Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

No, it is not about promoting involvement as in earlier clauses; it is about explaining the civic governance roles of these bodies and how you can put yourself forward to be part of that lay team. I have made that distinction now in several ways. Lay magistrates are included in Clause 4, as I said. We are not interested in the democratic arrangements here; we are interested only in what the role entails and in how people can become a lay justice. The amendment could limit the information about what magistrates do to the point where the public could not gain the information that they need. We have consulted closely with the Ministry of Justice on this, and it is content that the clause does not require councils to go beyond what can be acceptably publicised. My noble friend makes an important point about administrative tribunals, which I will take away and think about. My concern is that there is quite a variety of tribunal arrangements in the local community. We should bear in mind that the requirements must be proportionate. Incidentally, I was very pleased to hear the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, say that this role was new and to have his implied support. We must get the balance right between a reasonable expectation on local authorities and a change in the culture to make it more open. Finally, Amendment 64 would do much the same as Amendment 63, so I will not discuss it because it is taken care of by the debate on Amendment 63.