Greater London Authority Bill

I should like to respond very warmly to the debate that we have just had. The Government would like to think about this amendment. The noble Baroness seeks to add London borough councils and the Common Council to the list of relevant bodies and persons. In the light of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill, which will require upper-tier local authorities, such as London boroughs and primary care trusts, to produce joint strategic means assessments of the health and social care needs of their local population, we agree that it would be sensible to include local London boroughs and the Common Council in the list of relevant bodies and persons. This is because they are likely to have a role in implementing the health inequality strategy. However, the list of relevant bodies and persons, except for the authority and functional bodies, is also referred to later on for the purposes of consultation on the preparation or revision of the strategy. The authority and functional bodies are exempted from the list for the purposes of such consultation as they are already named as consultees under Section 42 of the Act. If the boroughs and Common Council were to be included in the list of relevant bodies, like the authority and functional bodies they would need to be exempted for the purposes of consultation, as they too are listed as consultees in Section 42. We would like to consider the amendment further because there are some drafting problems. I hope that the Committee will give us that opportunity.