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Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

My Lords, we say there that, "““even where the new authority is, in technical terms, a continuing authority, steps can be taken—such as recruiting new senior managers and holding elections—to show that the new authority is not simply a ‘takeover’ by the existing members and officers of the bidding authority””." The noble Baroness is right to say that steps can be taken and because this is a thoroughly devolved process it would seem illogical not to allow that option. I do not want to flood noble Lords with even more letters but, as we are a little further down the implementation process, it might be that we can take some advice. The local choice is certainly for other members of the management team—the ones we are now talking about—and can be exercised by the joint committee which is responsible for implementation. The point the noble Baroness makes is well made, but that is essentially part and parcel of the design of the scheme. I shall seek to find out to what extent local authorities are even at a point where they may be considering some of the implications for those decisions.