Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

I strongly support my noble friend in this matter. I have been a councillor for many years. There have been times, particularly recently, when things that the officers have done have been acutely embarrassing for us and which we would not have allowed to happen. Nevertheless, I strongly believe that we are a representative democracy. In all sincerity, I really think that, when we are talking about localism and devolving power, Ministers and civil servants need to think carefully about how we operate a representative democracy. It is getting out of hand—and this provision in particular is out of hand. If we took it to an extreme, perhaps the civil servants sitting behind the Minister today could be questioned by the people outside about what we are doing here today. That is what the clause really means. If you did it nationally, somebody could petition the noble Baroness, Lady Andrews, to bring forward her civil servants to be questioned. I am sure that none of us would want that to happen, because we believe that this is a representative democracy despite the fact that, as I explain to people outside this Chamber, one of the most frustrating things about this job is that you come forward with your ideas and you know jolly well that the people sitting behind or somewhere near the Minister will send her notes telling her why she has to say no to what you want to do. It would be very nice to be able to question them, but we cannot do that. However, I say in all seriousness that the Government really need to think about what a representative democracy is.