Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 1:42 pm on 27 April 2022.
Thank you, Minister, and you do mention some of those regional bodies that have been set up, I think, from your point of view, to help those councils deliver on their priorities. But I do hear from councils and councillors some of the frustration about the layers of bureaucracy and the layers of governance and boards and bodies being put in place, and public services boards, regional partnership boards, regional leadership boards, and the corporate joint committees that you mentioned. And there's a number of these boards and bodies that have been set up over recent years, which actually take time and energy away from many of those front-line services delivering what residents need on the ground. So, I'm just wondering what plans you might have, or action you'll be thinking about delivering over the next term, in working with councils, to remove some of that bureaucracy and remove some of those layers, which can, at times, take up a huge amount of time and energy. You mentioned the council leaders, and it's often those council leaders who sit on all those bodies and boards away from the ranch, as it were, hearing those on-the-ground issues that they need to support and deliver on. So, what action will you be taking to cut some of that bureaucracy out of the way? Thanks.