Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

I shall not even comment on Amendment No. 215ZAA, because I, too, now have a completely superfluous note. I see nothing wrong with the way in which the draftsman framed the provision in the first place. The noble Baroness could be forgiven for saying that she had to search for the clause in the Bill. Amendment No. 215ZC inserts a new subsection purporting to empower OandS committees to ask for information from members of the public. It does not go so far as to say that they may require it, which I believe is right. This power already exists in Section 21(13) of the Local Government Act 2000. It already provides that an OandS committee may invite any person to attend meetings of the committee. I think that takes care of that point. Amendment No. 215ZD would require OandS committees to publish their reasons when they decide not to act on a reference from a councillor. I have to go back further because Section 21(11) of the 2000 Act provides for Part VA of the 1972 Act—access to meetings and documents—to apply to overview and scrutiny committees. As the noble Baroness said, local authorities are very used to publishing things and that means that the public should have access to the committee meetings, to the documents of the committee and to the decisions that are recorded. In effect, that will be the publication that she seeks. There may be some circumstances—for example, where confidential information is discussed—where access is withheld or restricted, but I believe that the provision she seeks exists already. The difficulty experienced by Members of the Committee in tracking through the legislation suggests to me a rather strong case for guidance to ensure that people understand where the rights are and where publication is available.