3. What assessment has the Minister made of the number of uncontested seats in Welsh local government elections? OQ57910

While we don't centrally collect information on the number of uncontested seats in Welsh local government elections, I'm aware the Electoral Reform Society states that there are 74 uncontested seats across Wales. 

Thank you for your response there, Minister. I'm really concerned at seeing that number of uncontested seats, with 28 of those being in Gwynedd and 19 in Pembrokeshire. It's really disappointing that that's taking place, removing the ability for what I would see as proper democracy to take place via a vote. I'm sure, Minister, you saw the BBC news article earlier this month that did highlight, regretfully, that online abuse has forced many councillors to quit or no longer want to stand, along with potential candidates who simply don't want to be on the receiving end of that bullying. An example of this was from Huw George, who is a baptist minister in Pembrokeshire, who said he's always welcomed the scrutiny of political decisions but personal attacks on both his use of the Welsh language and on his faith are, of course, completely unacceptable. So, Minister, would you agree with me that this needs addressing? Our councillors and candidates should not be receiving this horrid personal abuse. Would you also, in the same breath, join me in thanking those people who are putting themselves up for election next week and wish them all the best in standing for those elections?

Absolutely. I think that anybody who puts themselves forward for public service through election is doing something incredibly brave, and it is important that people have that opportunity to make that contribution to their communities and are able to do so in a way that doesn't subject them or find them subjected to abuse. The abuse that people in public life receive is appalling. I think that probably you'd be a very lucky person in this Chamber if you hadn't come across some awful treatment, usually through social media, but also in other ways. So, we have to do everything that we can to make sure that people who stand for election and people who are elected aren't subject to that abuse. It's partly about coming together across parties to call it out when we see it and to stand together in that sense, but it's also about doing things such as using our legislation in the way that we have to ensure now that candidates no longer have to have their home addresses published in public and so on. So, there are certain important safeguards that we can put in place, but in this discussion I'm really wary that we don't want to put people off public service as well. There is this abuse that all of us face, but actually it's an incredible privilege to do these jobs, and I think that we always need to keep our eye on that as well when we're talking about the negative side and the darker side of the experiences people have.

We would all like to see more contested seats. I certainly would. I haven't got an election at home in Pembrokeshire either, where there are 19 uncontested seats.  And Sam Rowlands is right to point out that the attacks, the public attacks, on individuals already in office are deterring people from standing. And we've only seen, at the weekend, what Angela Rayner suffered at the hands of a Tory MP and the reporting in the Sunday Mirror. So, my question is this, Minister—. I hope that all parties, whichever party it is, when they are putting out statements about candidates or elected people, are mindful of the damage that they can be doing. There have been other such cases, of course, by Plaid Cymru very recently in Grangetown. So, you know, we cannot ask on the one hand people to stand and then attack those who are standing on the other hand. We have a personal responsibility, and I just ask you, Minister, if you'll make that crystal clear.

Absolutely. We do all have a personal responsibility to show leadership in this area and to undertake constructive and robust debate. You can have a robust debate without resorting to those personal attacks, and I do think that it puts off people from politics when they're observing these kinds of things happening. That's one of the reasons I'm so pleased to see that the Welsh Local Government Association has shown some real leadership in these elections with their fair and respectful election campaign pledge. They've facilitated that, and I think that that should give an important springboard to the new councillors who will be coming in following the election. And I think that there's important work to be done in terms of those early periods, when people are getting settled into the role of councillors, so that they understand the code of conduct, what's expected of them in terms of the way in which they conduct themselves in debates and so forth. So, lots of work for us to do there, but also to make sure that people have the support that they need when they do find themselves, unfortunately, on the receiving end of unpleasantness.

Good afternoon, Minister. I do echo and endorse the comments made by Sam Rowlands and thank him for raising this issue, and also those comments by Joyce Watson as well. The same also applies to our town and community councils across Wales. There are 735 community and town councils in Wales, covering approximately 94 per cent of the land area and 70 per cent of the population of Wales. There's a huge untapped potential here, especially in rural areas, to better shape and deliver place-based services in dialogue with communities. I wonder if I could ask you what your vision, long term, short term, is for those town and community councils and the steps that you're taking to ensure their success? Diolch yn fawr iawn.

I'd absolutely like to join Jane Dodds in recognising the important role of town and community councillors in serving and shaping their local communities, and I've had some really good meetings with One Voice Wales to understand what the sector believes that its potential is. And I know that we have town and community councils of all shapes and sizes and of all kinds of experience and levels of ambition, and I think that it's important that we look to those town and community councils that are making really, really impactful choices within their communities and to explore how we can use One Voice Wales and others to help other town and community councils to look to that level of ambition. I think that we've got some amazing case studies that we can look to right across Wales.

But, again, being a town and community councillor is another way you can make an incredible contribution to your community. Again, you're very accessible, so this is one of the things that we need to ensure, that people don't feel that that fact that you're usually well known in your community is something that should necessarily be a barrier. Because another one of those things that was mentioned in the article to which Sam Rowlands referred was the sense that councillors and town and community councillors feel that they need to be on duty 24/7, they need to drop everything at 10 o'clock on a Friday night to go and deal with the immediate issue that they've been telephoned about. So, that kind of support for a work-life balance for those councillors, particularly at town and community level, I think is really important as well.