Plenary Contributions 04/02/15

Questions to the Minister for Public Services

Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

14:25
Janet Finch-Saunders
Thank you, Presiding Officer. Minister, in your own invitation of expressions of interest to local authorities, in the prospectus, you agreed with Williams, saying we should support and incentivise those authorities that wish to begin the process of voluntary merger. Would you tell this Chamber how exactly you did this with the Conwy and Denbighshire expression of interest?

14:25
Leighton Andrews
We received the expression of interest from Conwy and Denbighshire. We reviewed it. We came to the conclusion that we could not support it.

14:25
Janet Finch-Saunders
Oh dear. You further state on page 3 that you would work closely with those authorities wishing to voluntarily merge to provide advice and support through the initial and subsequent stage, and there’s talk of financial incentives and even help to set out their case during the development. Again, what advice did you provide? How did you support the six authorities in their applications? How did you help them to set out their case by your required deadline?

14:26
Leighton Andrews
Well, I had meetings with leaders who were interested in putting forward a case for voluntary merger. My officials also met with officers of the councils involved and provided them with advice. There was clear guidance supplied in the prospectus for voluntary mergers. I have set out my reasons to each of the authorities as to why we did not support their expressions of interest, and those have gone out in correspondence.

14:26
Janet Finch-Saunders
Thank you, Minister. I have the prospectus and I’ve got the expression of interest, and I cannot see the gaps. But, you emphatically state:
 ‘We are not expecting a fully worked up Merger Proposal supported by detailed evidence or… financial modelling by 28 November 2014. The purpose of developing the Expression of Interest is to provide a clear structure for moving forward with the merger process.’
Minister, in your statement last week, you said you were disappointed that you were not persuaded by any of these expressions of interests sufficiently meeting the criteria for moving ahead to prepare for full voluntary merger proposal. Will you explain the evidence and detailed rationale that persuaded you that they did not meet the criteria? Is it not the case that it was you that did not engage, that it was you that did not support, and that it was you that failed these authorities? Will you say how, and on what basis, you rejected these bids and provide the evidence for us to scrutinise?

14:27
Leighton Andrews
Llywydd, I think that’s all a bit silly. I have given detailed explanations to each of the leaders involved and I have written to the leaders. The expressions of interest, of course, are publicly available and Members can look at them. To take one example, which I won’t be specific in naming just now, when you are told by one of the chief executives involved that it is unlikely that they would be able to produce the full business case by the deadline suggested in the voluntary merger prospectus, you are unlikely to have confidence that it is worth proceeding to the next stage.