The following amendments have been selected: amendments 1 and 2 in the name of Rhun ap Iorwerth.

The next item is the Welsh Conservatives’ debate on local authorities, and I call on Paul Davies to move the motion.

Motion NDM6286 Paul Davies

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales:

1. Recognises the important role played by local authorities in delivering significant public services across Wales.

2. Notes that strong and effective local government should see power put back into the hands of local people and their communities.

3. Acknowledges the important role played by small businesses in driving the Welsh economy and believes local authorities should work closely with the business community to encourage greater collaboration, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Motion moved.

Diolch, Llywydd, and I move the motion tabled in my name on behalf of the Welsh Conservatives. The point of today’s motion is to recognise the important role played by local authorities in delivering significant public services across Wales, and to explore ways in which local authorities can better support our local communities for the future. Now, we want to see strong and effective local government that will put power back into the hands of local people and their communities. We on this side of the Chamber are passionate about embracing localism to innovate and protect important public services, and there are a number of ways in which this can happen.

Of course, examples of innovation are evident across Wales, for example the Conservative-led authority of Monmouthshire introduced the Raglan project in 2015, which remodelled the way in which it delivers services to older people. This ensures that it can work with people who need help by delivering support primarily to people in their own homes wherever possible, promoting independence, and relieving burdens on the already overstretched Welsh NHS. The project supports people living with dementia and focuses on carers undertaking activities after daily discussions with the person and family, rather than working on fixed plans and set times. The project has developed connections with the community, and has supported people to re-engage with friends, family and the village as a whole. It’s exactly this kind of action that we need to promote and roll out across other parts of Wales: action that is innovative in its approach to delivering services, and action that actively engages and works with local communities.

Members will be aware that we, on this side of the Chamber, continue to advocate a community rights agenda that we believe would have a positive impact on communities and councils, and deliver significant improvements to better involve local communities in decision making. We believe that delivering these community powers is a cost-effective way of allowing community groups a voice for challenging and expressing an interest in carrying out a service or taking on a public amenity of local importance. Of course, a community rights agenda would include a community’s right to challenge council services, but also a right to bid for council assets, allowing local communities and groups to take over assets that are struggling or faced with the threat of closure. Neighbourhood planning, including a community right to build and neighbourhood development plans, should also be considered by the Welsh Government to allow communities to bring forward small-scale, community-led developments, such as shops, services or affordable housing.

Ultimately, we want to push more power and autonomy to our local communities and deliver real devolution that can make a difference to our local communities. Our communities must have the best possible opportunities to run their own services in their own areas. We must empower and encourage local authorities to engage more with local community groups and encourage greater collective responsibility within our communities.

Now, of course, one of the key challenges for local authorities in the future will be to protect or maintain services that impact upon the most vulnerable in our communities whilst also delivering efficiencies in their expenditure, and this is not always easy. This will be a particular challenge for rural local authorities like Pembrokeshire, in my own constituency, which will continue to struggle to provide its current level of services, partly because of its geography and because there are higher costs to delivering public services in rural areas. Delivering services such as social services for older people, for example, can be problematic over large geographic and sparse areas, as well as many other services, such as the provision of rural schools. Therefore, it’s crucial that the Welsh Government genuinely acknowledges some of the challenges that rural authorities face, and efforts must be made to relieve some of the disproportionate costs to delivering services to rural communities.

Indeed, it’s frustrating that councils across Wales have faced a 7 per cent decrease in their budget since 2013-14. Sadly, once again, rural councils have faced the biggest decreases, with Powys, Monmouthshire, and Ceredigion facing the largest overall falls in their funding at 11 per cent, 10 per cent, and 9.82 per cent respectively. Now I fully accept that difficult financial—

Will you take an intervention?

In a moment. Now, I fully accept that difficult financial decisions have to be made, but today’s debate is also about making sure that there is a fairer local government funding formula in place so that rural authorities have sufficient funding to deliver their local public services. I appreciate that a funding floor has been introduced to address some of the challenges facing some rural local authorities. However, it’s clear that a full review of the funding formula for local authorities is required, given that the Welsh index of multiple deprivation has historically highlighted that Powys and Ceredigion were also counted as the most deprived in Wales when accessing local services such as libraries, schools and leisure centres. However, I understand that the Cabinet Secretary is committed to reviewing this funding formula and, therefore, perhaps, in responding to this debate, the Cabinet Secretary will take the opportunity to explain when the Welsh Government will bring forward this review, because rural local authorities continue to face significant challenges in delivering key public services. I give way to the Member for Swansea East.

Can I thank Paul Davies for that? You talk about the change, but the absolute amount of money that rural authorities get is substantially more than places like Cardiff and Swansea.

I’m afraid the Member for Swansea East can’t get away from the fact that Powys, Monmouthshire, and Ceredigion have faced the largest overall falls in their funding since 2013-14.

Now, the third point of our motion acknowledges the important role played by small businesses in driving the Welsh economy and believes local authorities should work closely with the business community. Welsh small businesses are a fundamental part of our local communities, providing important services and job opportunities for people across Wales, and local authorities could and should do more to work with local businesses.

Now, the previous debate talked about procurement, and it’s a real shame that Wales’s local authorities spend roughly 40 per cent of their procurement spend on non-Welsh companies, when there are businesses across Wales that could deliver the same services. For example, in 2015-16, 43 per cent of non-Welsh companies were used by Carmarthenshire in supplying their goods and services, and, in Ceredigion, the figure is 46 per cent.

Now, I appreciate that local authorities have to deliver value for money for the taxpayer when providing services, and procuring local businesses isn’t always possible. But there is far more that can be done to support local businesses and support local economies. Members will remember the work done by the Federation of Small Businesses in 2013 on local government procurement, which noted that for every £1 spent by a participating local authority with local SMEs it generated an additional 63p to benefit its local economy, compared to just 40p generated by larger local firms. Local authorities, therefore, have a responsibility to work closer with businesses to support their own local areas and explore the benefits of delivering more contracts to smaller businesses. The Welsh Government must also be responsive to the needs of SMEs in Wales and look at ways in which it can better break down the barriers for smaller businesses to win public sector contracts. Perhaps the Cabinet Secretary in his response will tell us what steps the Welsh Government is currently taking to do this and to encourage local authorities to be more flexible in their approach to procurement.

Of course, the benefits of working closer with more local businesses are clear. Local businesses can also provide valuable apprenticeships and work experience placements, which can significantly enhance the provision of skills in our communities. Greater collaboration between local authorities, schools and colleges and local businesses can lay the foundation for lifetime learning in our communities and ensure that any gaps in local skills provision are addressed by the local community.

In closing, Llywydd, naturally, local councils across Wales have an important role in delivering services and we’re keen to see stronger partnership and collaboration across sectors in our communities. Local authorities continue to face challenging settlements, particularly in rural areas, and it’s crucial that we iron out the funding formula to ensure that it is as fair as possible. That’s why we want our councils to be innovative and work closer with local community groups and businesses to see our services delivered as effectively as possible for the benefit of local communities. We urge the Welsh Government to do more to support local authorities and encourage greater community action and involvement in the running of local services. I urge Members to support our motion. Diolch.

I have selected the two amendments to the motion. I call on Sian Gwenllian to move amendments 1 and 2, tabled in the name of Rhun ap Iorwerth.

Amendment 1—Rhun ap Iorwerth

Add as new point after point 2 and renumber accordingly:

Notes the importance of sharing best practice across local authorities in Wales in order to deliver better public service outcomes for constituents.

Amendment 2—Rhun ap Iorwerth

Add as new point at end of motion:

Calls on the Welsh Government to introduce proportional representation for local elections to strengthen the accountability of local government and to improve local public services.

Amendments 1 and 2 moved.

Thank you, Llywydd. I move amendments 1 and 2 in the name of Rhun ap Iorwerth. I’d like to thank the Conservatives for tabling a motion that does recognise the importance of local authorities and, in that regard, how local democracy contributes towards public services that are of a high quality.

Just a few words on some elements of the original motion—point 3 refers to acknowledging the important role played by small businesses in driving the Welsh economy’ and how close collaboration between business and local authorities can lead to innovation and economic growth on a local level. In Gwynedd, for example, the partnership between the council and Hwb Caernarfon and the Bangor business improvement district is an excellent example of how collaboration between local authorities and the local business sector has brought more investment and new services into those areas for the benefit of the business community and the wider community. The council also assists small, local companies to collaborate in terms of public procurement contracts and encourages events such as meet-the-buyer events for local companies. Amendment 1:

Notes the importance of sharing best practice across local authorities in Wales’.

There are a number of examples of that in Carmarthenshire, Gwynedd and Ceredigion, as well as elsewhere in Wales.

But I would like to use my contribution this afternoon to specifically refer to amendment 2. Point 2 of the original motion:

Notes that strong and effective local government should see power put back into the hands of local people and their communities.’

I would agree entirely. One obvious way of doing that is to introduce a fairer electoral system, which makes councils more accountable and more representative of the communities that they serve. In the local elections of 2012, only 39 per cent of people voted. In the Assembly election in May, the figure was only 45 per cent, and that was the highest rate since 1999. There are a number of reasons for this, clearly, but one of them, certainly, is the fact that many people refuse to vote because they feel that their votes don’t matter. Under the current system, parties who finish third can go on to win the majority of seats.

You say people don’t vote because their vote will not be taken into account, but the two lowest turnouts we’ve had have been the European elections and the police commissioner—both done under proportional systems.

Well, clearly, there are also other reasons that would account for that as well, but certainly the introduction of proportional representation would improve that. We have seen the situation in local authorities in Scotland where, certainly, the turnout has been far higher in those elections. I believe that we need a new electoral system in order to raise people’s confidence in politics, and, according to the Government’s White Paper on local government reform, the Government has stated an intention to introduce STV in local government elections, but it is up to the individual councils to decide whether they want to implement this or not. Our long-established policy is to introduce the system of STV, but it should be mandatory in local authority elections across Wales. This could mean that local authority elections could be far more competitive, and that the constitution of authorities themselves would be more closely linked to the aspirations of the population, which would enhance the accountability of local government and, ultimately, improve public services.

So, the question is: do we want to accept the unfairness of the current process? And, as a nation, if we truly believe that every citizen is equal, then we should also believe, and ensure, that all votes are also equal. There is no good reason for not introducing STV for local government elections across Wales. There is a golden opportunity to do that now, but it needs to be done on a statutory basis for all councils. Otherwise, I don’t think it will happen. Sometimes, broader considerations in terms of fairness and the welfare of democracy are more important than the idea of leaving the decision to local politicians, and perhaps leaving it to those local politicians would mean that they would put their own welfare, and the welfare of their own parties, before the general well-being of local democracy. We need to make that positive change for the benefit of democracy in our nation. I very much hope that we will receive support for that principle in support for our amendments here this afternoon. Thank you.

While I fully expect, during the course of this debate, that people will be talking about funding decisions and the implications of those, I just wanted to have a quick look at the gap between the need for local decision making and the disconnect between citizens and those to whom they currently delegate those decisions. Because it seems extraordinary to me that it is much easier to have access to your Assembly Member, and even a member of the Government, than it is to your councillor, or a council cabinet member in particular. And, of course, we do have councillors who have an exemplary record of being available to residents, talking to them, working with them, and even resolving their problems. But, judging by the casework that comes through the door of my office on the back of the perception of a local councillor not doing anything, or not responding to them, this is far from a universal experience.

Assembly Members, and this Assembly as a whole, are acutely aware that we need to communicate our purpose and our work as individuals and the work and purpose of the institution as a whole to Wales—and it’s not easy; we’ve found that. But we do recognise that the odd self-congratulatory newsletter, press release, or survey on a labyrinthine website, is not the way to do this. And, with a disappointing turnout and so many uncontested seats at the last council election, I think councils have to ask themselves why the public has so little interest in them, and I think we must ask why that seems to suit them so well.

One of the things that’s really struck me during my time as an Assembly Member is how infrequently the public kicks off about a local decision. I appreciate there’s been a growth in social media armchair warriors, but I think there’s a real feeling, and a real perception, that public disapprobation has very, very little effect on council decision making. Now, as Assembly Members, of course, we are aware the obligations that this place actually places on local authorities. Planning, school places, recycling—even the Welsh language—are some of the issues that result in local authority proposals that can be unpopular. Many councils, of course, are wise enough to follow Welsh Government guidance to the letter, using process as a shield to protect their preferred response to those responsibilities. But, just in my own region, South Wales West, I just think of the effort it actually takes to get local authorities to look again at the way they want to try and achieve an objective. Sometimes, as with Parkland school, a solid well-made argument against a proposal is enough to prevent a silly mistake. Sometimes it takes a relentless long-term community campaign, as we’ve seen—that is needed to persuade the council to de-pedestrianise parts of Bridgend town centre, for example. Sometimes it means taking a bad council decision to the Welsh Government and getting them to change guidance for all councils, as happened with Swansea’s stubbornness on a safe route to school issue. Sometimes, of course, it means taking a council to court, as with Llangeinor school and the Catholic schools in Swansea, at colossal expense.

Part of this willingness of council cabinets to sit back and ride out the ructions comes, I think, from a complacency born of long-term domination of a council by a particular party or group. Scrutiny by opposition councillors, however good it might be, is pretty futile unless residents know it is happening. We could do with fewer council fanzines distributed at public expense and a wave of opposition councillors getting on social media and tagging their local press into the work that they do. Otherwise, this complacency and disengagement roundabout just keeps on spinning. That complacency extends to the observation that, after a while, the aggrieved will all get fed up and discover that, after all, the council was right all along.

But the thing is, so many of those decisions don’t turn out to be right. I’m just going to look at Swansea: bendy buses, the lethal Kingsway, the vainglorious boulevard, concreting over Castle Gardens and now replanting it, parking at Meridian tower—the spaces were too small—Parc y Werin, the installation of the Nowcaster machines that still don’t work, the sale of naming rights of the Liberty Stadium for 4p, bin bags banned from Garngoch tip and now having to be taken there after all, and, of course, buying recycling sorting machinery and then not being able to use it because of their own planning regulations.

Now, part of the purpose of localism, the right to bid, the right to challenge, local referenda, the growth of resident and community groups sitting alongside the council, with proper influence—not just the joy of ticking boxes in a web-based consultation—is buy-in: joint responsibility. Not mob rule, but an understanding of co-production and the creation of a new route of communication about complex challenges and the steps it takes to address them and why they’re a matter for everyone.

Now, I would have liked to have time to talk about partnerships with businesses. The fact that community groups and local authorities seem to occupy the whole territory for funding community capital, with no reach out to local business, for example, is a wasted opportunity, but time’s against me, so I’ll leave it with an invitation to councils not to fear your residents but get them to share the load.

Can I say at the outset that I want to thank the Conservatives for bringing this motion, which I think is a very wide-ranging motion, covering lots of very important issues? I’m not today going to comment on Plaid’s amendment on proportional representation, because this is currently the subject of consultation through the local government White Paper, and I guess we really ought to allow that process to take its course. I’m sure there’s going to be plenty of time to debate this issue and our respective positions on PR or not in the weeks and months ahead. But I want to be a little bit more upbeat today; so I’m going to focus my comments on part 3 of the motion, around the role of local authorities supporting greater collaboration, innovation and entrepreneurship, and to talk a little bit about what’s happening in my constituency, which I think shows how local government and the Welsh Government are working together effectively to deliver results for small business in particular.

Llywydd, it’s not by chance that Merthyr Tydfil has become the growth capital for new businesses in Wales. Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council has played a key role, working with partners to develop innovative schemes with collaboration at their heart. For example, the Merthyr Tydfil Enterprise Centre, which is a joint initiative run by the council and by Tydfil Training, using the Welsh Government’s Vibrant and Viable Places funding, provides a hub in the town centre to provide an entrepreneurial culture within the town and brings together partners from the private, academic, voluntary and public sectors, including—crucially—Merthyr council.

One particular success of the enterprise centre has been the Meanwhile Uses programme, which engages with landlords to identify vacant premises in the town centre that can be used by start-up businesses or businesses looking to expand or diversify, rent free, for up to six months. This period gives their ideas an opportunity to flourish before they make the decision to move into commercial rents. The arrangement also benefits landlords otherwise unable to let their properties, as the rental for that period is met by the council under the VVP funding.

Merthyr Tydfil borough council currently has seven businesses benefitting from this scheme, and the enterprise centre also provides funding to help businesses set up with grants of up to £5,000. So, as well as funding channelled through the local authority under schemes such as Vibrant and Viable Places, the council is also able to provide a holistic approach to the development of enterprise by working with the third sector and academic organisations to bring together advice, expertise and training, and by doing this in conjunction with the advice and support in relation to local authority processes—planning and development and conservation, for example—they can bring wraparound support for new businesses.

Merthyr council has also secured a Welsh Government grant under the Effect project to provide business development services that have included advice, guidance, mentoring, training and support for new businesses, linking with the local employability and skills initiative. Under this scheme, Merthyr council has supported 40 town centre businesses, created 51 jobs and safeguarded 151 more.

If we can just briefly take a look at Merthyr Town Football Club for a moment. Merthyr Tydfil council was a key partner in supporting the development of the club’s Penydarren Park ground, again with Vibrant and Viable Places funding. With this support, the football club was able to extend the clubhouse to build a function room that can cater for up to 120 guests. It has a sports bar, a commercial kitchen, an IT suite and offices with Wi-Fi throughout. It’s now the envy of non-league football clubs throughout the country. But importantly, building on its community philosophy, the club has now developed into a significant business hub, attracting businesses in Merthyr to become involved in the club, to use its facilities under the Martyrs business network—’Martyrs’, by the way, being the nickname of Merthyr Town Football Club. The business network enables local business entrepreneurs to get together to share ideas, knowledge, experience and business referrals. It started a year ago and now has 163 members. Common to the role of all of this that I’ve just been talking about is the local council, not just in supporting funding throughout the Welsh Government’s Vibrant and Viable Places scheme, but through direct partnership, providing that wraparound guidance and facilitation with the support of academic and third sector parties.

In conclusion, Llywydd, I welcome the motion from the Conservatives, and particularly, as I said, the first amendment from Plaid. Local authorities do have a crucial role to play in supporting business development around collaboration, innovation and entrepreneurship, and if anyone wishes to look at the examples of best practice, I can commend to them the excellent work in this field of the Labour-run Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council.

I’m pleased to take part in this debate. It’s important that we have strong local government in Wales, and of course we’ve got some great examples of local authorities that are working for all of the people who live in those local authority areas, including, of course, Monmouthshire County Council in particular. We all know that there have been significant pressures on public finances across the board in recent years, because of the legacy of the previous Labour Government, and that has provided significant challenges to local authorities in terms of making things go further with the limited resources that they have. But I have to say that some of our rural local authorities have struggled particularly to meet these challenges because of the unfair local government funding formula that we have here in Wales. I think it should come as no surprise to us, therefore, that in terms of things like school closures, we’ve seen more closures in rural local authorities than in other parts of Wales. In fact, since 2006, there have 157 primary school closures in Wales, and 95 of those—60 per cent—have been in rural local authorities. So, the figures simply speak for themselves.

Now, of course, it’s not just our schools. We’ve also seen massive reductions in other services. We’ve got the great accolade of being one of the best performing recycling nations in the world, and that’s something of which I am very proud, and many homeowners and businesses have worked with local authorities to deliver those stunning results. But you have to take the public with you when you’re making significant changes to waste collection regimes, and I think that some local authorities now are beginning to step too far as a result of the financial pressures that they are faced with in reducing their waste collection services. Just look at local authorities like Conwy, for example, at the moment, where 10,000 households in that local authority area are now facing four-weekly bin collections—extremely unpopular, leading to an increase in fly-tipping, leading to an increase in litter, making the environment look very unattractive, and potential public health risks associated with things like clinical waste and pet waste in people’s bins for long periods of time. You can see that these sorts of financial pressures, because of that unfair rural element of the funding formula, are leading to real problems in some of our local authorities.

There are different ways to deliver services, and one of the positive things that’s taking place in my own constituency is the business improvement district that we have now in the Colwyn Bay area, where you have businesses there that are working to add value to the work that the local authority is doing to improve the fortunes of the Bay of Colwyn, working collaboratively with the chamber of trade, with the voluntary organisations in the Bay of Colwyn and, indeed, with other stakeholders like the town and community councils that represent that area to deliver some real improvements in the town.

It’s early days; the business improvement district was only established on 1 April 2016, but already there are some green shoots that I think are looking very promising for the future of Colwyn Bay. That is one of the things that I believe will drive the renaissance that’s taken place in the town in recent years. Those sorts of collaborations are things that I would very much like to see more of. I wonder, Cabinet Secretary, in your response to today’s debate, whether you can tell us whether there are any more strategic things that the Welsh Government might be able to do in order to promote that sort of positive engagement and collaboration between the businesses in our communities across Wales and indeed local authorities, whether they be the unitary authorities or indeed the minor authorities too.

Thanks to the Conservatives for bringing today’s debate. We support their motion. We, like them, recognise the crucial role played by local authorities in delivering public services. As challenging financial times continue, local councils are having to deliver these services in different ways. Outsourcing is now becoming a fact of life for many councils. Outsourcing can work, but, of course, local councils still have to ensure that a good level of service is delivered to the local residents. This will be one of the major challenges facing local government in the coming years.

Of course, sometimes, services can improve if an arm’s-length operation is brought into place. Community-run schemes, as advocated today by Paul Davies, could in some cases be the answer. We also note the Conservative motion’s desire to see power put back into the hands of local people. We also value localism in UKIP and we do have a problem with supposedly local development plans effectively being foisted on local communities by planning decrees emanating from central Government.

In fact, we favour local referenda on major developments where a significant proportion of the local population demands such a referendum. So, yes, let’s put power back into the hands of local people and let’s do so in a meaningful way. Local councils should also work closely with small businesses and council procurement policies should favour local SMEs as far as possible. However, this objective does need to be balanced by the need to get the most effective deal for the council tax payer.

Paul Davies did recognise this need for balance in his contribution and he did illustrate also that, very probably, there is considerable scope for local authorities and SMEs to collaborate more closely. We would welcome such collaboration.

We also support the Plaid Cymru amendments. We have a local government reorganisation on the way, so it is crucial that we share best practice across local authorities. It is essential that the reforms, whatever shape they eventually take, do deliver better public service outcomes for the public, or at the very least that they maintain the level of public service that we have now.

The second Plaid Cymru amendment relates to voting in local elections. We support Plaid’s desire for councils to move away from first-past-the-post to proportional representation in order to strengthen accountability. Mike Hedges raised the apparently vexing issue of lower turnout in police and crime commissioner and European elections. However, I believe that this isn’t due to the electoral system used but, in the case of the PCCs, it is, rather, due to the fact that there is no public support for this office in the first place. As for the European Parliament, it was a legislature that, clearly, in many people’s eyes, had such little power that it wasn’t worth voting for.

So, we support the motion and we support the amendments. We support everything, in fact—consensus politics. [Laughter.]

Since I’ve been elected to the National Assembly for Wales, I’ve been heartened to see the increased appreciation from this place of the integral role that local government plays in Welsh public life. When I sat as a councillor for nearly three terms, it did not always seem that this Chamber understood the complexities of life on the ground in an era of huge public spending cuts inflicted by a UK Tory Government.

It is, indeed, a great privilege to serve as a county councillor or a community councillor. It is an invigorating responsibility to be charged with making a difference to people’s lives—indeed, it can be hard to give up, as ordinarily I am sat next to a county councillor during each Plenary.

The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government, Mark Drakeford, is to be applauded for dramatically changing the relationship between Welsh Government and Welsh local authorities. All healthy relationships are founded on mutual respect, an ability to listen to one another and partnership working, but the vision of strong resilient delivery partners in local government is of equal import and merit today and every day, making a real difference to people’s lives and often the most vulnerable in our society.

Llywydd, four weeks tomorrow, the Welsh people will go to the polls to elect their local councillors across Wales’s 22 local authorities. So, if my fellow Assembly Members forgive my indulgence for being partisan, as you know, if you were to cut me, I would bleed Welsh Labour red blood. But, it remains true: in the storm of austerity, self-inflicted and caused by the Tory Government in London, Welsh Labour councils have still been delivering for our people and not just the privileged few.

In my own Assembly constituency within Caerphilly County Borough Council, the Welsh Labour-led council has invested over £210 million in the Welsh housing quality standard, providing real warm and safe homes for thousands of local people most in need. Let me use this opportunity to place on record my appreciation for the dedicated service of council leader, Keith Reynolds, and his predecessor, former councillor Harry Andrews. They and their Labour colleagues across Wales have done everything they can to improve the lives of their constituents, even as budgets have been squeezed beyond all recognition as a direct result of continuing Welsh block grant cuts from Westminster. Despite this, Caerphilly County Borough Council have made record investments in modern library services, meeting the demand from citizens, with Welsh Labour council tax in Wales remaining lower than under the Tories in England—indeed, in Caerphilly the council tax rise this year is a mere 1 per cent.

In education, across local government, we have seen how the partnership between the Welsh Labour Government and Welsh local authorities has delivered new school buildings across Wales through the twenty-first century schools programme, none more magnificent than Islwyn High School. Wales has seen the best ever GCSE results and we have closed the gap with England, with our disadvantaged pupils now catching up with their peers. As such, I welcome strongly the White Paper that is out for consultation until 11 April—a direct result of discussions between the Welsh Government, local authorities and other stakeholders—co-constructed, co-determined and constructive for a resilient future. I would caution that, for Islwyn, a priority must be to improve voter registration and turnout at elections over a headline-grabbing proposal to change voting systems for local authority elections.

Equally, I am proud of our record in Wales around recycling services—ambitious targets set by the Welsh Labour Government for local government achieving a real difference. Today in Wales, thanks to an accountable local government, we are now on course to become the highest recycling nation in Europe, and I could go on and on.

But, the people of Wales want to see their standard of living improve. On 4 May, the only way to ensure strong and effective local government is to simply vote Welsh Labour.

Strength-based development is about helping people in—[Interruption.]

I can’t hear Mark Isherwood, mainly because his fellow AMs in his own group are shouting so much. Mark Isherwood.

Diolch, Llywydd. Strength-based development is about helping people and communities identify the strengths they already have in order to tackle the root problems preventing them from reaching their potential. Applying this approach, the co-pro revolutionaries in the Co-production Network for Wales are adopting international best practice, working for an approach that enables people and professionals to share power and work together in equal relationships to make public services more effective and relevant. This is about unlocking community strengths to build stronger communities for the future.

Regrettably, however, the Labour Welsh Government has proved averse to implementing the Localism Act 2011’s community rights agenda, which would help community engagement and deliver services more efficiently and effectively. Overall, there’s been a top-down approach towards community engagement in Wales, with resources and guidance to local authorities being generated from central Government. Moreover, the Welsh Government has published a centralised document, ‘Principles for working with communities’, which includes the involvement of communities, service users and organisations in defining community problems and the design and delivery of new approaches, but no grass-roots powers for communities.

Although there are some powers of local intervention in Wales, local authorities are not currently obliged to undertake community asset transfers nor are there registers to show which local authority assets are under threat, unlike across the border. Furthermore, the results of the Welsh Government’s consultation on protecting community assets in 2015 showed 78 per cent of respondents welcoming a power to initiate a transfer of assets from public sector bodies, essentially supporting the community right to bid missing in Wales.

The Welsh Government has given funding for a pilot scheme to the Gwent Association of Voluntary Organisations for a community asset transfer officer—good—helping groups in Gwent bid for community assets—fantastic—but it isn’t yet clear if it has been a success. The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government said in November 2016 that the Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children had been participating in talks with the Campaign for Real Ale regarding the future of Welsh pubs. That sounds very interesting; I think I’d have enjoyed those talks too. However, we’re yet to see the results of these talks. Last year, Flintshire Local Voluntary Council told me that Welsh Government cuts to local voluntary councils would devastate their ability to support more user-led, preventative and cost-effective services. In other words, by spending money smarter, we could safeguard those services by working differently. And the Wales Council for Voluntary Action said that Welsh Government and the sector need to refresh current engagement mechanisms, develop, promote and monitor a programme for action based on co-production and common ground, with local authorities, health boards and the third sector working much more imaginatively to develop better services that are closer to people, more responsive to needs and add value by drawing on community resources.

Oxfam Cymru has specifically called on the Welsh Government to embed the sustainable livelihoods approach in all policy and service delivery in Wales, helping people identify their own strengths in order to tackle root problems preventing them and their communities from reaching their potential.

Five years ago, the current Minister rejected the WCVA’s ‘Communities First—A Way Forward’ report, which found that community involvement in co-designing and co-delivering local services should be central to any successor lead tackling poverty programme. Five years later, and after spending £0.5 billion on it, the same Minister has now said he is phasing out Communities First, having failed to reduce the headline rates of poverty or increase relative prosperity in Wales. As the Bevan Foundation states, if people feel that policies are imposed on them, the policies don’t work, and a new programme should be produced with communities, not directed top down.

Let us look to local area co-ordination in Derby—supporting residents and communities, driving collaboration between local people, families, communities and organisations to build something bigger and more sustainable, building on the very successful model implemented in Australia. An independent evaluation by the University of Derby, working with just 50 people, found savings of £800,000 for the health and social care economy, and that introducing local area co-ordinators had built relationships, established trust, worked to people’s strengths and aspirations and built connections with family members and other citizens to create solutions for those communities. This convinced that local authority and NHS there to invest and expand to all 17 council wards. If only the Welsh Government would listen. They could use funding better, improve lives, and therefore help public services save money. So, my question to all Assembly Members is: will you join the revolution, step up and co-produce the Wales we want?

I call on the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government, Mark Drakeford.

Thank you very much, Presiding Officer, and I thank all Members who have contributed to this debate this afternoon.

Wrth i ni symud tuag at yr etholiadau llywodraeth leol ar 4 Mai a thoriad y Pasg, mewn ysbryd ecwmenaidd o gynhwysiant, bydd y Llywodraeth yn cefnogi’r cynnig y prynhawn yma.

Wrth gwrs, bydd gan y pleidiau gwleidyddol yma syniadau gwahanol tu hwnt i’w rhoi gerbron yr etholwyr, ond nid yw ein cyd-ddealltwriaeth o arwyddocâd cynghorau lleol fel darparwyr gwasanaethau allweddol, chwaraewyr allweddol yn y broses o greu economïau lleol a chysylltiadau hanfodol yn y gadwyn ddemocrataidd, yn lle drwg i ddechrau. Wedi dweud hynny, Llywydd, rwyf wedi edrych sawl gwaith y prynhawn yma ar y cynnig, gan geisio dod o hyd i gyfeiriad ynddo at fformiwla gyllido, heb sôn am alwad ynddo i ddiwygio’r fformiwla gyllido, i symud cyllid o ardaloedd a gynrychiolir gan lawer o gydweithwyr y rhai a gynigiodd y cynnig.

Felly, gadewch i mi fod yn glir. Mae un Llywodraeth Cymru ar ôl y llall, yn cynnwys y Llywodraeth hon, wedi gweithredu i amddiffyn awdurdodau lleol a’u gwasanaethau yma yng Nghymru rhag y toriadau a osodwyd arnom a rhag y driniaeth a gafodd awdurdodau lleol dros y ffin yn Lloegr. Mae’r fformiwla ariannu a ddefnyddiwn yng Nghymru yn fformiwla wrthrychol. Mae’n cael ei gyrru’n bennaf gan nifer y bobl sy’n byw mewn ardal, nifer y disgyblion mewn ysgolion, a chan gyngor arbenigol ar gostau amddifadedd, natur wledig a gwasanaethau penodol. Dyna pam y pleidleisiodd arweinwyr Llafur ar yr is-grŵp cyllid eleni i weithredu newidiadau i’r fformiwla gwasanaethau cymdeithasol, sydd wedi symud arian o ardaloedd trefol ac i ardaloedd gwledig yng Nghymru, am eu bod yn cydnabod, os ydych yn dibynnu ar gyngor gwrthrychol, fod yn rhaid i chi gymryd y cyngor hwnnw pa un a yw’n digwydd bod o fantais i’ch ardal chi ai peidio. Yn y ffordd honno, mae gennym fformiwla y byddwn yn ei harolygu a’i hadolygu, ac sy’n destun craffu, o un flwyddyn i’r llall.

Ar ran y Llywodraeth hon, Llywydd, mae awdurdodau lleol yno i gefnogi unigolion, teuluoedd a chymunedau pan fydd angen help arnynt, ond hefyd i ddarparu gwasanaethau sy’n ei gwneud yn bosibl i bobl fyw eu bywydau eu hunain yn y ffordd y byddent yn dymuno eu byw—teuluoedd sy’n disgwyl i ysgolion roi’r cychwyn gorau mewn bywyd i blant, sy’n disgwyl y bydd gwastraff yn cael ei gasglu a’i waredu’n ddiogel, y bydd palmentydd a ffyrdd yn cael eu cynnal a’u cadw ac y caiff gwasanaethau eu darparu i bobl hŷn yn eu cartrefi eu hunain yn rhai o’r amgylchiadau mwyaf agored i niwed yn ein cymunedau. Mae awdurdodau lleol ledled Cymru yn cynnal cannoedd o wasanaethau drwy filoedd o sefydliadau, i filiynau o bobl yng Nghymru drwy fuddsoddi biliynau o bunnoedd. Mae’r cynnig yn hollol gywir i ddechrau drwy gydnabod eu harwyddocâd.

Er gwaethaf heriau go iawn, mae llywodraeth leol yng Nghymru wedi bod yn gwella ac mae wedi bod yn gwella hyd yn oed mewn cyfnod o galedi gwirioneddol. Ond mae heriau gwirioneddol yn parhau o fewn llywodraeth leol ac i lywodraeth leol. Mae mwy i’w wneud i sicrhau mwy o gysondeb a rhagoriaeth ac ar yr un pryd, gwyddom fod llai o arian yn mynd i fod ar gael ar gyfer gwasanaethau cyhoeddus. Mae diwygio’n hanfodol os yw awdurdodau lleol yn mynd i fod yn gadarn yn ariannol a gallu cynnal a gwella ansawdd gwasanaethau yn ystod y cyfnod eithriadol hwn o gwtogi. Ac er bod diwygio’r ffordd yr ydym yn gwneud pethau yn anghenraid, wrth wraidd y Papur Gwyn a gyhoeddwyd ar 31 Ionawr, ceir perthynas newydd rhwng y dinesydd a’r gwasanaethau lleol, lle y mae’r rhai sy’n defnyddio’r gwasanaethau hynny yn cael eu trin fel partneriaid cyfartal yn y broses o wella.

Wrth gwrs, Llywydd, nid oeddwn yn cytuno â phopeth roedd Paul Davies yn ei awgrymu, ond bydd yn gwybod fy mod wedi treulio prynhawn cyfan allan gyda’r gweithwyr rheng flaen sy’n rhedeg prosiect Rhaglan, ac roedd yn brynhawn da iawn hefyd, yn gweld prosiect arloesol sy’n trosglwyddo grym i’r gweithwyr rheng flaen mewn perthynas â’u defnyddwyr sy’n seiliedig ar ymddiriedaeth go iawn. Mae’r strategaethau cyfranogiad y cyhoedd y mae’r Papur Gwyn yn eu hargymell wedi eu cynllunio i fod yn ddeialog lle y caiff cryfderau ac asedau eu nodi, a lle y gweithredir ar y cyd i ddatrys problemau cyffredin. Fel y mae ail ran y cynnig yn dweud: llywodraeth leol gref yn rhannu grym a chyfrifoldeb gyda’i phoblogaeth leol. Ac mae llywodraeth leol yn dibynnu’n allweddol ar safon y bobl sy’n cael eu hethol i gynrychioli pobl eraill. Cyfeiriodd Suzy Davies at yr angen i barhau i wella safon y bobl sy’n dod i mewn i lywodraeth leol, i wneud y swydd honno’n werth chweil iddynt ei gwneud, er mwyn sicrhau eu bod yn cyflawni’r cyfrifoldebau hynny mewn ffordd sy’n cyd-fynd â’r rhwymedigaethau a osodwyd arnynt. Mae manylion y Papur Gwyn yn ei gwneud yn glir fod creu llywodraeth leol gref yn dibynnu ar gynghorwyr lleol gweithgar, ymroddgar a hawdd dod i gysylltiad â hwy, ac yn cryfhau arwyddocâd y cynrychiolwyr lleol, a’r rhwymedigaethau a osodwyd arnynt.

Llywydd, a gaf fi am eiliad ddychwelyd at bwynt a wnaeth Rhianon Passmore, lle y bu’n talu teyrnged i Keith Reynolds, arweinydd Cyngor Bwrdeistref Sirol Caerffili sy’n ymddeol? Ar draws Cymru, ceir arweinwyr o wahanol bleidiau gwleidyddol sydd wedi penderfynu na fyddant yn ceisio am arweinyddiaeth eu cynghorau ar ôl yr etholiad, ac rwyf am dalu teyrnged i bob un ohonynt. Mae bod yn arweinydd cyngor ar unrhyw adeg, ond yn enwedig yn y cyfnod hwn, yn galw am ddewrder gwleidyddol ac mae’n galw am wytnwch personol a phenderfyniad, ac o’r gogledd-orllewin pell i dde-ddwyrain eithaf Cymru mae gennym bobl sydd wedi cyflawni’r cyfrifoldebau hynny, sydd wedi darparu gwasanaeth i’w cymunedau lleol, pobl na fyddant yno ar ôl 4 Mai, ac nid wyf yn credu y byddai’n syniad drwg i ni gydnabod y cyfraniad y maent wedi’i wneud heddiw. [Aelodau’r Cynulliad: ‘Clywch, clywch.’]

Llywydd, gadewch i mi ddweud rhywbeth yn awr am drydedd agwedd y cynnig heddiw. Mae’r Llywodraeth yn cydnabod rôl busnesau bach a chymorth busnes, i sicrhau ei fod ar gael i entrepreneuriaid, microfusnesau a busnesau bach a chanolig eu maint ar draws Cymru, ac rydym yn gwneud hynny drwy ein gwasanaeth Busnes Cymru. Mae Sir Fynwy dan arweiniad y Ceidwadwyr, Powys dan arweiniad annibynnol, a Cheredigion dan arweiniad Plaid Cymru i gyd yn defnyddio Busnes Cymru fel eu gwasanaeth llawn, ac mae Castell-nedd Port Talbot dan arweiniad y Blaid Lafur yn gweithio gyda Busnes Cymru i ddarparu ymateb ar y cyd i gadwyn gyflenwi Tata. Roeddwn yn cydnabod yn y ddadl ddiwethaf fod yna amrywiaeth ym mherfformiad caffael ar draws gwahanol awdurdodau lleol, ond mae wedi bod yn galonogol y prynhawn yma i glywed amrywiaeth o enghreifftiau byw go iawn lle y mae awdurdodau lleol yn defnyddio’r pwerau a’r adnoddau sydd ganddynt i ymgysylltu â busnesau lleol i greu economïau’r dyfodol. Darparodd Sian Gwenllian enghraifft uniongyrchol o weithredu llwyddiannus yng ngogledd-orllewin Cymru; dywedodd Dawn Bowden wrthym mai Merthyr yw prifddinas twf Cymru; a nododd Darren Millar arwyddion cynnar adfywiad ym Mae Colwyn—a phob un yn lleoedd lle y mae awdurdodau lleol yn cydweithio â’u poblogaethau lleol i ysgogi gwelliant.

Llywydd, nid ydym yn bychanu’r camau sydd angen eu cymryd er mwyn i awdurdodau lleol ledled Cymru allu parhau i ddarparu gwasanaethau, gan weithio gyda phoblogaethau lleol, gan weithio gyda busnesau lleol, er mwyn creu’r gwasanaethau sydd eu hangen arnom. Ond wrth i ni nesu at yr etholiad, rwy’n siŵr y byddwn yn dymuno gweld yr holl bobl sy’n ymgeisio yn yr etholiad yn cymryd rhan yn llwyddiannus yn y broses ddemocrataidd fel bod gennym awdurdodau lleol bywiog, egnïol a llwyddiannus sy’n gallu dal ati i wneud y gwaith pwysig hwn yma yng Nghymru.

I call on Nick Ramsay to reply to the debate.

Thank you, Presiding Officer. And can I thank everyone who’s taken part in this afternoon’s debate? It is a fact that local authorities across Wales are clearly under increasing pressure year in, year out. We know that, they know that, there’s no denying it, whatever your view of the reasons for it. As Paul Davies said in opening, we need innovation in local government, and we need action not just words. We need a bottom-up approach that truly engages local communities. As the Welsh Local Government Association has said, the running costs for councils will increase by £750 million by 2019-20. So, it’s not rocket science. We need to do things differently, we need innovation and we need to learn from best practice.

My own council of Monmouthshire, mentioned by a number of speakers, and led by Peter Fox, has made waves in this area—[Interruption.] OBE, indeed. In many ways, Monmouthshire has been forced to innovate, but it’s worked. It is doing more with less than ever before, and the fruits of that are there for all to see. Monmouthshire has achieved that through working closely with business, by having innovative weeks such as Back2Business Week, building up strong relations with local businesses and local firms, so that those firms know where support is when they need it most.

In fact, Dawn Bowden, in a passionate speech, spoke about the need to develop strong council links with businesses. You spoke of the need for the local economy to be productive enough to provide that finance for the local economy, for the council to have that money to spend on services. And, yes, many authorities in Wales are dependent on money from the centre—you would expect that in a country such as Wales, with the sort of history we’ve had—but that’s not to say that we shouldn’t seek to build up the economic base of those areas so that, over time, hopefully, they can become more self-sufficient, more independent, more confident and have more money to put back into those local economies. That will lift not just the economies of those areas, but the self-esteem of those areas and, moving into the future, the way that they look outwards to the rest of the world.

I mentioned Dawn Bowden’s contribution, if I can just turn to some of the other contributions that speakers have made, and, Suzy Davies, you spoke heavily about the openness and transparency issue. You said there’s a lot of disengagement with local authorities, and you’re quite right to ask that question—why is that? Local government, local authorities are actually, or they should be, the most accessible level of government, being the closest to people, but, too often, our constituents do find it easier to come to us in this Chamber, or to go to Westminster—whatever level it may be. They don’t automatically go to their local authority. Often, it is cynicism that has been engendered because of the lack of action that they’ve seen in the past when they have taken issues to their local authorities.

So, I think we do need to see a new spirit in our local authorities. We’ve got the local elections coming up where we can have local councillors who really are looking out for the interests of their constituents. Maybe they do have to be honest with them sometimes and say things aren’t possible—that’s part of being in democratic life—but that is a discussion that has to be had to get that confidence going that we want to see.

Darren Millar was right to return to the vexing issue of the local government funding formula. I do accept the Cabinet Secretary’s comment that it wasn’t intrinsic to the motion, but if you try to look at this issue separately from that of the funding formula, then everything else falls down, because without that finance, without that fairness, without that new look at the funding formula, I think, in the years to come, we’re going to find it very difficult to maintain public services at the local level as we would like to see. I know full well from my time as a county councillor that the local government funding formula is a very complex beast. You do not take on changes to that formula lightly. It is, in fact, for those who understand the formula, a variety of formulas with all the interlinks that have grown up over time. But that’s not to say that we shouldn’t try, that we shouldn’t start on that process of making it fairer.

I look across at the Welsh Labour Party, the party that has proclaimed over so many years to be the party of fairness, the party of Wales and the party of localism within Wales. Well, let me tell you, this funding formula is not fair. So, if it isn’t fair, then I would suggest that you go back to the drawing board, put the principles where the mouth is and we look at developing a new system as we move forward.

If I can turn to Rhianon Passmore—you wouldn’t let me intervene on you, probably wisely. To be fair, Rhianon, you weren’t quite as partisan as you have been in some speeches. You made some very good points, actually, but you did take us back to the era of austerity, so often prevalent in debates in this Chamber, and I would remind you—you didn’t let me at the time—that that era of austerity did follow the era of profligate spending and profligate borrowing and ballooning debt that the Labour Party now don’t want us to remind them about. Do you know what? Perhaps if Rhianon Passmore and perhaps if Mark Drakeford had been running the UK Government back in the early 2000s, perhaps we wouldn’t have ended up in the mess that we are in. Unfortunately, you weren’t, Rhianon. I would probably have supported you. So, we are where we are, and we have to move forward. I’ll take an intervention.

How much has the public debt gone up by under the Conservatives?

A lot less than when it went up under the Labour Party. It takes a long time to turn a supertank around. At least we’ve started. Unfortunately, your party in Westminster didn’t.

I realise I’m out of time, Presiding Officer, so in conclusion to this non-partisan and fair-minded debate—or at least it started that way—I’m happy to join you, Mark Isherwood, on your revolution and on your tour of co-production and Welsh pubs. It sounds great fun. So, we can investigate together ways that we can boost local economies. At the end of the day, everyone in this Chamber had something good to say in this debate. Let’s focus on the positive. We all want to get to the same situation. [Interruption.] Yes, Alun Davies, let’s focus on the positive. We all want to get to the same end destination: we want public services that deliver properly for people in their local areas. Let’s work together where we can to try and develop that better system financially, economically and, indeed, democratically locally. The future can be gold, and if we just grasp it, let’s start now.

The proposal is to agree the motion without amendment. Does any Member object? [Objection.] I will defer voting, therefore, until voting time.

Voting deferred until voting time.