Question to the Minister for Public Services
Janet Finch-Saunders
Thank you, Minister. The question frequently raised with me is, ‘How much is it going to cost?’ Now, you stated at the time—on 17 June—that these costings are yet to be worked through. In committee evidence, you indicated that the only place money was to be found was by reducing the RSG overall, therefore taking the money from local authorities as a central pool for the mergers. How have you consulted with all local authorities who will now be currently working on their medium-term financial planning and juggling with their own resources on something as vitally important as this?
Leighton Andrews
If we are to proceed, following the passage of the Bill in the next Assembly, then, clearly, we will need to produce our own assessment, and we will do that at the time of publication of the draft Bill, of a regulatory impact assessment. That will, of course, look at costs. There have been a number of costs that have been brought forward by a number of players in this debate, but, in terms of medium-term financial planning, councils need to proceed on the basis of the current boundaries; new boundaries, of course, will be a matter for discussion as we approach legislation post 2016.
Janet Finch-Saunders
Thank you again, Minister. Council tax: you’ve already rejected a Welsh Conservative amendment to the Stage 2 Bill that would see local authorities able to vary council tax, stating that this is a matter for transition committees and authorities themselves, and that you already have the power to do this. Obviously, I’m talking in terms of council tax harmonisation and being able to reduce where needed. Our committee pointed out, however, that this is only to reduce council tax levels in one part of an authority, and that is after the council tax is prescribed for that year. Will your second Bill include these powers in order to safeguard against further council tax increases when council tax harmonisation is required?
Leighton Andrews
The Member, I think, will have to wait and see when we bring forward our Bill in the autumn—our draft Bill. We are clear about the position that we’ve adopted in respect of council tax harmonisation. We’re conscious of the powers that we already have, which I explained to the Member and others at committee during the discussions on the current Bill. But I think that these are amongst the issues that our draft Bill, which we will publish probably in November, will have to consider.