7. What assessment has the Minister made of the impact of proposed local government reform on the delivery of public services? OAQ(5)0041(FLG)

I thank Angela Burns for the question. The proposals I announced on 4 October for mandatory and systematic regional collaboration between local authorities are intended to build resilience and enhance the effectiveness of services and outcomes for citizens.

Thank you for that. Because, of course, not taking forward the Williams commission recommendations has meant now that we need to seek to see that local authorities do collaborate more, I wonder whether you could just give us a little bit more information about the discussions you’ve had with local authorities or with the WLGA. Have you put a timescale on being able to see some tangible benefits from local authorities of mutual collaboration?

Well, Dirprwy Lywydd, as I explained in my statement on 4 October, I spent a great deal of time over the summer in visiting all 22 local authorities in Wales, meeting leaders and chief executives. I’ve met with trade unions, I’ve met with third sector organisations and I meet with the WLGA. I’ve done my best to be out and about in all of that.

The timescale for the next stage of the discussion is the rest of this calendar year, when we need to look at the detail underlying the big-picture pattern I was able to announce on 4 October. The prize for local authorities that I try and remind them of is that I would like to be in a position to argue for a local government Bill in the second-year legislative programme of this Assembly. It will be a competitive bidding round, you can be sure, with lots of Cabinet colleagues with ideas they want to get into the programme. I won’t get a place for a local government Bill to do all the things we would like to do unless I have an agreement that I can take forward. I want to get that by the beginning of the next calendar year, and then I want to move into the next phase.