Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

I thank the noble Lord for tabling his amendment and giving us the opportunity for this brief but important discussion on publicising changes to the electoral cycle. I fully appreciate his concerns about the need to ensure that local authorities publicise any changes as widely and as appropriately as possible. Again, I fear that I must return to the point about the amendment being far too prescriptive. As I have said, these amendments are all concerned with the level of consultation to be undertaken by a district council that proposes to change its scheme for elections. The Government do not believe that it is necessary to specify exactly who the district council should take reasonable steps to consult, other than to say that it should be anyone whom the council thinks it appropriate to consult on the change. This is part of devolution and we need to trust local authorities, democratically elected and accountable to their electorate, to consult those people whom one might reasonably expect to be consulted on such matters, including local government electors. We therefore do not believe that including specific provision in the Bill is necessary. The amendments go against the devolutionary spirit of the Bill. At Second Reading, when I had what I would not quite call the pleasure of making the Second Reading speech for my noble friend Lady Andrews, the point that struck me in the debate that followed was the consensus on the encouraging devolutionary nature of the Bill. I hope that we do not feel it necessary to include in the Bill the need to place advertisements in local papers, and so on, and I hope that the noble Lord will consider withdrawing his amendment.