Part of 1. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 1:56 pm on 15 February 2017.
May I just remind you of what the First Minister said? He said:
Most of the people will come from London’.
I’ll move on to the White Paper published by you a few weeks ago on local government reform. There are a number of questions arising from that, mainly whether the kind of regional arrangements proposed create complexity and confusion for the people of Wales. One of the main problems in the public sector in Wales at the moment, according to the Williams commission report, is that it is too complex and therefore bars local authorities from engaging effectively. I would draw the Assembly’s attention to the framework and geographical model proposed in the paper, which is 2.6.10, which could mean that although some services will be presented at a regional level, other services will be provided by other partnerships at a sub-regional level, or even sub-regional partnerships would cross the regional boundaries. So, first of all, do you believe that this model simplifies the way in which local authorities provide services, or will the whole system be extremely confused and accountability will be lost?