7. Will the First Minister issue guidance to local councils to act proportionately when exercising their regulatory powers? OAQ(5)0056(FM)

That guidance already exists. The regulators’ code sets out good practice in how regulatory functions should be exercised, and local authorities are encouraged to act within the code.

I thank the First Minister for that reply, but is he aware of the problems that have been faced by The Union pub in Tremadog in north Wales in my region where, having been closed for several months on account of flooding, over the bank holiday weekend, the landlady decided, because it was sunny, to put out tables and chairs for drinkers to drink outside, which was very successful. Unfortunately, a killjoy from Gwynedd county council came around and told her to remove the tables because, technically, they were on a highway. In fact, it’s normally a car park. This is a prime example of the kind of heavy-handed actions that local authorities can take that discourage business and discourage wealth creation.

I wasn’t aware. I know where The Union is in Tremadog. [Laughter.] I know full well where The Union Inn is, but I must say he has caught me there in terms of the detail. I will write to him, of course. He raises an issue that is important to The Union Inn, I understand that—or indeed to any pub, and pubs have faced difficulty for many years because of changing habits. I will investigate the situation and I will, of course, provide a full answer to the Member.

First Minister, regulatory services are, of course, a very important service and a valuable key area of local government—environmental health, trading standards, food safety, public protection, regulatory housing provisions, to name just some. But much of the new legislation passed in the last Assembly term has actually placed even more obligations on our departments and there’s only 1 per cent of councils’ spend on average being spent on these services across Wales on an annual basis. How will you work with the new Cabinet member for—Secretary for local government, Mark Drakeford, who I very much look forward to shadowing over this Assembly term—? How will you work with him to make sure that our regulatory departments have the appropriate and adequate funding in order to keep our constituents across Wales actually safe?

It won’t come as a surprise to the Member when I say that I will work closely with the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government. And, of course, we will seek to provide local government with an appropriate level of funding, bearing in mind the level of funding we ourselves get from the UK Government.