Clause 31
Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]
1:45 pm
Nick Raynsford (Greenwich and Woolwich, Labour)
The hon. Lady makes two points, the first of which is to leave it all to local authorities. I entirely concur with the principle that the format of the joint scrutiny committees can probably best be determined at a local level. The problem is that if individual local authorities are advised by their lawyers that their powers are perhaps limited, we may get different interpretations. One authority could take the view that it has the power to set up such a committee, and another might take a different view. That is why it is sensible to have a national framework.
The hon. Lady’s second point was that joint scrutiny is not always a good thing. Of course it is not always, and it can sometimes be done badly, but there are huge gains from different organisations with different perspectives working together. The experience of local authority involvement in health scrutiny is an interesting issue. It has helped local authorities, with their considerable social care responsibilities, to have a much better understanding of the interface between what they do and what the national health service does. That must be a good thing.