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Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

My Lords, I support my noble friend on the Front Bench. When somebody explained to me what was going to happen, I said, ““That cannot be right. Nobody could have put that into a Bill. They must have got it completely wrong””. I still think that that is the case. If you explain to anybody outside this Chamber what is being proposed, they will simply say, ““It’s mad””. I have a specific question. I talked earlier about reorganisation and transitional councils. Can the Minister tell me at what point in the process of a council making the transition from a group of districts to a unitary authority this question would be raised, and how the decision would be made? There is some confusion about that. In Northumberland, those making the two submissions decided that they would go for this option. They thought that they might be able to get their submissions through because the Government thought that this was a good idea. Now they are backtracking like mad after realising exactly what is involved. I would be grateful for that information.