Clause 29
Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill
10:00 am
Phil Woolas (Minister of State (Local Government & Community Cohesion), Department for Communities and Local Government; Oldham East and Saddleworth, Labour)
Not only will I do that, but I will add that the Bill would not allow us to make such a change. The date can only be changed to a later date, not an earlier one. Let me emphasise something else by way of further reassurance. The date is the date after which decisions can be taken into account. Neither an authority nor an official could be held to have acted unlawfully unless the relevant decision was taken both knowingly and after the date of commencement of the legislation, following Royal Assent. A change in date might come about if the Government issued another invitation after a direction made in the circumstances that we have already discussed—a slight boundary change or a consequential direction to propose, as a result of a solution being needed for an entire county area.