7. What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the impact of the UK Government's autumn statement on the work of public services boards? OQ58773

The autumn statement increases the pressure on public services. The funds provided for public services are being cut in real terms, squeezing their resources even further. This makes the work of public services boards to improve the well-being of their communities challenging, but more important than ever.  

I'm grateful to the Minister for that response. Despite the best efforts of the Conservative Party this afternoon, anyone with any basic understanding or any financial understanding at all will appreciate the cuts that are being made in the Welsh Government's budget, both this year and in future years. However, what we're seeing is public services facing salami cuts year after year after year, and the consequence of that, of course, is reduced services to people that we all represent here. But, we're also seeing, Minister, an increasing complexity of governance in Wales. We're seeing a plethora of boards and commissions. We all know that there are far too many local authorities in the country. But, we're seeing increasing complexity that inhibits the delivery of services, particularly at a time when they are under significant financial pressures. So, will the Government undertake not simply to provide funds for local services in the best way it can, but also to review the complexity of government in Wales, with a view to streamlining the public sector to enable us to focus available funding on the front line and delivering services to the people who need them?

We're absolutely committed to taking forward the recommendations from the review of the strategic partnerships, which was agreed by the partnership council for Wales. We are of the view, though, that any changes should be locally led and locally driven. We've seen a good example of that, I think, through the way in which the public services boards in Gwent have operated in terms of coming together and operating on a single footprint in that space. I'm not sure whether the Member 100 per cent agrees with me, but I'm more than happy to explore it further.

I do think that it is important that where there are opportunities for bodies to work more closely together they should. That's one of the reasons I'm pleased that we're undertaking a piece of work through the co-operation agreement at the moment that looks at strategic partnerships to ensure that they are fit for purpose, to ensure that they are on the right footprint, to ensure that they have the terms of reference that they need, to ensure that they're working across boundaries as best they can, and to identify barriers for better working so that those can be reduced as well. I think that piece of work will be helpful in terms of trying to rationalise partnerships where necessary, but also to make sure that the work is more focused and streamlined. That's a piece of work that is going on at the moment.

The intention is to take a report to the partnership council for Wales early in the new year once we've done interviews, if you like, with each of the strategic partnerships. Cefin Campbell and I have been having some really interesting meetings with the chairs of all of the strategic boards to get their perspectives and their experiences to help inform that piece of work, and we'll come forward with some thoughts on the way forward as a result of that. But, the short answer is that, yes, we're continuing to consider the strategic partnership landscape, although we're probably a little bit further away on the local government issue at this point, I think.

Finally, question 8, Llyr Gruffydd.