[Matthew Garrard]

Jo, thats an excellent step forward, Matt

[Michael Chard]

I agree, this is excellent. I raised this point at the joint CLG/LGA event on 'Developing the powers of overview and scrutiny' in December that provisions were not included past 2 tier areas. It seemed odd to me that joint district committees were not legislated for, also where joint working and contracts are increasingly common, joint county council committees are not out of the question. I think like much of government legislation that a lot of work occurs jointly, but all the government are doing is formalising arrangements that people currently agree at a local level.