Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

The White Paper should bode well, in view of the names of such documents, such as ““A stronger local voice”” and ““Our health, our care, our say””; things might seem to be moving in the right direction. However, others may understand my scepticism and that of my constituents, given the existence of similar documents produced by health managers using the phrase ““in your hands”” when the proposed reconfiguration of services seems to involve an inexorable slide towards the downgrading of accident and emergency, children’s and maternity services despite the wishes of thousands of people. First, however, I want to focus on local government, in which I have a particular interest because I was a councillor in Enfield for some 11 years. The Bill appears to make the clear admission that legislation in 1999, 2000 and 2003 has not succeeded in revitalising local democracy and satisfaction with local services. In fact, it could be seen as a formal apology from the Government: ““We are sorry. We accept that we made a mistake. We are going to abolish many of the inspection regimes such as best-value performance indicators, and reduce the burden on local government.””