Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 2:01 pm on 15 December 2021.
Thank you for the question and for setting out the challenging circumstances that local government has found itself in in Wales. Despite the good last couple of years of settlements, it doesn't really take away 10 years of austerity by any sense of the imagination. We will ensure that changes that are made through laws in Senedd Bills or secondary legislation include an assessment of the cost and savings through the explanatory memorandum and the regulatory impact assessment. In doing so, although these are the responsibilities of portfolio Ministers, they would normally be engaging with stakeholders in producing those, and of course we'll make sure that we do engage properly with local government in legislation that will impact upon them. And then, also, we're considering the costs of any new legislation that we might want to introduce as part of our budget round, and obviously that will be included in the considerations now for the next three years ahead. But, your point about ensuring that we engage with local government and equip them with the tools that they need to do the job is absolutely one that I would endorse.