Presiding Officer, I think the whole Chamber will be with me when I say I'm delighted that I'm not always accountable to this place for the actions of the United Kingdom Labour Party and their press office.

I would say to the Conservative spokesperson to perhaps move away from her counsel of despair. We seem to have listened to five or six minutes of a list of all problems and difficulties that are faced in making any change whatsoever. I have to say to the Member concerned and to other Members that we will increase participation when we persuade people there's a purpose to voting and that voting can change something and that voting can have a purpose in shaping the future of our communities. Simply listing problems facing people does not, I would suggest, inspire change anywhere with anyone.

I will say to the Conservative spokesperson that town and community councils will not be affected by the announcements I'm making this afternoon. She will be aware that there is a review currently taking place, which was announced by my predecessor, the now Cabinet Secretary for Finance, and I will be making further statements on the future of town and community councils when that review reports, which I expect to be at some point in the early summer. 

Can I say, in terms of attempting to answer at least some of the questions that she has asked this afternoon, that this is a part of a package of reforms? She will be aware from questions that we had last week and the statement I made on the local government settlement that I have asked all Members here, as well as council leaders and Members of the UK Parliament, what powers they believe should rest with principal local authorities. Now, I trust that the Conservative Member for Aberconwy on this occasion has written to me by tomorrow's deadline in order to provide me with her views on these—[Interruption.] She didn't give me her views on anything. I wish she had. It would make my job easier. Let me say this: I presume—[Interruption.] I can only presume—. I don't want to get into the issue here of what e-mails have been sent or not sent, but I presume that she will be writing to me this evening to provide me with that package of proposals that she has.

I am putting together a series of reforms to and with local government to underpin local democracy to ensure that we do have participation in local elections and to ensure that local councils and local authorities are more powerful in the future than they are today. This is a part of that package of reform. It is not the totality of that package of reform, and it is also the first statement that I make here on the whole reform process. 

The Conservative spokesperson has asked questions about voter fraud and data protection. I have to say to her that, where this is already being practised in Scotland, there is no evidence of any of those issues being an issue for the Scottish authorities. We don't expect them to be an issue for us. We will ensure that there is proper protection in place for all those on the register, whether they are 16 or 17 or in fact anybody who is vulnerable in any way. And we will ensure that there are proper guidelines in place to ensure that data protection and voter fraud are not issues of any new system.

I do accept the point that's been made about the ability to simplify postal votes. Clearly, many people we know and many electors do rely on postal votes, whether it's because of infirmity or because of work commitments that mean they're unable to vote in person. I hope that we'll be able to continue to simplify the process of postal votes, but I have to say that we will need to ensure as well that postal votes remain a secure form of voting. The reason, Presiding Officer, I am seeking permissive powers in this legislation in order to provide us with the pilots to enable us to consider different changes to the voting system is to do exactly as the Member suggests, which is to understand in practice how these proposals will work in terms of how we elect new councillors in the future.

I hope that we will be able to look at a diversity of different proposals to improve and drive up turnout. I hope that people will be able to vote electronically in the future. I hope that we'll be able to vote on our telephones in the future, and I hope that, even if we are unable to do that in the near future, we will be able to move to a system of electronic counting in the near future. I will say to the Member, who seems very—how shall I put it—lukewarm about the suggestion that we should increase the franchise to 16 and 17-year-olds, that I see young people as being motivated to take part in the political process where politicians are able to demonstrate there's a purpose and a view to voting. I think it is our responsibility here and elsewhere to explain to people how voting can change something and the importance of taking part in the election process.

It's a matter for others to take some of the views that have been expressed in terms of proportional representation versus first past the post. I have to say to the Member for Aberconwy that part of personal and social education is around active citizenship. I'm surprised that she is not aware of that. Our ability to communicate and to educate young people about the importance of the political structures of governance of Wales, of local government and of the United Kingdom will help us, I hope, engage a new generation of people in taking part in our democracy and holding, I hope, us all to account.