Presiding Officer, the point made by the Member for Cardiff Central is very, very well made—the challenges ahead are serious and significant. Given the way in which the United Kingdom Government, in acting as the Government of England, is seeking to reduce support for local authorities to virtually nothing and to make local authorities—to compel local authorities—to be self-sustaining, it will clearly have an impact on this side of the border as well. 

It's a very good question—exactly what impact it will have. I dearly wish, Presiding Officer, that I could provide the Member with an answer to that. I don't know what impact it will have. Clearly, it's an important question for the future of the settlement, but it is a matter that we do need to address seriously.

I think, in terms of a comparison of different approaches to support for local government, you will see significant divergence over the coming years. As the UK Government in England walks away from local government and seeks to diminish and emasculate local authorities, diminishing the role of local democracy, in Wales we want to invest in the future of local government and invest in the future of local democracy. I want to see local authorities, as a consequence of this working group, doing more and not less. I want to see them having greater powers and not fewer powers. I want to see them being able to act as shapers and makers of communities and places in a way that many are unable to do today, and I want us to have local authorities that are able to be sustainable into the future.

The way in which that is achieved is clearly a matter for conversation. Presiding Officer, the Member for Cardiff Central raises the issue of PSBs. I believe that PSBs are a good way of delivering services across a wider geography, and I'm interested to understand how PSBs could be used as a means of greater service planning and joint service delivery, and I think there's a very good opportunity for us to root much of the initial work, at least, of the working group in the PSB model of service delivery. 

In terms of other matters, the issue of payroll is an interesting example to use, as to what services could be shared and how we would deliver shared services in the future. I know many leaders of local government—and I've discussed this very issue with some local government leaders—are looking at the moment to ensure that there is a greater shared responsibility for delivery of some of those administrative functions, and I am hearing some really innovative, exciting and creative ideas from local government on how that can develop in the future.

The purpose, Presiding Officer, of this working group is to bring these ideas together, to look at the future and to develop and to deliver a plan that is not simply about mergers, but which is a wider reform of the public sector in Wales, which is to simplify and to streamline how we do Government in Wales, and then to deliver that over a longer time frame. I believe that's a very, very exciting agenda, and I hope that Members on all sides of this Chamber will contribute towards that vision.