Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Housing and Local Government – in the Senedd at 2:58 pm on 23 January 2019.
I think there must be an echo in this Chamber—I know that you discussed this fully with my colleague Mark Isherwood earlier. This was a question that I and my colleague Janet Finch-Saunders regularly posed to your predecessor, Alun Davies, when he was in the local government role, and I'm pleased that we've set the ball rolling again today on this important issue. Now, I understand that there is a measure of disagreement here and that the Welsh Government believes that the funding formula in its current form can continue. So, can I just ask you, in a spirt of openness, that you do continue those discussions with the finance Minister and, indeed, local government? And although I know, each year, the WLGA agree to the funding formula in some form or other, I do think there is scope within the formula to tinker with it, if you will, and try and make sure that local authorities do get a slightly better deal. I'm thinking particularly about those authorities in rural areas that cover a large rural area and sometimes feel that they're not getting quite that level of support that would help them deliver services in those large rural areas.