After section 33ZA of the Local Government Act 1974 insert—

“33ZBArrangements for provision of administrative and other services

(1)

Arrangements involving the Commission may be entered into by persons within subsection (4) for the provision of administrative, professional or technical services by any one or more of the parties for any one or more of the parties, whether for consideration or otherwise.

(2)

For the purposes of subsection (1), arrangements for the provision of services involve the Commission if the Commission is one of the parties to the arrangements and at least one of the following conditions is met—

(a)

the Commission is the party, or one of the parties, by whom the services are to be provided;

(b)

the Commission is the party, or one of the parties, to whom the services are to be provided.

(3)

The arrangements that may be entered into under subsection (1) include arrangements for—

(a)

the Commission, or

(b)

the Commission jointly with any one or more of the parties,

to have the function of discharging, on behalf of a party, any function of that party which is of an administrative, professional or technical nature.

(4)

The persons within this subsection are—

(a)

the Commission,

(b)

the Parliamentary Commissioner,

(c)

the Health Service Commissioner for England, and

(d)

the person administering a scheme approved under Schedule 2 to the Housing Act 1996 (scheme for enabling complaints to be investigated by a housing ombudsman).”

In paragraph 13 of Schedule 4 to the Local Government Act 1974 (delegation by Local Commissioners) after sub-paragraph (2) insert—

“(3)

Any function of the Commission may be discharged on the Commission's behalf—

(a)

by any person authorised by the Commission to do so, and

(b)

to the extent so authorised.

(4)

Sub-paragraph (3) does not affect the responsibility of the Commission for the discharge of the function.”