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Local and Regional Government

: If my memory serves me correctly—I shall correct myself if it does not—my right hon. Friend the Member for Greenwich and Woolwich (Mr. Raynsford) canvassed the House, and the Leader of the House was presented with the result of the canvass just before he asked his question in the House. That, I remember, was part of his consideration. The point is that the Committee exists. I should have thought that the House would want to consider the possibility of its meeting again. I am certainly not standing in the way of it doing so. Indeed, I believe that it has the power to meet outside London. The hon. Gentleman made some points about the Isles of Scilly. The per capita ratio of senior officers to population is pretty high compared with my local authority, but he has a point, on common-sense grounds if in no other way, and I am pleased to report to the Chamber that Departments, agencies and the council have started to work together under voluntary arrangements to plan improvements, particularly to the inspection regime. Indeed, a meeting is scheduled for 19 December to take that forward. I am very conscious of the fact that applying the funding regime to the Isles of Scilly does produce unintended consequences that can be disruptive for them, and I thank the hon. Gentleman for making that point. May I hit on the head the point about county councils versus districts, and the suggestion that that was a cynical ploy on the part of a Labour Government? I do not concede that, because I do not concede for a moment that all counties and districts are held by the Conservative party. If we took the point made by the hon. Member for Banbury (Tony Baldry) and picked, say, Durham and Lancashire, we would find that the situation was different. Although it is not, of course, the Government's policy to comment on leaks, a close reading of The Daily Telegraph shows that the options were simply put forward and no conclusions were drawn. It is hardly a secret—indeed, it is an open debate in local government—that the issue has been considered not least by districts and counties. However, Government policy on the issue shows no predilection towards counties or district—or, indeed, towards taking action on structures at all.