Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 1:43 pm on 17 November 2021.
I think democratic accountability is absolutely critical, and people need to have faith in the new structures that are being put in place. And that's why it's important that the leaders of each constituent council will be the members of the CJCs, and they will obviously then be accountable to their constituent councils for the decisions that they make as part of their CJC. And the CJCs will also be required to put in place the appropriate overview and scrutiny arrangements, in consultation and in agreement with its constituent councils, and that, of course, will be a really important part of the accountability of the CJC. And of course, each will have its own governance and audit sub-committees, which will have the same functions as those of one in a local authority, including to review and scrutinise the financial affairs, the risk management and the internal control of a CJC. So, I do think that we have put in place robust measures to ensure that there is democratic accountability.