DEBATE ON GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT (WALES) BILL
Janet Finch-Saunders
Goodness, I think we’ve all heard the concerns around the Bill as it goes forward. As a member of the Welsh Conservative group, we are prepared to support the principles of the Bill in going forward to the next stage of scrutiny, but scrutinise it we will.
It has to be said that, whilst there are some aspects to the Bill we do support, we’re very, very concerned about how the Minister and the previous Minister has gone about the local government reorganisation. Certainly, I’ve had many representations and discussions with elected members, staff and the communities themselves, and it is fair to say that they see the current situation as being flawed, chaotic, and you’ve caused some huge uncertainty across local government in Wales.
I welcome your comments in response to the Communities, Equality and Local Government Committee—of which I a member, along with my colleague, Mark Isherwood, Assembly Member—on recommendation 8, which is that the Minister includes the definition of ‘chief officer’, and I think that harks back to the Local Government (Democracy) (Wales) Bill, when we actually wanted to be far more clear in that. It looks like you’re now actually bringing what we wanted then more to the fore.
On recommendation 9, amending section 31 to increase the threshold relating to the restraining transactions, I think it’s far too prescriptive to say £250,000, when transaction committees get going and people are working towards shadow authorities. I think that we have to be very, very careful in this tight financial climate if we are tying the hands of those authorities that wish to be creative in the way that they do their business.
The costs in the Bill are based solely on the proviso that there would be one voluntary merger and eight more under a second Bill. The one thing that’s been asked of me, and it’s one thing I would ask you, Minister: you’ve got this Bill going through, then you’ve got the White Paper and the Bill coming through in the autumn, and, in this current Assembly term, we’re unable to actually see the end result, and I ask why this was never intended and why it hasn’t been thought of to do one piece of very good legislation. Currently, you don’t have political consensus or, indeed, a democratic mandate in the timescales available to see this Bill through to its overall strategic aims. We’ve heard from the Welsh Local Government Association and the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers that any financial implications can only be considered when the map is produced. Whilst you keep saying it’s going to be produced before the summer term, we have authorities that are desperate to know where their future lies, and only that map will give some indication of that.
We heard from Councillor Hunt of Torfaen County Borough Council, who stated that if authorities are made to wait too long before merger, some will have been decimated. The WLGA worry that, given current financial challenges and continued cuts to public services, some authorities may even be on the verge of bankruptcy at the initial cost of merger. Unison and CIPFA recommend that the Welsh Government provide financial support for local authorities so that the process is not undertaken to the detriment of local services and, ultimately, the residents. But, we know, from previous questioning of the finance Minister and you, even in the earlier stage that you rejected, there was never any indication how this was going to be resourced.
We’ve talked about the harmonisation of council tax. We all know the Welsh Labour Government does not respect council tax payers, how you have never sent over the freeze, and you can imagine the concerns that run now, having seen council tax rises of over 157% since you came into power. To some residents in Wales, the thought that, by two authorities merging, it would see their council tax go up yet again, is very concerning. Research by Michael Chisholm showed that the financial cost of the 1994-95 reorganisation of English local authorities was greatly underestimated, and that it is still unknown whether anything was ever recouped through subsequent efficiency savings. The Wales auditor general has made it very clear that he doesn't agree with a restructure based on pure financial motivation. He said:
‘there’s a danger that, because we’re in financial straits, we are reorganising. I don’t think it’s a sufficient argument.’
The lack of mention of transparency and community engagement going on throughout your Bill is very worrying. You, yourself, Minister, have said during committee that if regulations cannot be made early in the fifth Assembly, this could actually jeopardise the transfer date of 1 April 2018, and, by your own admission, the timescale in respect of voluntary mergers is tight. There's a great deal of uncertainty, but we will allow it to go forward to the next Stage.