Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 1:44 pm on 17 November 2021.
Thanks, Minister. Your answer certainly answered partially in terms of the leaders having that voting responsibility on those corporate joint committees, but, of course, like in my region, you've got six councils, therefore six leaders, and you've probably got nearly 400 councillors across that region who are locally elected. And I think this is an area that's perhaps not being appreciated at the moment, in terms of that local democratic accountability. Of course, the whole point of devolution coming here into Wales is not to stop here at Cardiff, but to bring power to local people, who are best placed to represent local people in those councils as well. It's clear for many that the Welsh Government's aim in introducing these joint committees seems to be to take power away from those local councils and locally elected people. In terms of reversing that, Minister, there is an opportunity here for powers to come from Cardiff down to corporate joint committees. So, which powers, which levers, do you expect to release from Cardiff here down to those corporate joint committees to allow people locally to make decisions in their areas?