Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

I have one amendment in this group on a small but none the less important point. The amendment would simply put in the Bill the requirement to publish any public interest reports made under Clause 39. Subsection (1) says that a report should be made about a ““relevant matter”” if, "““it would be in the public interest to bring to the attention of the entity, the local authority with which it is connected or the public””." That provision seems to get close to what I suggest but it is not explicit. There is no requirement to bring a matter to the attention of a local authority and the public. I see no reason why a report that is in the public interest should not be made available to the public to read. No doubt any such information would be made available under the Freedom of Information Act, but there is no justification for making it necessary for someone to have to consider taking that route. I hope that the Government agree that this is a very minor and uncontroversial measure and that it can be accepted.