Member

I understand that the concern of the noble Lord and noble Baroness is with the ability to amend or modify future Acts of Parliament. However, it is right that the Government have that ability, so that the devolution framework can evolve over time. For instance, there may be cases where the Government use an Act of Parliament to confer a function on a public body but, at a later date, it is decided that that function is best exercised by a strategic authority, or they might originally decide to confer a function only on established mayoral strategic authorities and then, once it has proved to be successful, wish to roll it out to other levels of strategic authority so that other parts of the country can benefit. In such circumstances, it is vital that the Government have the powers to ensure that that function can be exercised effectively by strategic authorities.