Lead question: PB - "Will the Minister make a statement on the collaboration agenda for local councils in Wales?"

Janet Finch-Saunders:

Good afternoon, Minister. In evidence taken during the collaboration inquiry, much evidence talked of slow progress, duplication of process, lack of accountability and a lack of meaningful joint scrutiny. The Centre for Public Scrutiny said that ‘effective scrutiny of both individual and collective partners across areas is crucial to the transparency, effectiveness and accountability of collaborative arrangements.’ We know that your department does not keep any data on the effectiveness of collaboration, the efficiencies or the shared posts. How can you be certain that collaboration is actually working?

Lesley Griffiths:

Effective scrutiny is obviously very important in all aspects of our public services, and whilst we are seeing effective collaboration in place across some areas, it is patchy, and it is something that I have asked my officials to look at very closely. Certainly, when I undertook my summer tour of local authorities I did see some excellent examples of collaboration.

Janet Finch-Saunders:

With respect to you, I think that some of the collaboration examples that you saw—some of them—were informal partnerships. Trowers and Hamlins says that collaboration has been—as you rightly say—at best patchy, and councils have not got to grips with the essence of legal frameworks. Furthermore, Cardiff Business School has attributed a lack of leadership on the part of the Welsh Government to the slow progress of the collaboration agenda. Minister, would you agree that you really need to refocus your priorities as regards the collaboration agenda?

Lesley Griffiths:

No