http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2009/20/section/23Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009An Act to make provision for the purposes of promoting public involvement in relation to local authorities and other public authorities; to make provision about bodies representing the interests of tenants; to make provision about local freedoms and honorary titles; to make provision about the procedures of local authorities, their powers relating to insurance and the audit of entities connected with them; to establish the Local Government Boundary Commission for England and to make provision relating to local government boundary and electoral change; to make provision about local and regional development; to amend the law relating to construction contracts; and for connected purposes.texttext/xmlenStatute Law Database2026-07-24Expert Participation2026-07-15 Part 1Democracy and involvementChapter 3Involvement in functions of public authoritiesDuty of public authorities to secure involvement231Where an authority to which this section applies considers it appropriate for representatives of interested persons (or of interested persons of a particular description) to be involved in the exercise of any of its relevant functions by being—aprovided with information about the exercise of the function,bconsulted about the exercise of the function, orcinvolved in another way,it must take such steps as it considers appropriate to secure that such representatives are involved in the exercise of the function in that way.2This section applies to the following authorities—athe Arts Council of England;bthe English Sports Council;cthe Environment Agency;dthe Health and Safety Executive;dathe Office for Nuclear Regulation;ethe Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England;fthe Homes and Communities Agency;gthe Museums, Libraries and Archives Council;hNatural England;i. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .jthe Common Council of the City of London in its capacity as a police authority;ka chief officer of police for a police force in England;la local probation board for an area in England or a probation trust (other than a Welsh probation trust as defined by paragraph 13(6) of Schedule 1 to the Offender Management Act 2007 (c. 21));ma youth offending team for an area in England;nthe Secretary of State.3In this section, “relevant functions” means—ain relation to an authority specified in subsection (2)(a) to (m), all the functions of the authority except in so far as those functions are not exercisable in or in relation to England;bin relation to the Secretary of State, the Secretary of State's functions under—isection 2 of the Employment and Training Act 1973 (c. 50) (arrangements with respect to obtaining etc employment or employees), andiisections 2 and 3 of the Offender Management Act 2007 (c. 21) (responsibility for ensuring the provision of probation services throughout England and Wales),except in so far as those functions are not exercisable in relation to England.4Subsection (1) does not require an authority to take a step—aif the authority does not have the power to take the step apart from this section, orbif the step would be incompatible with any duty imposed on the authority apart from this section.5Subsection (1) does not apply in such cases as the Secretary of State may by order made by statutory instrument specify.6A statutory instrument containing an order under subsection (5) is subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.7In this section—“interested person”, in relation to a relevant function, means a person who is likely to be affected by, or otherwise interested in, the exercise of the function;“representative” means, in relation to interested persons or a description of interested person, a person who appears to an authority to which this section applies to be representative of the interested persons;...8The Secretary of State's functions under this section by virtue of subsection (3)(b)(ii) are functions to which section 2(1)(c) of the Offender Management Act 2007 (c. 21) (functions to be performed through arrangements under section 3 of that Act) applies.S. 23(2)(i) repealed (1.7.2012 at 0.02 a.m.) by Public Bodies Act 2011 (c. 24), s. 38(3), Sch. 6; S.I. 2012/1662, art. 2(2)(b)S. 23(2)(da) inserted (1.4.2014) by The Energy Act 2013 (Office for Nuclear Regulation) (Consequential Amendments, Transitional Provisions and Savings) Order 2014 (S.I. 2014/469), art. 1(2), Sch. 2 para. 25 (with Sch. 4)S. 23 in force at 1.4.2010 by S.I. 2009/3318, art. 4(a)Words in s. 23(7) repealed (1.7.2012 at 0.02 a.m.) by Public Bodies Act 2011 (c. 24), s. 38(3), Sch. 6; S.I. 2012/1662, art. 2(2)(b)S. 23(2)(j) substituted (22.11.2012) by Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 (c. 13), s. 157(1), Sch. 16 para. 375; S.I. 2012/2892, art. 2(i)