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Police and Justice Bill

I am not sure I fully understand the thrust of my noble friend’s argument. In many local areas there is a sense of partnership fatigue, with bodies that are required to sit on local partnerships because of legislation passed by your Lordships and another place at various times, or because of circulars that say you cannot spend money on particular things without a partnership committee. Trying to draw a distinction between those that have the primary responsibility for service delivery in this area—it will remain the local authority and the police service—and those other authorities that have a peripheral, though important, role is surely essential. The amendment gives clarity to what people are there for, which is why it is expressed in those terms. That does not stop the partnership, in terms of the people involved primarily in drug rehabilitation, being present for discussions specifically associated with that, but it clarifies who is part of the strategic discussion and of the service delivery discussion. As I understood it, that was the objective of the Home Office’s policy. I am also conscious that there is a lot of discussion about the nature of local partnerships, and the relationship between all these things and the local strategic partnership. Again, the clarity of thinking across government departments about this is not as good as it might be. At least, if it is clear to someone, it is not clear to me. I would be grateful if my noble friend could give us a little more on why he thinks the proposals in the amendments I have put forward will make things worse rather than better. Surely clarity will have been given to the roles involved.