Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

I thank noble Lords for their contributions. I assume that the noble Baroness, Lady Hanham, is correct: that appointed councillors would have to abide by the code of conduct for elected councillors. I will write to her if that is not the case. Perhaps I could meet the points made by the noble Baroness, Lady Scott of Needham Market, in the debate on the next amendment, which fleshes out many of the concerns that she raised. Perhaps I can meet the concerns of the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, on the narrow point of the amendment—as he knows, two of his amendments relate to appointed councillors. We seek through Clause 78(1) to (3) to highlight in a small way the significance of democratic elections. Parish councillors are currently either elected, as the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, said, or co-opted. The clause seeks to allow a third category: councillors who are appointed for a time by the elected and co-opted councillors. It was therefore appropriate that we should have another look at the rules governing who may chair a parish council. In particular, we had to consider whether an appointee should be able to take the chair. We readily reached the conclusion that it would be wrong to allow that. Indeed, we concluded that the chair should be chosen from among those who had stood for election to that council. For that purpose, we therefore think it right to treat those who have not been elected as one category—I am obviously talking about both co-opted and appointed councillors in that one category. I take on board what the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, said: that co-option has gone on for a time and is an established part of local democracy, if you like, but we believe that as we have the opportunity with the Bill, we should make the difference clearer between those who are elected and those who are not. We are therefore putting co-opted and appointed councils together in one category and elected councils in another. Obviously the noble Lord has another view, but, in the light of my explanation of this part of our debate on appointed councils, I would be grateful if he would consider withdrawing his amendment.