Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and may I take this opportunity to congratulate you on your new role?

I’m very proud and pleased to lead the Welsh Conservatives’ opposition group debate on public service delivery, and in doing so to thank my Assembly group leader, Andrew R.T. Davies AM, for his confidence in reappointing me as the shadow spokesperson for local government. I would also like to congratulate Mark Drakeford AM on his appointment as the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government, and I do look forward to shadowing you in a constructive manner as we work together, where we can, to face many of the difficulties and uncertainties now facing local government in Wales.

During the last term of this Assembly, the lack of continuity for ministerial responsibility has left those charged with the delivery of so many of our vital services confused, undervalued and facing much uncertainty. In 2013, and at a cost to the taxpayer of £130,000, we saw the Williams commission report published, advising 62 recommendations, all deemed necessary in order to take future public service delivery in Wales forward. Many of those recommendations now have largely been ignored.

This was a much wider remit than local government, and included many of those charged with the delivery of all of our public services in Wales. It did not single out local government as being the only area in need of urgent reform. As Members, we genuinely believed that this work would be a catalyst for real change, and an improved delivery programme for all of our public services in Wales. The integration of health and social care was considered to be of critical importance, yet look how little progress we’ve seen.

The Welsh Government, having failed at the collaboration agenda, simply took it upon themselves to start a programme of change and reorganisation for local government in Wales, like never seen before—riding roughshod over many, to include the communities who so often rely on these vital services and, at the same time, and in the harshest fashion, alienating our elected members, our front-line workers, our senior officers and, again, our communities. The commission specifically called for local authorities to merge into larger units, by merging existing local authorities, and specified by not the re-drawing of boundaries. Again, ignored. Voluntary mergers were considered as the way forward, and reorganisation options to be decided and implemented urgently, to be agreed by key stakeholders and the Welsh Government by no later than Easter 2014. Didn’t happen.

The commissioners called for the Government to support and incentivise early adopters who wanted to see such an initiative, by beginning a voluntary process of merger with completion by 2017-18. Yet, the Minister at the time conjured up his own new boundaries, to include a map of only eight or nine authorities, and chose instead to reject, out of hand, costed proposals that came in from six local authorities, by the required date, and with the correct criteria—Conwy and Denbighshire, my own authority, included. A wasted opportunity to say the least. And here we are today, still a lack of vision, no direction, and much uncertainty.

Cabinet Secretary, I urge you to get to grips with this situation as an immediate priority. Work with our officers, consult with our communities, work with the WLGA, and most importantly, talk to the Members here. We all have a direct interest in how well our own local authorities perform and are able to deal with the challenges presented. In May 2017, our voters will go to the polls for the local government elections. The year 2012, sadly, saw a 38 per cent turnout, a drop of 4 per cent, with 99 uncontested seats at county council level, and a staggering 3,600—that’s 45 per cent—uncontested seats at town and community level. Twelve to 15 per cent are still left vacant.

As part of my working with you going forward, I would certainly like you to address the issue of our community councils and their workings. This is, of course, the first level of democratic governance in Wales, affecting our citizens, and, yes, it does come with a chargeable precept. Across Wales there are many who feel disenfranchised at this level, often due to a lack of clarity around who does what, and many completely unaware of the functions and governance associated. Often, by some, seen as a closed shop and some not publishing agendas or minutes, and not having a website, despite having had the funding to do this.

Others before you have promised much needed reform and review, without any success. There is now much uncertainty with our town clerks and community councillors, about community-backed council boundaries, as a result of a very low-key boundary review, that sees many of our current seats slashed, but, again, there appears to be nothing definite. Some do not even know how many seats they will be contesting. Some clarity is now required. Now is the time to invigorate our electorate, at all levels of democracy, by re-engaging with them, working with them, and giving them a reason to be confident in a local government system that works efficiently, effectively and with due diligence.

Cabinet Secretary, you are aware of our call on these benches regarding community rights. Community rights by their very nature are another opportunity for big government to engage, empower and energise our communities. Over the past five years we’ve seen so many lost opportunities as community halls, local pubs and libraries have been lost, all in the name of cutting cost, with little regard for the immense value that these facilities provide for our own communities. The Localism Act 2011, implemented over the border, has freed up so many of our communities, devolving power from on high to the very communities they serve. I urge you to bring a fresh pair of eyes to the table and to work to ensure that we do adopt more articles within this Act. The previous top-down approach of the Welsh Government to community engagement through the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 and the ‘Principles for working with communities’ document, issued to public sector organisations, has sadly been coupled with a reluctance to introduce the localism agenda, contrasting starkly with England and Scotland, where communities enjoy rights through this Act and the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015.

Welsh Conservatives want those rights to be implemented here in Wales. The people of Wales want those rights, too. We all know of hard-working community champions in our own constituencies, willing to take on these local assets, working with others to stop the loss of them. Seventy-eight per cent of respondents actually responded to the Welsh Government’s consultation on protecting community assets readily supporting a right-to-bid initiative, willing to hold out their hand to work with the Welsh Government and their own local authorities in order to protect such assets, but there has been very little recognition of this, and virtually nothing taken forward. Again, I urge you, Minister: work with us, work with our communities. It only takes a little help, support and some guidance to see our rural communities in particular provided with brilliant opportunities like never before. Gwent is now piloting the funding of a community asset transfer officer. I welcome this initiative and ask again for you to work to ensure that all local authorities in Wales document and list every single one of our valuable community assets, allowing for future posterity and the possibility of safeguarding rather than sacrificing these important facilities.

Now, the failed collaboration agenda I’ve referred to earlier was another wasted opportunity, and I do ask you to go back to the drawing board to see where shared services can and will work. In England, £462 million has been saved through shared service agreements across local authorities. A KPMG report here in Wales identified £151 million of back-room savings that can be achieved without any merger process. Now is the time to nurture growth and confidence within our authorities, allowing them to be brave, taking bold steps to deliver other models of delivery, and empowering them to work with neighbouring authorities if the demand calls. Give them the support, give them the guidance and give them the hope that their efforts will not be in vain.

Furthermore, the National Audit Office estimates that the public service transformation agenda in England will have potentially delivered a net annual benefit of savings between £4.2 billion and £7.9 billion by around 2018-19. This is not chicken feed. In Scotland too, shared service delivery is working. The Ayrshire Roads Alliance between East and South Ayrshire councils is expected to save £8 million over the next few years. The idea of shared services and joint-working agreements was put in place in Wales 10 years ago in the Beecham review. However, the Communities, Equality and Local Government Committee’s inquiry into the progress of local government collaboration following the Simpson report identified the strong need for the collaboration agenda to be pushed further, for more clarity, more direction and more leadership from this Welsh Government, placing an emphasis on the very need to take action in the face of a difficult financial future for local government. Regrettably, the select recommendations of the Williams commission and subsequent map of the previous Minister were driven forward unilaterally and unsuccessfully.

With regard to the amendments tabled to the debate, we do of course recognise the Sunderland report, although I have to say it is a very outdated report. We continue to endorse many of its top-line principles, such as promoting public understanding of local government, and initiatives such as active citizenship to boost engagement with the local government process. However, Welsh Conservatives remain opposed to implementing STV as the preferred voting system. We will, therefore, not be voting in support of amendment 2, which calls for this.

We are at the start of the fifth Assembly term. The local government part of your Cabinet responsibility has the second largest budget and is responsible for much of the well-being of our society. Whilst you are new to this role, I do believe that your own local government previous experience will bode well for you to make a difference. Work with your Assembly Members, engage meaningfully with the WLGA, speak to colleagues and backbenchers here and, most of all, work with local authorities. Together, let us all work towards a model of local government that is affordable, sustainable and effective. Diolch yn fawr.