Thank you, and that’s one of the reasons that I’ve commissioned this large-scale look—or that I will be commissioning in the next financial year—at the ICF, and that is to find out the truth: you know, what kind of value for money are we having? We’ve already had the work done looking at examples of good practice, so we know that exists, but actually we need to be understanding the true value for money, and so on. In terms of the specifications of that piece of work, they haven’t yet been determined. So, obviously, I’ll be very much open-minded on that.

You’re absolutely right; the citizen involvement and citizen engagement have to be very central to the work of the regional partnership boards. The work that they did in terms of developing the population needs assessments was very wide-ranging, and there was certainly citizen involvement there. But on the regional partnership boards as well, there are service users and carers represented on those boards. It’s really important that they have a strong voice, as well as through citizens’ forums and so on, in terms of ensuring that, as the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 would have us do, putting the individual and the service user right at the centre as well. So, that’s absolutely critical. And, of course, the regional partnership boards do have a duty to make the local population aware of the work that they’re undertaking as well. I know that’s something that’s going to be discussed in the meeting with the chairs of the boards that is taking place tomorrow, actually.

In terms of who puts how much into the fund, that’s very much left for local determination, and I think that is the right thing to do in terms of allowing the partners to take that collaborative and innovative look together in terms of how they can come to an agreement as to who puts what into the fund. I know that those are not easy discussions but, actually, with the enthusiasm that there has been and the commitment that there has been from all of the partners involved, I’m confident that they can have those conversations without Welsh Government assisting.