29 Medi 2022 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Sesiwn graffu ar waith y Gweinidog – Y Gweinidog Cyllid a Llywodraeth Leol
Yes, I think there are pros and cons in both senses, really, in terms of that kind of dual-hatted approach. It's an area for future consideration, but it's certainly not something that we would be looking to be legislating on at the moment.
29 Medi 2022 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Sesiwn graffu ar waith y Gweinidog – Y Gweinidog Cyllid a Llywodraeth Leol
We've got the chief digital officer now for local government, and that's been an important role in terms of, in the first instance, engaging with local government to understand what their digital needs are, particularly for the transformation of public…
29 Medi 2022 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Sesiwn graffu ar waith y Gweinidog – Y Gweinidog Cyllid a Llywodraeth Leol
I think that, because the legislation's only recently enacted the ability to work in this hybrid way, particularly with town and community councils, with that requirement that people can hear and be heard for the meetings—. I think that, in due course, we'll…
29 Medi 2022 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Sesiwn graffu ar waith y Gweinidog – Y Gweinidog Cyllid a Llywodraeth Leol
I definitely think it is possible to have proper scrutiny undertaken in a virtual session. Having been on the receiving end of some of it on many occasions, I can tell you that it is genuine scrutiny. So, I do think that you can have proper scrutiny by remote…
29 Medi 2022 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Sesiwn graffu ar waith y Gweinidog – Y Gweinidog Cyllid a Llywodraeth Leol
Yes, I would imagine that it would be possible, because—. It depends which role you're sitting in at that time. So, I think that you can undertake—. Politicians can undertake all kinds of roles. Councillors, particularly, have other roles in life. They may be…
29 Medi 2022 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Sesiwn graffu ar waith y Gweinidog – Y Gweinidog Cyllid a Llywodraeth Leol
It is concerning, the lack of interest and the lack of a variety of people who put themselves forward. Over 60 per cent of seats were uncontested, so you weren't alone in the last election by any means, and actually 15 per cent of the seats were actually left…
29 Medi 2022 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Sesiwn graffu ar waith y Gweinidog – Y Gweinidog Cyllid a Llywodraeth Leol
So, I'll ask Claire to come in again on this, but I just would highlight some of the recent work that we're doing that will hopefully prevent difficult situations arising, one being the updated 'The good councillor's guide'. And we developed that…
29 Medi 2022 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Sesiwn graffu ar waith y Gweinidog – Y Gweinidog Cyllid a Llywodraeth Leol
I think that we've exchanged some correspondence on this issue in the past, as well. The role of clerk is obviously a non-political role and you'd expect that whoever was in that role to undertake that role in a non-political way, but then, if there were…
29 Medi 2022 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Sesiwn graffu ar waith y Gweinidog – Y Gweinidog Cyllid a Llywodraeth Leol
Yes. I think there are some other areas where we have yet to resolve what the way forward might be in response to some of the issues raised in the report. So, there were questions in the report, really, about defining place-based services. So, is there a…
29 Medi 2022 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Sesiwn graffu ar waith y Gweinidog – Y Gweinidog Cyllid a Llywodraeth Leol
So, after my last appearance at this committee, I sent an update to committee on the progress that we'd made in that space. But just to kind of build on that, really, I can confirm that several things have now come into force since 5 May, as a result of the…
29 Medi 2022 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Sesiwn graffu ar waith y Gweinidog – Y Gweinidog Cyllid a Llywodraeth Leol
I think that Alun Davies's views on local government reorganisation and reform are well known, but we've got a really strong programme of work now that we're undertaking with local government, in the sense of looking to the CJCs to drive forward a lot of that…
29 Medi 2022 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Sesiwn graffu ar waith y Gweinidog – Y Gweinidog Cyllid a Llywodraeth Leol
Yes. I think it just builds on the review that took place previously. I know that that came forward with 11 recommendations, but they were clear, I think, in those recommendations, that this is a space that should be left to the regional partners themselves…
29 Medi 2022 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Sesiwn graffu ar waith y Gweinidog – Y Gweinidog Cyllid a Llywodraeth Leol
Because it's still early days, isn't it, for the growth deals, and so on. Obviously, we'll want to make them a success, really, and learn lessons as well.
29 Medi 2022 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Sesiwn graffu ar waith y Gweinidog – Y Gweinidog Cyllid a Llywodraeth Leol
I don't think there are any plans or discussions under way for further growth deals. So, I think we would cross that bridge when we came to it. I don't think that's a live area of discussion at the moment.
29 Medi 2022 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Sesiwn graffu ar waith y Gweinidog – Y Gweinidog Cyllid a Llywodraeth Leol
I think all of the CJCs have decided to align their work with the city and growth deals. That seems to make sense, and that seems to be working well as far as we can tell.
29 Medi 2022 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Sesiwn graffu ar waith y Gweinidog – Y Gweinidog Cyllid a Llywodraeth Leol
I had the pleasure of meeting all of the chairs and vice-chairs of each of the CJCs over the summer to discuss their reflections on how things have gone so far, and also to discuss their progress and their ambitions for the future. At the moment, we’re very…
29 Medi 2022 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Sesiwn graffu ar waith y Gweinidog – Y Gweinidog Cyllid a Llywodraeth Leol
Yes, we were pleased to commission the work from the IFS, and of course some of that work did reflect the views of the IFS on some of the various different discounts, exemptions and premiums, and so on. But I really want to be clear, because I know there has…
29 Medi 2022 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Sesiwn graffu ar waith y Gweinidog – Y Gweinidog Cyllid a Llywodraeth Leol
The consultation, which is currently open at the moment, sets out our shorter term ambitions in terms of the revaluation and making council tax fairer through that, but then also in parallel by looking at the system of exemptions, premiums and discounts that…
29 Medi 2022 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Sesiwn graffu ar waith y Gweinidog – Y Gweinidog Cyllid a Llywodraeth Leol
So, I've met, again, on this issue, with local government leaders several times, and obviously this is one their areas of particular interest. I think there are two things to say here. First of all, overall, this is not a revenue-raising exercise, and I think…
29 Medi 2022 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Sesiwn graffu ar waith y Gweinidog – Y Gweinidog Cyllid a Llywodraeth Leol
Yes. This is an important piece of work that is part of our programme for government. I have met with local government leaders on several occasions during the development of the plans, and obviously we'd want to continue to do that. I've had a discussion…
29 Medi 2022 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Sesiwn graffu ar waith y Gweinidog – Y Gweinidog Cyllid a Llywodraeth Leol
We have really good engagement, both at ministerial level and official level, with local government. We do have those fortnightly meetings now with local government leaders. I also have a whole range of other engagements with local government. I attend every…
29 Medi 2022 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Sesiwn graffu ar waith y Gweinidog – Y Gweinidog Cyllid a Llywodraeth Leol
I just want to be really clear with all colleagues at the moment about the level of pressures that Welsh Government and local government are facing and the lack of additional funding to meet those pressures. So, we are in the space now of, if we want to do…
29 Medi 2022 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Sesiwn graffu ar waith y Gweinidog – Y Gweinidog Cyllid a Llywodraeth Leol
Can I add, coming at the issue from a different perspective, that Welsh Government has been keen to promote the attractiveness of pension funds investing in RSLs here in Wales in order to increase house building and so on? That's something that I was dealing…
29 Medi 2022 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Sesiwn graffu ar waith y Gweinidog – Y Gweinidog Cyllid a Llywodraeth Leol
We've taken a different approach to the management of reserves through the spending review period. Up until now, it's been our normal practice to retain a very small amount of money as a contingency within Welsh Government, as an unallocated departmental…
29 Medi 2022 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Sesiwn graffu ar waith y Gweinidog – Y Gweinidog Cyllid a Llywodraeth Leol
I'd add as well that there are other quite specific areas where local government expressed some concern about particular areas of difficulty in terms of attracting and retaining staff. Procurement is one of those areas, so we're doing lots of work with the…
