Clause 2
Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]
12:00 pm
David Curry (Skipton and Ripon, Conservative)
That is precisely the case and there is a very serious point behind this. Quite rightly, the Government wish social services departments and health bodies to act more closely together because the links between them are close and they depend to a significant extent on one another. Social services are subject to local authority control because they have elected councillors, but health authorities are not. I know that health trusts have elections, but turnout is so low that it must mean that the electorate is very small. I suspect that the only smaller electorate in the world is that which re-elects hereditary peers from among the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords. That is the world’s most micro electorate. The turnout for people electing health trusts is around 2 per cent.
My question is very simple and my right hon. Friend the Member for Suffolk, Coastal raised it in the Chamber. How can one promote democratic arrangements for bodies that have no democracy in them? What do you say about them when trying to fulfil this clause? I would be fascinated to know and to find out quite what “promoting understanding” means and how one does it.