Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

This is an interesting and sympathetic proposal. We have always made it clear that LINks can work together on issues that they think go beyond their boundaries. We certainly would not wish the legislation to get in the way of that type of activity. For that reason, the key here is to ensure that legislation does not inadvertently restrict the possibilities. I believe that if they were to come together, regionally or nationally, it would help them to share intelligence about what works. The noble Earl has drawn my attention to the wording of the clause, but I was anyway going to propose that we take the Bill away and look at it. The last thing we want is for the Bill to create barriers, so I am grateful to him for identifying that issue. The noble Baroness, Lady Neuberger, asked whether there was anything to stop the LINks using their funding either to form regional associations or join a national association. We probably would not want to mandate them to join a national association but there is nothing to stop them using their resources, if they so wish, to come together and form one, although some may not wish to and others may wish to be part of a loose confederation. However, we would welcome this happening and for those reasons I support the noble Baroness’s amendment.