Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2016-02-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what criteria are being employed to determine the accountability of elected metropolitan mayors that have been agreed as part of devolution deals.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

Mayors that have been agreed as part of devolution deals will provide accountable, visible and transparent leadership for their local area. They will be directly elected and accountable through the ballot box. Additionally, they will be held to account by the combined authority, who will be able to reject or amend their spending plans and strategies. Their decisions and actions will also be examined by an overview and scrutiny committee and an audit committee, that must be established following the commencement of the Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016. These committees will be able to ‘call-in’ decisions and ask that they be reviewed, they can also demand the mayor to answer questions before them, and these hearings will be open to the public, who will have the legal right to film, blog, tweet or use any other type of social media.