Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

I hope I can reassure noble Lords that the power to direct is not as sinister as they have made it sound. It is necessary because Amendments Nos. 9, 14, 17 to 21, 23 and 55 to 57 are all about the same thing: they remove the Secretary of State’s power to direct any principal authority to make a proposal under Clause 2, the proposal for unitary reform of local government. We are certain that the power of directions contained in the Bill is necessary simply to ensure that we are able to bring the present round of restructuring to an orderly conclusion. We need the power so that we can deal with the eventuality which might arise in the immediate follow-up to the current round of restructuring where some residual areas may need to have unitary local government in order for one of the unitary proposals currently on the table to work. It is necessary to see that as a possibility—it may never arise—but in our initial invitation we covered the eventuality. We made clear that assessing the proposal against the criteria must include consideration of the residual area. Our assessment might be that the original unitary proposal meets all five criteria and should be implemented, but only if the residual area were also to be made unitary. For example, we might accept the original proposal but combine that with a direction to the council for the residual area to put forward its own unitary proposal. I want to stress that in practice the need for the power of direction may never arise. We are absolutely clear; we intend that it is available only to complete the current round of restructuring. There is now a third limitation on the Secretary of State’s power to issue such a direction: it can only be given where the Secretary of State believes that it would be in the interests of effective and convenient local government. We are clear that the direction-making power that we have is appropriate, proportionate and specifically tailored for the purposes for which it might be needed. It would not be right or helpful at all to local authorities to remove the power as the amendments seek to do. I hope on that basis the noble Lord will withdraw his amendment.