Thank you. What action have you taken since the Audit Wales article in July on local council democracy coming out of lockdown, which found that since Welsh Government regulations on 22 April enabled councillors to resume their roles in decision making and holding each other to account, the rate at which democratic structures had returned had varied across Wales? By the end of June, several councils were yet to reintroduce cabinet meetings and were still relying on emergency powers to take decisions. In some councils, there was no comprehensive record available online of the decisions taken since lockdown, making it difficult for the public to see and understand the decisions their council had taken during lockdown and who was accountable for them. The formal scrutiny of decisions and services hadn't yet been reinstated in many councils, and only half of councils would have held virtual meetings of their scrutiny committees by the middle of July. They said that

'Effective scrutiny is a key component of good, transparent decision-making, and an essential pillar of the democratic process.'