English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill

Lord Addington Excerpts

Committee stage
Monday 9th February 2026 Grand Committee

Debate on Amendment 158 resumed.

[Lord Addington (LD)]

I was waiting for the Minister to reply before I summed up.

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Baroness Scott of Needham Market) (LD)]

If I can help the noble Lord, at this point I think that we are expecting the two Opposition Front-Benchers to speak and then the Minister.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Addington (LD)]

My Lords, I want to say a few words about the amendment I introduced. I think that this is the longest I have ever done on a group, returning on a Monday after a Wednesday; but I am sure that it is not setting a record.

The tone of what came out in the debate was, “Okay, maybe there’s a difference between the new combined authorities and the mayoral authorities, in terms of what’s going through, but the fact is that most of the things raised here have a degree of relevance to health, so you might argue about how relevant they are”. Most of them should be recorded and looked at. Going back to sporting and recreational activity, they should be, because, if you do not know that you have structural intervention and somebody who can intervene, what are they supposed to do? They cannot do anything without having some overview.

I will take away what the Minister said and have a think about how we can introduce this. I accept that the wording may be wrong, but at least having it done in one set of authorities would be a step forward. Having said that, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment 158 withdrawn.