Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

The amendment seeks to insert ““relevant””, but relevant to whom? The answer should be ““relevant to local communities””. The noble Baroness is right: we are in a bizarre situation. I considered whether we should have a go at some wholesale amendments to these clauses, because they seem not to relate to real life—or, at any rate, life as of the beginning of July 2007—but it would certainly be easier to wait until we have heard the explanation. The noble Baroness, Lady Hanham, referred to the announcement which we are led to expect will come towards the end of this month; she did not mention the application for judicial review which is to be heard in September. I hope that by Report the Government can replace these clauses with what they actually mean and tell the world where, if at all, they propose to go forward beyond the current stage. It is okay for us as legislators to grapple with all this as something of a waste of time, but it is not right to have on the statute book the holding out of some sort of lollipop—but not quite giving it—to those authorities, some of which might be disappointed by the announcement we are about to have, and others might be thinking of change in the future. These clauses do not say what the Government are proposing. They may say what the Government were proposing some while ago, but they are completely out of date.