Member

I think the noble Lord referred to the costs of capacity funding. The authority is receiving an investment fund, as well as devolved funding for specific functions such as transport and adult skills. Beyond the support provided by the Government, the budgets of strategic authorities and how any costs are funded will be a local decision. The regulations state that constituent councils will be required to meet the costs of expenditure reasonably incurred by the mayor in relation to mayoral functions, but this is the case only where the mayor has not decided to meet those costs from other resources available to the strategic authority. So, for all areas undergoing this process, there is definitely a need to assess the benefits of this—to the economy, to improvements in public services and so on—alongside the transitional costs of going forward with it.