Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

My Lords, I greatly like and appreciate the theme of this amendment. One of the issues in the south-west has been decisions for European funding, which, for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, used to be taken by the government offices, which were based in Plymouth, outside the area. They are now taken primarily by the RDA, which is based in Exeter. That is not a good principle and it does not reflect properly how these funds were meant to be administered, although the last programme was successful. That is one area where a joint delegation to Cornwall and the Council of the Isles of Scilly would be positive, and, as I understand it, enabled by the amendment. As my noble friend Lady Maddock said, perhaps this is an area where we can, at last, start to get some democracy, some accountability and some answers to communities and people through a democratic method about how those budgets are spent. I am not totally critical of the RDAs, but there are issues, one of which is democratic accountability. By bringing funds that relate to specific local government areas down to those areas, that has greatly improved. The work and budgets of the RDAs will be much enhanced by that legitimacy. In some of those programmes, particularly European ones, such delegation would be particularly appropriate.