Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

I must confess that as soon as I heard myself saying that, I realised that it was a very bad example, as most probably was gritting lorries. Members of the Committee have already urged me to think about the matter, and I have said that the balance we are trying to achieve relates to it. We are not going to go into detail about the decisions, the areas of policy and so forth; we are making general requirements about the process. Clearly, the way in which it impacts on the different types of services and decisions will vary, but we are dealing with the way in which the decisions are taken. We must therefore be careful that we do not broaden the clause inappropriately and accidentally. Amendment 3, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Tope, extends the argument into the detail of the councillors’ work to add to the main duty in Clause 1 the requirement to promote the understanding of the duty of members of the authority as democratically elected representatives. He is right that it is important that that is understood. I believe that any duty to promote democracy worth its salt would include a requirement to explain to people about this role. We have already included it in Clause 1(2)(b) which requires councillors to promote the understanding of what councillors do. I believe that that is properly encompassed there and will include an explanation of their formal responsibilities and duties. Amendment 7 ensures that the clause will enable people to contribute their views and requires councillors to explain how they do that. We agree that the intention behind this amendment is absolutely right. It is essential that people understand how their council will consult them and take their views seriously not only so that challenges can be taken up more easily but so that it is transparent if a councillor is not doing enough in this area. Clause 1(3)(d) covers consultation because our definition of democratic arrangements is the arrangements for members of the public to participate in or influence the making of decisions. ““Influencing”” clearly includes doing that via the consultation processes. I am very sympathetic to the spirit of these amendments, so I am happy to put on the record that these clauses encompass what noble Lords want to achieve. I am also determined that there should not be any doubt about that. However, for all the reasons noble Lords have already given, we do not want to overload the Bill with detail, so we will set out in guidance the scope and the processes that will be covered in relation to the amendments. That will be useful. We will make it clear that we would like councillors to explain how councils and connected authorities work to involve the public and the different ways in which they do so. In response to Amendment 25, I shall elaborate on what I have briefly stressed. I am not sure whether respectable and important democratic bodies, such as the Broads Authority, parish councils or strategic health authorities, would want to be dismissed as undemocratic quangos as the noble Baroness did. If she believes they are so undemocratic, it is important that the point of the Bill is to open up these processes so that people know who is on them representing the community, how they can be most effective and how they can be expanded. It is something that the bodies in question are sympathetic to. We have liaised with the relevant bodies to ensure that the connected authorities are signed up to carrying out their role. When we come on to those amendments, I will explain why the list is as it is. These bodies are keen to promote their work and their civic roles to a wider audience. Why should they not be when so much of their work can be made more effective if the local community knows what they do and supports them in it? We have no reason to believe that they will not co-operate fully to explain the nature of their democratic arrangements. Should such a conflict arise, we have kept a reserve power for the Secretary of State to use if absolutely necessary, which appears in Clause 5(3), but we fully expect the information they provide to be information they already have to hand and want to disseminate to a wider audience. We are happy for councils to use website links and other technological solutions to ensure that there is no duplication. We will use the guidance to make sure that connected authorities’ functions and decisions are explained in an accessible way. In conclusion, the provisions in Clauses 1 and 2 work together to ensure that the way in which councils and the connected authorities make decisions, what they do, which of those decisions are made by those in civic roles and which by employees, will all be encompassed by this duty. I hope noble Lords are persuaded of that because these are important issues. We are happy to try to meet the intent of the amendments in that way.