Friday Volume 505 5 February 2010 No. 38 HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) Friday 5 February 2010 £5·00 © Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2010 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Parliamentary Click-Use Licence, available online through the Office of Public Sector Information website at www.opsi.gov.uk/click-use/ Enquiries to the Office of Public Sector Information, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU; e-mail:
[email protected] 517 5 FEBRUARY 2010 Local Authorities (Overview and 518 Scrutiny) Bill I recognise the work of the Local Government House of Commons Association in providing extremely valuable guidance on scrutiny processes and in submitting a detailed response Friday 5 February 2010 to the Bill. I express my gratitude for the assistance provided by the Centre for Public Scrutiny, both in terms of the professional expertise and advice generously The House met at half-past Nine o’clock made available to me and the wealth of excellent material available on the centre’s website. Finally, I commend the PRAYERS staff of the Library for their excellent research paper on the Bill. The Chairman of Ways and Means took the Chair as Deputy Speaker (Standing Order No. 3). Before coming to the Bill and the increase in powers that it proposes, I want to say a few words more Mr. David Chaytor (Bury, North) (Lab): I beg to generally about local democracy and the power and role move, That the House sit in private. of scrutiny. For much of the second half of the last century, local councils saw their powers to influence the Question put forthwith (Standing Order.