Review of democratic oversight of London’s fire service
18 Jun 2014 10:34 AM
A consultation seeks
views on proposals to improve the governance of London's Fire and Emergency
Planning Authority.
A consultation has been published yesterday (17 June 2014)
seeking views on the Mayor of London’s proposals to improve the
democratic governance of London’s Fire and Emergency Planning Authority,
to bring it in to line with London’s other strategic bodies - transport,
police and Olympic legacy.
It is important that any
governance system, especially one that controls large sums of taxpayers’
money, has accountability at its heart. The Mayor considers the current
governance arrangements dysfunctional and lacking clear accountability to the
electorate.
The government has accepted that
there could be scope for reform and is asking for views on whether the
Mayor’s proposal might deliver a more optimal membership for the
Authority.
The Mayor is directly elected by
Londoners to run its citywide services and Londoners can hold the Mayor to
account for his actions. The function of the London Assembly is to scrutinise
the Mayor’s decisions and actions.
The consultation asks whether
consideration should be given to of a greater degree of input from the Office
of the Mayor that could redress this democratic deficit.
The current 17 board members,
while elected politicians in their own right, are not directly elected to their
role and, as a result, the Mayor considers they hold no mandate or electoral
accountability to Londoners for the decisions they take in that
capacity.
Background
The Mayor of London has
requested that the Secretary of State use his powers under Schedule 28 of
the Greater
London Authority Act 1999 to amend the membership of the London Fire
and Emergency Planning Authority.
The Mayor is not requesting a
change in the overall number of 17 but rather in the composition of the
membership. He has asked that the number of Mayoral appointees be increased
from 2 to 6. The number of Assembly Members would become 6 and the number of
London Borough Councillors would be 5.
In presenting his case for
change, the Mayor has considered the results of aconsultation (PDF,1.23 MB) undertaken by the Greater London
Authority with London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority Members, London
Assembly Members, London Borough Leaders, London MPs and the London branch of
the Fire Brigades Union.