3. Will the Minister make a statement on public satisfaction with local authority services in Wales? OAQ53440

Local government provides vital services that support people and communities. Receiving feedback plays an important part in this and 77 per cent of respondents to the latest national survey for Wales were satisfied with their ability to access the services and facilities they need.

Thank you for that answer, Deputy Minister. You will have read with some concern, no doubt, the reports last week that local authorities in Wales had received 87,000 complaints in relation to missed refuse collections. In my own constituency, of course, we have a regime where a missed refuse collection means that people can go up to eight weeks without having their waste collected, which is clearly unacceptable. And, in fact, in Conwy, around 10 per cent of the 87,000 complaints related to that one particular local authority.

Now, the local authorities in Wales have to abide by Welsh Government rules. What many people in my constituency are asking for is, yes, better reflection within the local government funding formula to make sure that there's a fair settlement for the local authority of Conwy, but in addition they're also asking for the Welsh Government to protect local communities by insisting that local councils collect waste on a more frequent basis. So, I would be grateful if you could tell me what you're doing to look at the funding formula to make sure that it's fair to north Wales and to Conwy in particular, and what work you are doing with your officials to look at the timeliness and the frequency of waste collections in order to protect the public from the potential harms that can come about to the environment and their public health?

The Member raises—and I know this is a point that the Member has raised previously in terms of the frequency of bin collection and in particular residual bin collection. I'm resisting the temptation to make a joke about talking rubbish. [Interruption.] It's worth noting that the reports that you refer to are actually in the top 10 complaints for all English councils, but, nevertheless, we know that when this happens it creates an issue for local people—whether it's the burden of having to remove the rubbish yourself or about any ensuing complications from that. There are many reasons for missed collections. I won't know the detail for individual ones, which could be vehicle breakdowns, weather, bins in the wrong place, or slightly late. In terms of actually how we work with local authorities to support them with this, the Member will be aware that it's a matter for local authorities in terms of the frequency of their bin collections. Welsh Government has always been clear that we do need to build on our recycling record. We know that if you are recycling all the dry recycling you can do, that if you look in your bin there are more things you can recycle. We need to move in that direction in terms of the sustainability of our planet. We actually need to do it in the right way and work with residents to do that as well, and that includes making sure we have other collections in place, such as for nappies and incontinence pads—the things that you don't want to leave in a black bin for a number of weeks. 

In terms of going forward to work with local authorities in the area of particularly waste and recycling and waste collection, later this year we will be going forward on our 'Towards Zero Waste' strategy, looking at what sort of statutory guidance we do issue to local authorities. But, at the same time, I was working with those partners in local authorities and in the Welsh Local Government Association to make sure that we work in a way that not only works for them, but works for the citizens of those communities as well.

In response to your question with regard to the funding formula, my colleague the Minister for Housing and Local Government has been clear, in meetings with Conwy County Borough Council and in this Chamber, that the Welsh Government is certainly open to having people come forward with alternative suggestions for how we approach that, but they have to be fair, they have to be objective and they have to fit in and be applicable to local authorities across Wales. But it's certainly something that the Minister is happy to consider and to test.

Minister, one of the important services that are very much appreciated in our communities are, of course, leisure services. Some councils at the moment are investing very heavily, particularly my council, Rhondda Cynon Taf. Others, of course, because of the financial position, are looking at closures. Of course, local authority leisure centres, which tend to also provide better terms and conditions for its staff, are disadvantaged against leisure centre trusts that are set up because they're exempt from business rates. Those trust leisure centres, often former publicly owned leisure centres that have been put into trusts, benefit to the tune of about £5.5 million by way of exemption from business rates. But, of course, local authority leisure centres have to pay those business rates. Rhondda Cynon Taf, for example, pays £850,000 per annum in that respect. Do you agree with me that, in order to maintain public satisfaction in leisure services, to maintain those leisure services, there needs to be a level playing field? I wonder if you will make recommendations now that they should be put on the same par and that local authority leisure centres should now be exempt from business rates.

Can I thank the Member for his question? He raises a very good point about how his own authority still has it in council, but a lot of authorities have looked at asset transfer as an alternative and community-run facilities. You raised the difference between status in terms of non-domestic rate relief in terms of who's owned by local authority council or by a trust.

Leisure centres are liable to pay non-domestic rates, as you say. As this is a matter for the finance Minister, who is responsible for this form of taxation, I'm happy to—. The Minister is obviously in the Chamber and has heard all of this exchange, but I'm happy, through the Minister for Housing and Local Government as well, to follow that conversation up with the Minister for finance.