the devolution to combined and local authorities of the...
Recommended (the committee's words)
The devolution framework should provide for the devolution to combined and local authorities of the spatial planning powers, call-in powers for planning applications, the powers to establish development corporations, compulsory purchase orders, consultation on strategic planning applications, and strategic infrastructure levies, currently exercised by some combined authorities. There should be greater transparency about the process. The Government should also consider further devolution of housing powers to London. There should there be a single pot for housing, with a requirement that a spatial plan be adopted beforehand.
15The Government should consider the case for extending powers for Transport for London-style oversight of...
Recommended (the committee's words)
The Government should consider the case for extending powers for Transport for London-style oversight of local buses to all transport authorities, whether combined or local authorities. Where transport services cross local authority boundaries, joint working relationships should be encouraged between the local authorities affected. Similarly, Network Rail, Highways England and other comparable bodies should be required to organise joint working arrangements with transport authorities. Local government should ensure there is proper and transparent scrutiny of transport arrangements in their areas.
16We have heard, both in this inquiry and our inquiry into local government and the...
Recommended (the committee's words)
We have heard, both in this inquiry and our inquiry into local government and the path to net-zero, that local government can play an important role in policies relating to energy efficiency. The Government should strongly consider the case for devolution of further powers in this area. It should also examine how additional oversight can be given to local government of the environment, aspects of farming and forestry policies, and the takeover of public assets.
17Devolution should not be restricted solely to urban areas.
Recommended (the committee's words)
Devolution should not be restricted solely to urban areas. The Government must strive to ensure devolution deals are reached with rural areas. The Government must make pursuing devolution deals with non-metropolitan areas a priority. It should write to us with an update on its progress in this area no later than June
18There was a lack of consensus on the merits of moving to unitary authorities and...
Recommended (the committee's words)
There was a lack of consensus on the merits of moving to unitary authorities and resistance to making structural changes a condition of devolution. The combined authority model may not be appropriate in all places and should not be a condition of a deal. The Government should commission a review of the benefits and costs, in economic, democratic, local connection, and service delivery terms, that have resulted from previous moves to unitary authority structures. This review would help inform the on-going debate over the structures of local authorities.
19The devolution framework should clarify the relationship of local authorities with combined authorities.
Recommended (the committee's words)
The devolution framework should clarify the relationship of local authorities with combined authorities. As we have noted devolution is not just about increasing the powers of combined authorities, but enhancing the powers of local government as a whole. The Government should continue to ensure Local Enterprise Partnerships 66 Progress on devolution in England and combined authorities have the same boundaries and are effectively integrated. We reiterate our predecessor committee’s calling in 2017 for scrutiny committees from local and combined authorities to monitor the effectiveness of Local Enterprise Partnerships. The Government should support organisations such as the Northern Powerhouse to foster cooperation, without imposing any further formal layers of government.
20There is no consensus on the optimum structure for scrutiny in a devolved authority, including...
Recommended (the committee's words)
There is no consensus on the optimum structure for scrutiny in a devolved authority, including as to whether the London Assembly is superior to the existing combined authority structures. The new audit arrangements being introduced by the Government should consider the best way to conduct scrutiny and ensure greater transparency of the budgets of combined authorities. Scrutiny must be on a cross-party basis and scrutiny bodies should reflect this. We reiterate our predecessor committee’s recommendation in 2017 that the Government ensure there is adequate funding of the scrutiny of the metro mayors. We reiterate our predecessor committees’ recommendations in 2013 and 2016 that the London Assembly should receive a forward plan from the Mayor of London, receive call-in powers, and be able to reject the Mayor’s Police and Crime Plan and appointments for deputy mayors. The Government should also examine the case for permitting the London Assembly to scrutinise other aspects of London governance beyond those areas overseen by the mayoral administration.
21Scrutiny committees for combined authorities has been hindered by strict quorum rules.
Recommended (the committee's words)
Scrutiny committees for combined authorities has been hindered by strict quorum rules. The Government should consider whether the quorum for combined authorities could be made one-half of the membership rather than the present two-thirds.
22The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman expressed concerns about its oversight of combined authorities,...
Recommended (the committee's words)
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman expressed concerns about its oversight of combined authorities, pointing to uncertainties over its jurisdiction and a loss of oversight when unitarisation occurred. We agree that proper complaints procedures should be in place in all combined authorities. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s jurisdiction should also apply to services such as passenger transport authorities which are integrated into combined authorities unless there are equivalent complaint procedures already in place. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman should also be given jurisdiction over those powers which were formerly exercised by district councils which have been passed by unitary authorities to parish, town and community councils.
23There is a need for more data about combined authority and other sub-national areas.
Recommended (the committee's words)
There is a need for more data about combined authority and other sub-national areas. The Government, the Office for National Statistics, and the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy should develop datasets to enable effective evaluation of combined authorities and other sub-national areas. The Government should also ensure there are resources to enable areas with devolution deals to undertake more thorough evaluation of their own work.
Evidence
Oral evidence sessions 5
- 25 Jan 20213 witnesses: Cllr James Jamieson, Rt Hon Greg Clark, The Lord Kerslakeparliament.uk ↗
- 30 Nov 20204 witnesses: Amy Harhoff, David Williams, James Palmer, Jamie Driscollparliament.uk ↗
- 7 Sep 2020Evidence session; Oral evidence7 witnesses: Andrew Carter, Bill McCarthy, Guy Ware, Helen Charlesworth-May, Kate Kennally, Mr David Phillips, Sir Richard Leese CBEparliament.uk ↗
- 22 Jun 2020Oral evidence; Oral Evidence6 witnesses: Abdool Kara, Andrew Walker, Jim Hubbard, Mike Short, Mr Ed Hammond, Simon Parkinsonparliament.uk ↗
- 16 Mar 2020Progress on devolution in England3 witnesses: Dr John Stanton, Professor Colin Copus, Professor Francesca Gainsparliament.uk ↗
Who gave evidence 23 witnesses
- Abdool KaraExecutive Director, National Audit Office
- Amy HarhoffCorporate Director of Regeneration, Economy and Growth, Durham County Council
- Andrew CarterChief Executive, Centre for Cities
- Andrew WalkerHead of Research, Local Government Information Unit
- Bill McCarthyNorth West Regional Director, NHS England
- Cllr James JamiesonChairman, Local Government Association (LGA)
- David WilliamsLeader, Hertfordshire County Council
- Dr John StantonSenior Lecturer in Law, City, University of London
- Guy WareDirector of Local Government Performance & Finance, London Councils
- Helen Charlesworth-MayStrategic Director for Public Health and Care, Cornwall Council
- James PalmerPartner, Herbert Smith Freehills
- Jamie DriscollMayor, North of Tyne Combined Authority
- Jim HubbardHead of Regional Policy, CBI
- Kate KennallyChief Executive, Cornwall Council
- Mike ShortHead of local government and education, UNISON
- Mr David PhillipsAssociate Director, Institute for Fiscal Studies
- Mr Ed HammondDirector, Centre for Public Scrutiny
- Professor Colin CopusEmeritus Professor of Local Politics, De Montfort University
- Professor Francesca GainsProfessor of Public Policy, University of Manchester
- Rt Hon Greg Clark
- Simon ParkinsonChief Executive, Workers’ Education Association
- Sir Richard Leese CBELeader, Manchester City Council
- The Lord KerslakeChair, UK2070 Commission
Correspondence 2 letters
- 1 Mar 2022Letter from the Minister for Levelling Up, the Union and Constitution to the Chair dated 24 February 2022 concerning the Government's response to the Committee's report on Progress on Devolution in EnglandTo committee
- 29 Jan 2021Letter from the Minister for Regional Growth and Local Government to the Chair dated 22 January 2021 providing an update on the Government's devolution programmeTo committee