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Local Government Act 2000

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Citation
  
2000 c.22

Royal assent
  
28 July 2000

Local Government Act 2000

Long title
  
An Act to make provision with respect to the functions and procedures of local authorities and provision with respect to local authority elections; to make provision with respect to grants and housing benefit in respect of certain welfare services; to amend section 29 of the Children Act 1989; and for connected purposes.

The Local Government Act 2000 (c.22) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales. Its principal purposes are:

  • to give powers to local authorities to promote economic, social and environmental well-being within their boundaries
  • to require local authorities to shift from their traditional committee-based system of decision-making to an executive model, possibly with a directly elected mayor (subject to approval by referendum), and with a cabinet of ruling party group members
  • to create a consequent separation of functions with local authorities, with backbench councillors fulfilling an overview and scrutiny role
  • to introduce a revised ethical framework for local authorities, requiring the adoption of codes of conduct for elected members and standards committees to implement the codes of conduct; the introduction of a national Standards Board and Adjudication Panel to deal with complaints and to oversee disciplinary issues
  • to require each local authority to produce a publicly available constitution

    • The introduction of directly elected mayors was the most radical innovation in the Act. About thirty local referendums have been held, the majority of which have decided against the elected mayor option.

    Options for council executive forms

    The act provided that the executive of a local authority must take one of the following forms:

  • Leader and cabinet executive
  • Mayor and cabinet executive
  • Mayor and council manager executive
  • Alternative arrangement (Sec.31)

    • The mayor and council manager executive option was repealed by the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007.

    Changes made by the Localism Act 2011 made it possible for larger authorities (more than 85,000 population) to revert to a committee system of governance.

    References

    Local Government Act 2000 Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA