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Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

In speaking to Amendment No. 212 in this group, I am also concerned that many local partners which participate in LAAs still have responsibilities through their vertical relationships. Health is probably a prime example of this. A local health body would be subject to influence, targets or advice coming down to them from the regional health authority, the NHS nationally, the Department for Health and the Secretary of State himself. This can cause confusion about local targets and targets set from outside. In the Bill, all that local partners are asked to do is simply to ““have regard”” to the targets in the LAA. My one-word amendment helpfully states that they should not just ““have regard”” to local targets—I am sure that there are laws that we all have regard to—but attain them. We need to put more responsibility on local partners to attain what they want to do.