Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

My Lords, it has been a pleasure to listen to this well informed debate. I am grateful to all noble Lords who have taken part, as they have helped me to understand better many of the intricacies of local government today. It is always difficult to relate to the experience that people bring from the front line. I look at the noble Lord, Lord Hanningfield. Every day of his life he is involved with some aspect of local government because he is the leader of Essex County Council. As an Essex council tax payer, I pay due respect to him and I hope that next year he will do his job better than he did last year. I begin by referring to the two maiden speeches. I was absolutely delighted by what the noble Lords said, but also by their attitude. They reminded me of the day, 23 years ago, when I first entered this House, because they had an air of excitement about what they could do in this place. They retailed to us their enormous involvement in community affairs and said that they were looking forward to being able to advance the interest that they have shown. It was a joy and a pleasure to hear both of them. I jotted down one phrase from the speech of the noble Lord, Lord Mawson, about letting people become local leaders if they want to. There is something of a myth that everybody in the community has a point of view and wants to become involved. Sadly, from my involvement in local government, which now goes back 50 years, as a councillor for more than 40 years and as the leader of a London borough, I know that that is not always true. A great deal of excitement is generated by the local press and by agitations. I can recall going to meetings of residents’ associations, parent-teacher associations and local business clubs where, of course, there were articulate men and women who had a point of view. I respected them very much. But we must be careful not to mislead ourselves into thinking that outside this place the rest of the community is a hive of activity dreaming up ideas and criticising what we are doing. I was depressed at the beginning of this debate by the negative tone introduced by some speakers. No one will ever get it right. The good old days to which they referred, before the Bill came along, were under the very Acts that they opposed strenuously when they were proposed five, 10 or 15 years ago. In other words, if you are in opposition—as I was for many years in this Chamber—it is never got right. I tell the Minister and his ministerial colleagues and others that they should be congratulated on at least perceiving the opportunity that may well arise. There will be moments when they believe that they have it right but when the weight of opinion, as expressed tonight and perhaps in votes in this place, indicates to them that they have got it wrong. The job of Ministers and their Back-Benchers—I am proud to be one of them—is to ensure that the legislation goes through. I am heartened by the fact that in the Commons many amendments were made to the Bill in the light of representations made from all round the House. I remember one Bill that came to us in the Lords in the mid-1980s, the Financial Services Bill, that brought with it 1,000 amendments that the Government had accepted—not written into the Bill, but which they said that they would put right in the Lords. I am not privy to what is happening, but I am certain that the Minister and her colleagues will have a number of amendments that will surprise and delight many others. I think that they would do well to reflect as pressure mounts on various points made—I have listened to them all and sympathise with many of them, because they have given me a fresh perspective on the issue—and take those points forward. People have used the phrase, ““This is an opportunity that has been missed””. The opportunity is still there. Everyone with a point of view is hoping that the opportunity will be taken, not missed. I enjoyed very much the flavour that I got of the deep involvement in local government of the noble Lord, Lord Bruce-Lockhart, whom I welcome back to his place. However, the brief that the Local Government Association sent to many of us stated: "““What’s good news for councils and the people they represent?""The bill takes steps towards decentralisation and deregulation in the Local Government White Paper around political leadership, democratic representation and tackling bureaucratic burdens;""The government has been positive on LGA concerns on council restructuring, NHS and Foundation Trusts in LAAs, the creation of joint waste authorities and byelaw devolution””." I will not repeat what it says under the heading, ““What’s the bad news?””, which is also in the brief, but there is good news there. We must recognise that in local government you do not win it all and you do not win it all at the right time. One of my favourite plays is Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge. The central character, apart from the tragedy of the play, is an interlocutor who periodically comes on to the stage and explains the background to the audience. Briefly, the background is that illegal immigrants living on the waterside are under some pressure from the police. The interlocutor says more than once, ““In this community, we learn to settle for half””. If in politics you achieve half of what you want each time you try, that is progress. I am sorry to hear carping criticism of the Government’s intentions because, in my view, they are genuinely trying to recognise that there has been a groundswell and a shift in how local people view their rights and responsibilities now compared to more than 40 years ago, when I was leader of the London Borough of Enfield. It is a different world. We must recognise that there are pressure groups and single-issue groups. There is a need locally for the strategic approach that the Government seek to implement, whereby the local council is responsible not merely for what it has been responsible for in the past, but for trying to create a strategic weapon through partnerships with other authorities and bodies—not only local authorities in general, but voluntary bodies in its community. That is good and must be strengthened. As always, we are beaten for time. As far as I am concerned, the Government are listening, but they need to listen more. The prize is well worth winning. The people of this country have been patient. We will never get it completely right; we will never get it right at the right time; but the Government should be congratulated on not giving up on the need to improve the present relationship between central and local government. The great thing that they are doing is to devolve as far as they can powers that, hitherto, have been the province of central government and say to local government: ““That’s all right; you get on with it””. The Local Government Association states simply that it supports strong leadership but thinks that no single model will suit all councils. That is absolutely right. No one solution fits all. You have to leave it to local people. They will scream, of course. When I was in the Whips’ Office, the greatest joy I had was to stand outside the door when my colleagues came in and asked, ““Which way do I vote?””. I would say, ““There is no Whip on””. ““Yes, but which way?”” I would say, ““Look, it is up to you. You’ve got to make your own decision””. They were in a terrible state because the Whips were saying, ““It’s up to you””. Local people will be forced to be more responsible and responsive to the needs of their community because of the powers that the Bill gives. Finally, everyone has to appreciate that all people, including the disabled, the vulnerable and the feckless, need the support of strong leadership, not only centrally but also locally. This Bill is well on the way to doing that and I congratulate the Government.