---

Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

It may be that the member does not want to exercise that right. He may feel more comfortable raising an issue in writing or being able to set out a complex case in writing and maybe following it up with a personal appearance. It is difficult to legislate for that. How to approach it is best left to the discretion of the member and the committee. The second point is that Amendment No. 215DB seeks to ensure that the existence of the community call for action is not taken as preventing local authorities engaging their communities in other ways. I could not agree more with everything the noble Lord said. It is a minimum, a new step, and it will certainly not sweep away both current best practice and future best practice. I have absolutely no doubt that the sort of example the noble Lord gave might be unique in some respects, but councils up and down the country are very proactive about engaging people in innovative ways and going beyond the usual suspects. That is admirable. It is reinforced in different parts of the Bill; for example, the new duty to inform, consult and involve, that we are putting on best-value authorities, takes that argument further. Although I agree with much of what the noble Lord said, he was quite right to predict that I could not accept the amendment.