Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

My Lords, we have some difficulty with the noble Lord’s amendments. I understand very well what he is trying to achieve and I think that there is a good case for it in many respects, as many of the bodies to which he is referring do not have the same open, democratic accountability as do local authorities. The problem that we have is one of principle—a quite strongly held principle—which is that members, whether they are Members of Parliament of members of local authorities, are the ones who are accountable. It is a firm principle. In Committee, my noble friend Lord Greaves was corrected by the Minister when he made some perhaps injudicious remarks about civil servants. The Minister explained quite clearly and rightly that it is the Ministers who are responsible and that, if we wish to cast blame or aspersions, we do so on the Ministers, not on the officials who support them. The same principle applies in local government: it is the officers who advise and support the members. Throughout my 35 years in local government, members have always called on and expected officers to be at committee meetings—overview and scrutiny, as it is now—to be questioned by councillors. But it is still the councillors who are responsible to the electorate for what is done and what is said. Those meetings, where councillors question officers, sometimes robustly, are held in public; the public and petitioners can hear it. But it is still the members who are responsible. I see the Minister nodding in agreement. This clause, which the noble Lord seeks to extend, for reasons that I understand and sympathise with, breaches that principle. If this were to go ahead, I certainly think that it should apply beyond simply local authority officers. However, it is the principle that is wrong and, if the principle is wrong, the amendments to extend that principle must be equally wrong. We will not be able to support these amendments at this stage.