Janet Finch-Saunders
Thank you. Minister, Professor Colin Copus, director of the local governance research unit at De Montfort University, wrote recently that the larger local government becomes, the more the words ‘local’ and ‘government’ become redundant, as localism, community engagement and trust are lost, and larger bodies are often simply used as centralised public service delivery services. How do you respond to such criticism?
Leighton Andrews
We have published our plans for local government reorganisation. We are currently out to consultation on the draft Bill, which I published in November. That includes, of course, a detailed regulatory impact assessment. It includes also a consultation on the map that we have published.
Janet Finch-Saunders
Thank you, Minister. The auditor general here in Wales has also voiced his fears that your merger plans have, quote,
‘affected…the ability of some councils to think beyond four or five-year horizons’,
while senior local authority staff have referred to the uncertainty of reorganisation as a huge distraction and a large cost, and singularly unhelpful in making sustainable services difficult to plan. Furthermore, the reduction by almost £0.5 million to the supporting collaboration and reform action in the draft budget does, by your own admission, have potential negative effects on the ability of our local service boards. Minister, how are you working with local authorities to address concerns that service provision may now suffer as a result of such a focus by yourself on your proposed merger model?
Leighton Andrews
These are not my merger proposals—these are the Welsh Government’s proposals. Let’s be clear about that. The issue, I think, that we have to expect is that local government is always working in an atmosphere of uncertainty. And the key uncertainties facing local government at the present time are the uncertainties introduced by your Government’s austerity policies. They’ve set a climate within which they have to work that is very difficult. We have worked very closely with local government on the financial instability that is there at present. We held a joint seminar with the Welsh Local Government Association in November, which was well attended, and we looked at many different opportunities that were there for local government. We’ve published the KPMG study of the costs of administration in local government, which has found that local government, if operating to the standards of best practice across the whole of the UK, could be saving £151 million per year in terms of their administration costs. So, we work very closely with local government on the immediate and pressing priorities that they have.
Janet Finch-Saunders
Thank you, Minister. Now, as part of their 2016-17 settlement figures, local authorities in England have been given the opportunity to take up a four-year settlement to 2020, allowing funding stability and certainty to enable them to develop long-term, sustainable services and produce and support strategic collaboration with local partners. What consideration have you given to the calls of one of your leaders here in Wales—the leader of Wrexham council—only this week for the option of multi-year settlements here in Wales, and will you support that initiative?
Leighton Andrews
I would very much welcome the opportunity to give local government greater certainty, with better overview of its future funding. The problem I have—and the problem the Welsh Government has—is that we do not have that certainty ourselves from the UK Government. So, we can look at planning ahead with local government; I hope that local government leaders will look very acutely at the way in which they plan to use their reserves over future years. But the potential for longer-term planning is not there while our settlements are not long term themselves.
Janet Finch-Saunders
8. Will the Minister make a statement on the work of the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales? OAQ(4)0655(PS)
Leighton Andrews
The Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales’s role is to review local government areas and the electoral arrangements of principal areas in Wales.
Janet Finch-Saunders
Thank you. Minister, following the £130,000 that your Government spent on the largely ignored Williams commission, and, added to that, the cost to the taxpayer of over £434,000 last year for the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales, accusations of your Government wasting public money have been rife. Now, we’re talking over £0.5 million just on this alone. You’ve now stated that the nine completed electoral reviews, which you do not now intend to take forward, would only have been in effect anyway for three years. Given your long-proposed intention to centralise local government here in Wales, can you explain why you allowed this work to go ahead in the first place and also explain to this Chamber how you’ve allowed such a blatant waste of our hard-earned taxpayers’ money?
Leighton Andrews
There are over 60 recommendations in the Williams commission review and they’ve all been acted on, I think, with the exception of two if I remember rightly. So, I consider that money to have been well spent. It has informed Government work not just in respect of local government reorganisation, but in respect of public service leadership and development across the piece. In respect of the specific reviews carried out by the local government boundary commission, let me say, we obviously need a local democracy and boundary commission for Wales, but it’s not the only work in which they’ve been involved. I considered that it was unwise to proceed with the proposals that have come forward, given our intention of fundamental local government reorganisation.