Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

moved Amendment No. 127: 127: Clause 64, page 35, line 3, at end insert— ““33ZA Changing governance arrangements (1) Any local authority in England may submit a scheme of internal governance appropriate to its circumstances, which shall stand deferred until the next ordinary day of election and may not take effect until the day after that day. (2) Where no recognised group has overall control, it shall be competent for the council to implement other arrangements as it may determine.”” The noble Baroness said: My amendment is similar to Amendment No. 128A, but, as mine got there first, I shall speak first and wait to be supported on it. Amendment No. 127 would enable any local authority in England to submit a scheme of internal governance that is appropriate to its circumstances. This carries on the debates that we have been having and would enforce the local choice. In the incredibly useful committee evidence hearings, two out of three representatives from the Local Government Association were in favour of local authorities having choice over their governance arrangements. They were in favour of non-binding legislation. Amendment No. 127 was debated at great length in another place, but the Minister’s arguments against giving local authorities an empowering, decentralised power to choose was not completely convincing. The Minister in the other place said that due to the large amounts of money managed by councils it was right that the Government should dictate how they managed their leadership, and his argument focused on the need to ensure accountability. The last time we checked, councils were accountable to their electorate. The Minister’s remarks were very telling. He said that councils should not decide how to run their own affairs because, "““that is not in their interests””.—[Official Report, Commons, Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill Committee, 20/2/07; col. 278.]" I support fully the role of cabinet members where a local authority chooses to have them. However, the Government’s approach in debate in another place was antipathetic to the autonomy of councils and the trust that should be invested in them by central government. In the light of that and in the absence of any evidence to suggest that councils wish to sign over their internal governance arrangements to central government restriction, I beg to move the amendment.