Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Housing and Local Government – in the Senedd at 2:34 pm on 14 October 2020.
Thank you. Well, I hope that means that there will be consideration in future years over how to help those with the least reserves specifically who may have less flexibility in all the areas you mention.
But, in their second report, 'Commercialisation in Local Government', Audit Wales argued that
'With future funding at best unpredictable, new thinking is needed to transform the way councils operate to protect and improve services for their communities. The result is that there has never been a more pressing need to innovate and transform local government, to think big and think radically about what councils do and how they do it, and the relationship they have with their residents.'
They found that there is public support for councils to act more commercially, citing a citizens' survey carried out by themselves that found that nine in 10 respondents broadly supported their council pursuing commercial activities that ultimately support the local area through economic growth and investment in the most disadvantaged communities. How, therefore, do you respond to the report's arguments that councils need to define and agree what commercialisation means for themselves, their communities and citizens, and that changing the culture of organisations was the topic flagged most consistently as the key challenge facing councils becoming more entrepreneurial?