Janet Finch-Saunders:
Diolch, Lywydd. Cabinet Secretary, your White Paper on local government reform deviates considerably from the proposals outlined in the previous draft Bill by having 24 such proposal either omitted, and 13 amended. Some of these would have allowed reporting mechanisms that would enable the electorate to be far better informed, and also far more able to hold their elected members to account. Now, we very much support the proposals for council leaders to hold an annual public meeting and for elected councillors to produce an annual report, and yet you now consider these to be too rigid. The Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011, put in place by your Government, supported this guidance for such democratic accountability. Why are you now rejecting it?
Mark Drakeford
Well, Llywydd, the approach we have taken in the White Paper is to be clear on the objectives that we seek, and the objectives are ones that I share with what the Member said in introducing her question—that local politicians should be answerable and in a continuous relationship with their local populations. The draft Bill published in the last Assembly proposed a particular set of ways in which individuals would be able to demonstrate that, and what we have done is to move away from that in the White Paper to say that there are different ways in different places that you might be able to demonstrate that you are doing what we all agree you need to do. You have to be able to demonstrate it. But if you imagine that you are a good ward councillor and you are putting out three or four newsletters every year around your ward, what is the point of saying to you that, on top of that, you must publish an annual report? Because you are in contact with your population three or four times a year as it is. So, you have to demonstrate it. There is more than one way you can demonstrate it, and we think that giving that local flexibility will, in the end, provide more effective ways of securing that relationship than thinking always that we can set those things here in Cardiff.
Janet Finch-Saunders
Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. The White Paper also proposes to build upon existing regional arrangements where they are in place. However, Estyn has criticised some educational consortia over governance and performance. For example, in June 2016, they criticised the north Wales education consortium for poor working standards, that the rate of improvement in many pupil outcomes had been the slowest out of four regions and that the consortium has been slow to ensure that the governance arrangements align with the Welsh Government’s national model for regional working. If you’ve got a model now with such heavy criticism and not seen to be working effectively, why would you wish to replicate this?
Mark Drakeford
Well, I do think the Member is very one-sided and selective in her view of education consortia, because there are very many successful things to their credit that they are able to demonstrate right across Wales. The regional way of working is one that is firmly endorsed in our White Paper. What we are able to do is meet the governance criticism that the Member has raised, because we say in our White Paper that having agreed regional arrangements, and having agreed the functions that will be discharged on the regional level, we will legislate to create a consistent approach to governance right across Wales. I think that will go a very considerable way to meeting some of the anxieties that have been expressed about some aspects of governance in some regional arrangements.
Janet Finch-Saunders
Thank you again, Cabinet Secretary. Now, in response to a recent written Assembly question to me, you state that you have asked local authorities to highlight the ways in which they will consult, but the agreed outcome appears to be through their websites to encourage participation by citizens. However, this consultation is certainly going to bypass many of our constituents across Wales, and this has been borne out recently by the Labour Swansea council cabinet member for transformation and performance, when he said,
‘While more of our council services and information are provided online these days, we understand that not everyone has access to the internet, particularly older people and those on low incomes, who often need our services the most.’
Cabinet Secretary, these are the very people who I believe should be entitled to know that their model of local government is changing and that it is moving more towards a regional basis. How then do you convince this Chamber that this is deemed acceptable in terms of communicating with the people of Wales who have a right to know how their local services are going to be delivered?
Mark Drakeford
Llywydd, I entirely agree with the point that the Member is making, in that we have a shared ambition to make sure that the proposals in the White Paper are drawn to the attention of as many people as possible across Wales and that we make particular efforts to reach those people who otherwise may not find these matters drawn to their attention. I definitely expect local authorities to play their part in that. The Welsh Government will play our part. If I might say to the Member, I think political parties have a responsibility in this as well. We are all in the business of local government and trying to persuade citizens to align themselves with our policy preferences, and I hope that all political parties here, as they prepare for May’s elections, will think that the future of local government and different ways of improving that future is something that we ourselves will want to make sure we draw attention to in our communications with the electorate.