Access to Public Services

Part of 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Local Government and Public Services – in the Senedd at 2:55 pm on 13 June 2018.

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Photo of Nick Ramsay Nick Ramsay Conservative 2:55, 13 June 2018

I'm pleased to hear that, Cabinet Secretary. I listened with interest to your exchange with my colleague Janet Finch-Saunders earlier. It did strike me that it was very much groundhog day in terms of the conversation that you had. I have to say that I did agree with you on your comment that you should be—as I often do, actually; it's only big things we disagree. [Interruption.] I'm getting there. [Laughter.] I'm not used to being heckled by my own side. [Laughter.] We should be devolving powers to effective local centres of democracy, which is, I think, the expression that you used. I think also that you're right in saying that you, as Welsh Government, do need a meaningful relationship with local government. I think local government would love to have a meaningful relationship with Welsh Government as well. And I think there are two sides to this coin.

I think where we do differ, Cabinet Secretary, is that, whilst we all accept that there should be, over time, organic change and reform to local government and to structures of delivering public services across Wales—we've got the city regions as a classic example of how things change—what we have to do is put the citizen at the centre of this. Where our side differs from yours is that we feel that you're putting the structure first, and that is wrong. That hasn't worked in the past and that won't work in the future. So, will you go back to the drawing board, have discussions with your colleagues, in local government hopefully, or whoever you need to have those discussions with, but come back with proposals for how you're going to put the citizen at the centre and have a system that really does deliver the sort of regenerative, transformative change in local government that we all desperately want to see but which doesn't simply sacrifice everything on the altar of reorganisation?