Can I thank Jenny Rathbone for those comments, and particularly for drawing attention to something that we haven’t rehearsed so far in the discussion this afternoon? The White Paper says that, just as we want a new relationship between the Welsh Government and local authorities, so local authorities themselves need to develop a new relationship with the populations that they serve: a relationship based on a view of their local populations as assets, as people who have strengths, as people who have a contribution to make, rather than problems that have to be solved. So, at the heart of the White Paper is that different relationship, that co-productive relationship. It says to local authorities that, in the very tough times—very tough times—that lie ahead, if you’re not able to mobilise the contribution that your population can make to act jointly with you in pursuit of things that matter to local populations, your ability to go on doing the important things you do will be much compromised. The idea of distributive leadership is that everybody who works for a local authority has some leadership responsibilities and the first question you should ask yourself when you come across a problem is not, ‘Who should I report this problem to so that I can make it somebody else’s responsibility?’ The first question you should ask yourself is, ‘What contribution can I make to solving this problem?’ What can I do to make a difference here?’ Then, of course, you will need to mobilise the contributions of lots of other people if you’re going to make a real difference. But it does try to move the debate on from that sort of hierarchical sense that my job is simply to find somebody else who I can make responsible for solving a problem—‘What can I do to make a contribution to it?’

In the points that Jenny raised about the involvement of the third sector and organisations that need to relate to local authorities, I meet third sector organisations twice a year formally to discuss their relations with local authorities. I think they broadly support the regional approach that this White Paper sets out, because I think they believe it will simplify their ability to interact with local authorities, it will allow them to take the good relations that they have in some places and try and make them characteristic of the whole of that region, and it will provide a different set of entry points to other organisations. Instead of having to deal with 22 local authorities about everything, they will have a smaller number and, as a result, more effective opportunities to form those very important contacts and relationships.