Clause 2
Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill
10:45 am
Phil Woolas (Minister of State (Local Government & Community Cohesion), Department for Communities and Local Government; Oldham East and Saddleworth, Labour)
To say that the number of recent local government Ministers is related to the clause might be stretching things. There have been three, with a longer tenure so far than chief executives of local councils—a point that I shall be making at the SOLACE dinner that I am attending this evening, before swiftly leaving to return to the House. After that remark, however, I am not sure how my own tenure will affect the average.
The hon. Gentleman’s point is sensible. Irrespective of the present debate, however, the Government’s intentions remain the same. If a boundary committee makes a recommendation to the Secretary of State, the Secretary of State has three options under the current legislation: to reject it, to accept it, or to modify it—but the definition of the word “modify” is such that it is not possible to change the substance of the recommendation; any such change could be challenged. In plain English, that means that if the a boundary committee recommended that a boundary be moved to take into account, say, a housing estate or a school building, the Secretary of State could make a modification in relation to such small matters, but could not do so in relation to substantial matters. In particular, the viability of the neighbouring area—in practice it would most likely be a district but it could also be a metropolitan or a unitary authority—could not be threatened.
I ask the Committee to be patient, because the jigsaw puzzle will become clear as we continue, and I believe that I will be able to answer the hon. Gentleman’s point.