Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

I apologise to the noble Baroness and to the Committee—I followed the earlier debate, but maybe my point has already been dealt with and I missed it. I am concerned about the principle of accountability under this model. I admit that my experience was in a county council where there was no overall control. This model may be so inappropriate to that situation that the Minister will say that it would not be acceptable in those circumstances. However, I cannot for the life of me see to whom precisely the executive, under this model, are accountable. Are they accountable to the elected leader? If so, what happens if, during the four years of that leader’s office, there is a change in the whole colour and tenor of the council? Such a change in political control can happen very easily these days, maybe as the result of by-elections. Particularly with low turnouts—incidentally, I think that this will lead to very low turnouts indeed—I do not think that it will be clear what responsibility people will have if elected. That will be at the root of the problems related to this subsection. I am reminded that in all the discussions last week—the Prime Minister’s Statement, the Green Paper on better governance—there was a clear intention that we should seek to develop schemes that give more authority, responsibility and accountability to our local government, as to our central government. But this seems to be a recipe for confused accountability. The noble Baroness must explain how this model will ever operate in those circumstances and give to the people more sense of responsibility and accountability. If, in fact, the model is never taken up by any authority and will never be a model with which any authority believes it can provide that system of local governance, it is a waste of the time of this House and Parliament.