Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:05 pm on 6 July 2021.
Thank you, Deputy Minister, for your statement this evening, now. I think some of my comments probably come off the back of and are similar to what the Member for Cardiff Central was referencing there in terms of the national approach to some of this. Of course, your statement is off the back of the consultation on the White Paper, and in the summary of responses that was published, I just want to reference a couple of sentences that jumped out at me. First of all, this one that says that,
'Mostly it was thought that a national framework would be beneficial'
—and there's a caveat there, then—
'if it was defined clearly, reduced complexity and enabled local decision-making.'
And later on in the paragraph, it goes on to say,
'The importance of local circumstances was highlighted and the ability of organisations to define and secure provision in a way that meets their own priorities.'
So, there's a big focus within the consultation response on the ability of local decisions to be maintained and made, and, as we know, we have these things that have local democracy, a very close level, called local authorities, which are often best placed to make those decisions at a very local level. We have, of course, seen through the pandemic where local authorities have that local knowledge in terms of intelligence and support for their residents and the difference that they can make. So, there are clearly some concerns within these proposals about things moving from the local level to the regional and then up to the national level, and the opposite of devolution, which many of us would like to see. So, I'd ask what is it you're going to do to ensure that local authorities with that intelligence and expertise—? What is it you are going to do to engage with them and continue their provision meeting their residents at a very local level? Thank you.