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Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

I will give the Minister an example and see how she reacts to it. Some time ago—this is an historical example—in my ward there were a whole lot of houses on a railway line, and the assertion was that the railway was affecting the houses and that they should be double glazed. Double-glazing those houses was the responsibility not of the council but of the railway authority. The council took up that matter as a result of pressure from local residents. It was not strictly a council matter—it was a matter for the railway. The only way in which any action could be taken was by the local ward councillor and the council putting forward the case. I do not see why a local councillor should not be able to take such a case to the overview and scrutiny committee as that is probably now the only way of getting the matter discussed. In the event, that matter was taken to a committee, which discussed it and the decision was that action should be taken to get British Rail to do something about it. You could not do that now because there is no committee to take it to; the only committee that you could take it to is the overview and scrutiny committee. If the noble Lord’s amendment is not agreed to, that would mean that you could not raise such a matter—that is, a matter for another public authority, not the council, but on which the council needs to effect some sort of amelioration.