7. What steps is the Minister taking to enable local authority employees and office holders to stand for election to that authority? OAQ54830

Last month, I introduced the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Bill. This Bill includes provisions to remove the prohibition of most local authority employees standing for election in the authority in which they are employed.

Thank you. In March, Minister Hannah Blythyn AM raised the anomaly that people who work in local government are not able to put themselves forward for election for that same authority and that this would be addressed in the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Bill. Now, according to section 24, a person who holds a relevant paid office or employment is disqualified from being a member of a local authority in Wales, but would then be able to be elected as a member. But currently, for instance, local authority employees are expected to then resign from their jobs immediately so as to take up that office, undoubtedly putting teachers, school cooks and many others off.

Now, there's a current situation where if you provide a service to a local authority, such as a keep-fit instructor or a swimming instructor, and you receive remuneration from that local authority, you cannot stand as an elected member. So, what consideration will you give to amending the Bill so that we can actually really attract more diverse elected members to our local authorities?

So, the Bill does two things. It removes from the restriction a whole group of local authority employees who don't have any part in the political process—so, school employees and so on. It keeps a salary cap for those employed in the centre of the local authority and obviously for those who are involved in the political process in advising committees and statutory office holders, and so on. But, for those who are barred, it allows them to stand for election other than in politically restricted posts, just to be clear—so, several groups of people—and you have to resign on taking office. So, you can be elected, you can consider your position and then you can resign. The Bill actually says that you're resignation takes effect immediately, so you don't have any issues with notice periods and so on. So, it means that you can be elected and then, on taking office, you have to have resigned. So, it frees the way for people to stand whilst employed, because I completely agree with you that many of the people who are most interested in local authority services are those who are providing them, and this restriction has been unduly restrictive in terms of the diversity of local government.