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Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

I am grateful to noble Lords for their interventions and for the manner in which the noble Lord, Lord Hanningfield, moved his amendment and his stout defence of county councils. I once tried to become a member of Oxfordshire County Council, but the good people of Oxfordshire in their wisdom decided that that was not a good idea. The noble Lord seeks in the amendment to allow county councils to conduct community governance reviews. First, let me make it clear that any system that allowed both a district council and a county council to conduct community governance reviews would simply not work. We have to decide whether it is to be the district or the county council that carries out that function. I assume, so that I can cut out a lot of text, that we are agreed that we are not talking about the possibility of both tiers carrying out governance reviews.