Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

I understand that the noble Lord and the noble Baroness, Lady Scott of Needham Market, have enormous experience in these matters, and I respect that. They have obviously come across some tetchy situations, to say the least, between parishes and districts. However, it is the Government’s view that when these situations arise, they are very much in the minority. On that basis, we are moving forward with our preferred option of the districts conducting the community governance reviews, rather than the counties. Perhaps if I may move on a little more, I can cover some of the noble Lord’s concerns. Reviews of parish arrangements are currently conducted by district councils under the Local Government and Rating Act 1997. For more than 30 years, it has been the responsibility of district councils to conduct these reviews. In 2005, we established a technical working group to look at the process within the 1997 Act. That working group, which included the LGA, NALC, the Association of London Government—now London Councils—and the Electoral Commission, considered whether the county councils or the district councils should conduct community governance reviews. As one can see in the Bill, we concluded, after much discussion, that the existing situation should be retained and district councils should continue to fulfil this role. The Government are sure that county councils would be perfectly capable of conducting reviews if the role were passed to them. However, we have heard no completely compelling argument, as yet, as to why the reviews should not be conducted by the districts. The Bill’s proposals are about devolving power from central government to local government. We have sought the principle of subsidiarity by transferring responsibility to the most local level at which it is practical for a function to be carried out. This means that in most parts of England community governance reviews should be carried out by the appropriate district or unitary council. That tier is the closest to parishes and their parish and town councils. The district or unitary councils work closely with parishes and are thereby aware of those parishes’ needs and aspirations when carrying out reviews. Historically, parish reviews have been the function of district councils, as my noble friend Lord Graham said. These principal councils have, over many years, built up a bank of experience and expertise in conducting parish reviews in their local areas. Surely, by taking this function away from district councils and giving it to county councils, we would be saying to district councils that we think that it can be done better by another tier of local government. Obviously, the noble Lord, Lord Hanningfield, believes that, but we are not convinced that there is enough evidence to take away that historic role from district councils. We are aware that the National Association of Local Councils, NALC, thinks that counties should undertake reviews. It contends that the main reason for its opposition to districts conducting such reviews is that any new community governance arrangements, such as setting up a new parish or a town council, might jeopardise the district council’s role in the provision of services at the local level. NALC contends that by implication, in relation to conducting reviews, whether instigated by petitioners or not, a principal council may start a review with opinions already firmly entrenched in opposition to any new arrangements. However, we believe that NALC’s concern that districts will undertake reviews and that some of them may already be hostile to new community governance arrangements is somewhat excessive. As the Committee is aware, under the present legislation, the Secretary of State is responsible for taking decisions following reviews by district councils. Very occasionally, we are made aware from review recommendations that there are tensions between district councils and petitioners, but, as I said earlier, we believe such cases to be in the minority. Under Clause 95, any principal council conducting a review would need to take account of the views of local electors in reaching decisions on community governance. Under Clause 95(3), the principal council must consult any other body, including a local authority, that may have an interest in a review, and the relevant current county council would also have to be consulted. Therefore, the county council’s representation would have to be taken into account by individual principal councils. In conclusion, until we hear what we believe to be compelling arguments as to why this function should be taken away from county councils, we will not be persuaded that that should happen, so I ask the noble Lord to withdraw his amendment.