Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

As this is the first time that the noble Lord, Lord Tope, has spoken, it is my very pleasant duty to congratulate him on his new family acquisition. I am talking about his grandson, who I understand was born at 10 pm last night. It is very nice, and I am sure that he will be an admirable grandfather. I have thought, and will continue to think, about our debate on Clause 12. I think that we all want the same things. We all want to ensure that it is not simply the usual suspects and the usual activists who harass or challenge the local authority, chase after things that should happen when they do not, or put forward good ideas. We want this to be something that the community as a whole, in much greater numbers and with greater diversity, feels that it can and should do. Therefore, we think that we have to make petition schemes more visible and more accessible. Because some areas are much better at dealing with this issue than others and because we want to ensure that there is no local disadvantage, we believe that the matter is serious enough to invite a duty. We have followed the logic of that by creating in the Bill what I genuinely believe to be reasonable and minimal requirements. If there is a duty, how does it work; that is, who organises it, how do the local authorities respond and so on? The logic of the clauses follows from that. We are genuinely trying to achieve a balance between a framework which is enabling and one which denies the possibility of local authorities either maintaining excellent practice or taking on undue burdens—impossible and unreasonable burdens. We have tried very hard to do that. I have said that we will look at the definitions. We will look at the things that we are requiring of people and we will do that in conjunction with the other parties as far as is appropriate before Report. I have not made any promises, because we think that we have tried hard and that we have the balance right. However, we are certainly in the business of listening and talking, and I want that to be done in as frank and reasonable a manner as possible, as is always the case. The noble Baroness, Lady Maddock, raised three questions. She asked whether young people can sign petitions. The answer is yes: the more the merrier. We want young people to be fully involved in the life of the community and to have as much influence as possible in shaping the places where they live. She asked whether petitions would involve, say, children in care or children who are, in any sense, under the supervision of the children’s services. I think it is up to the local authority to decide what is appropriate, and certainly what is appropriate will be governed by confidentiality on a whole range of issues. So, yes, we would leave local authorities to decide, under Clause 14(1)(b), whether a petition is inappropriate to be dealt with. It is entirely for the petition scheme and those who frame the petition to decide whether people can go to their area committee to present it. We would certainly not make any prescription about that. We just want the process to be as simple and as accessible as possible.