Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

My Lords, I apologise for the fact that I have not spoken previously on this Bill, but, with the leave of the House, I support the amendments in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Low. We were debating the Disabled Persons (Independent Living) Bill in this House last Friday which makes clear that access to information is fundamental to empowering disabled people to live independently. I should emphasise one particular benefit of these amendments. Clause 1(2)(a) requires local authorities to publicise, ""how to become a member of the principal local authority"." It is a good time to be debating this, because at the other end of the building a Speaker’s Conference is considering why relatively few people from disadvantaged groups become elected representatives in the other place, which is a problem for our democracy at all levels. Leonard Cheshire Disability’s evidence to the Speaker’s Conference was based on comments from its campaign network and other disabled people. One of the organisation’s concerns was that: ""Despite being active in their communities many disabled people do not consider standing for election because they do not have enough information about how to do so, what it costs, the qualifications they need and the responsibilities of elected officials"." I hope we can have a little bit of joined-up thinking and that, to overcome this barrier and for many other reasons, my noble friend will respond positively to these amendments.