5. What plans does the Cabinet Secretary have to promote best practice in local government? OAQ(5)0070(FLG)

A range of mechanisms, Llywydd, exist to promote best practice in local government. An enhanced level of systematic and mandatory regional working will provide new opportunities for local government to share and implement best practice in future.

Thank you for that, Cabinet Secretary. Flintshire’s Food for Life catering mark is an excellent example, I think, of good practice. Providing nutritious and pleasurable school meals to children, it’s also cost neutral and it provides greater scrutiny of where food comes from, which is obviously very important when we’re dealing with children. It also puts more money into local businesses. So, what proposals does the Cabinet Secretary have for ensuring that all local authorities are aware of the benefits of the Food for Life catering mark?

I thank Jenny Rathbone for drawing the attention of the Assembly to Flintshire’s Food for Life scheme. It is, I think, a really good example of a scheme that does practical work on the ground in a way that brings together a whole number of agendas, both environmental agendas but also agendas in relation to public health, and good practice in terms of food preparation, but also it involves the National Procurement Service as one of the key players in it. It recently received an award from the Food for Life scheme. In a sense, the whole awards agenda is designed to be able to draw the attention of others to good work that is going on in parts of Wales. We will publicise it through the ‘Food for Wales, Food from Wales’ strategy. We will use the National Procurement Service as a second way in which that good practice can be drawn to the attention of others. And, as I said in my opening answer, the fact that we are embarked on a discussion with local authorities about greater regional working—that by itself offers better opportunities for things that happen in one local authority to be shared and then spread into other neighbouring councils.

Cabinet Secretary, you’ll be aware that I raised this issue with your predecessors during the last term, but from April to the end of last year, the press and public were excluded from all or part of over 28 per cent of local authority cabinet meetings. Indeed, over half of authorities excluded the press and public from many meetings, with 100 per cent of meetings in the First Minister’s own constituency of Bridgend actually excluding them, and 90 per cent in Ceredigion. Conservative-led Monmouthshire, however, only excluded them, over that same time period, just once during that time. Now, in line with best practice from local authorities in other parts of the UK, would you not agree with me that it is now time for the elected leaders of our local authorities to recognise that such exclusion from our democratic processes at a local level is not acceptable? And therefore would you endorse support for local authorities such as Monmouthshire—and others, I might add, because there were significantly more authorities doing this? It seems that the message is getting through, but it’s not getting through fast enough. With local government elections approaching, would you agree with me that something needs to be done about this and it’s time for council leaders to actually value and recognise the fact that the council tax payer has every right to be included in the democratic process of any local authority?

Well, Llywydd, I definitely do agree that the proceedings of local authorities ought to be as accessible as possible to local electors within their areas. I think there are some very good examples under the control of all political parties in this Chamber who have control of councils, and we do need to do more to accelerate the spread of that practice. I intend to use the opportunity of a local government Bill, if one comes my way during this Assembly, to legislate to strengthen the obligations upon councils to make their proceedings open and available to the public throughout Wales.