Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

I am astonished by that response—I thank the Minister, but I am still astonished. It seems to go against the whole principle of how local government operates. I have never before heard the principle that if something is politically sensitive and is going to, is issued by or is discussed at a committee of the authority, it should be kept secret. In my former role, I ran training sessions for councillors and potential councillors. We had mock council meetings, at which one of the motions was that the public should be excluded because of the political sensitivity of the matter to be discussed. That was a lampoon, which people were expected to denounce. There are clear rules and regulations within local government as to what is confidential and what is not. At an internal discussion stage, discussions among councillors, among senior staff and between councillors and officers are kept confidential, just as discussions between Ministers and civil servants are kept confidential—until someone leaks them. However, once a matter reaches a committee or similar body of the council, it is in the public domain, unless it meets the exceptions clearly set out in the Local Government Act 1972: financial sensitivity; pending court actions that could be prejudiced; personal matters relating to individuals; personnel matters, which ought to be kept confidential; and so on—there are probably more, which I have forgotten. This is clearly understood within local government. Some councils impose confidentiality more rigorously than others, but it is their choice; there are things that they are allowed to keep confidential. This Bill seems to be introducing a new area—recommendations from overview and scrutiny committees—that is to be treated differently from everything else that the council does. That is the clear implication of what the Minister said, which is why I said that I was astonished. The Minister talked about reports and recommendations, but if a committee of the council is making a report or a recommendation, that is surely a public document, unless it comes within the accepted categories. To whom is it making the report and recommendations? As I read the legislation—the 2000 Act and the new Bill—those reports and recommendations are essentially made either to the council or to the executive, both of which are bodies that are not allowed by law to keep things confidential, unless they come within those categories. Now we have a category of sensitivity in local politics—the Minister’s phrase—which might be because of an issue such as community cohesion. I am not happy. The Government need, very seriously, to think about this again. I seriously ask them to do this. I am not trying to make a political point here, but I think that there is something wrong. On that basis, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment, but we may have to discuss it later. I hope that the Minister might correspond with us in the mean time. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. [Amendments Nos. 216C to 217C not moved.] Clause 124 agreed to. Clause 125 [Joint overview and scrutiny committees: local improvement targets]: