Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

We support most of these technical amendments. We are not quite certain what, "““the need to secure effective and convenient local government””" means. Perhaps that can be clarified. The general tone of the Bill is to create more parish councils and to devolve power to local communities, but the amendments require the Secretary of State to agree to the number of parish councillors. It is suggested in other parts of the Bill that local authorities can create parish councils, so it is quite extraordinary that the number of parish councillors should then be decided by the Secretary of State. I cannot understand that; it seems totally illogical given the general tenor of the Bill.