5. Will the Cabinet Secretary outline what the Welsh Government has done to increase transparency within local government? OAQ(5)0112(FLG)

I thank Angela Burns for the question. The Welsh Government continues to encourage local government to conduct its business in an open and transparent manner. The current White Paper on reforming local government proposes a range of ways to further increase transparency.

Thank you for that answer, Cabinet Secretary. My understanding is that the current White Paper, though, has dropped the obligation for councillors to publish an annual report to increase transparency and to allow voters to see what their representatives have been doing. I wondered if you could perhaps explain that a little bit further and explain why that requirement has been watered down and, if it has, why you feel that regular and consistent reporting by all councillors on the work they undertake for those they represent is not a suitable mechanism for open and accountable government.

Well, Llywydd, I absolutely agree that it is an obligation on any elected councillor to remain in a continuous relationship with those people who have elected them. What the White Paper does is to set up a menu of ways in which a local councillor can demonstrate that they have done that. They will have to demonstrate that they have done it. But if you are a local councillor, for example, who publishes four quarterly newsletters and delivers them around your ward, then I think you’ve gone beyond a single annual report in demonstrating that you are delivering on the obligation that the White Paper does create, that you as a councillor must be able to show that you are doing what we would, I think, collectively agree that you should do. So, there is a menu of choices that councillors will be able to use to show that they are doing it. An annual report is one, but there are other ways as well. Councillors will have to show what they have done from that list of things to remain in that continuously answerable relationship with their populations.

Cabinet Secretary, do you want equal pay enough to introduce pay transparency in local government, since transparency is a vital step towards equal pay?

Well, I agree that transparency is very important in relation to pay. It’s why, in December 2015, the Welsh Government published ‘Transparency of Senior Remuneration in the Devolved Welsh Public Sector’, a set of principles and guidance. It’s why the Public Services Staff Commission was asked to develop guidance on this, which they published in December of last year. That guidance was discussed at the workforce partnership council, which I chaired last week, with employers and trade unions. We remain committed to taking further steps, where necessary, to ensure that there is transparency in the way that pay is reported in the Welsh public service.