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Council mergers: Poor services 'letting people down' 'Complex' devolution limits services, says Carwyn Jones
(about 8 hours later)
People are being "let down" by poor public services, according to a member of the commission that proposed a major overhaul of the public sector. The devolution settlement for Wales makes it harder to improve services such as health and education, First Minister Carwyn Jones has said.
Nick Bennett, a member of the Williams Commission, will soon become Wales' public services ombudsman. Setting out plans to restructure local councils, he said the devolution settlement was "cautious and complex".
He was speaking as the Welsh government starts the process of legislating to merge councils. The cross-party Williams Commission suggested roughly halving the number of Welsh councils from the current 22.
Published in January, the Williams Commission said the 22 local councils should be cut to as few as 10. The Welsh Labour party is consulting on a new map of 12 councils and is due to report back in September.
First Minister Carwyn Jones will respond to the commission on Tuesday. In the introduction to the Welsh government's formal response to the report, Mr Jones wrote: "We have been limited by a cautious and complex devolution settlement, an unfair funding framework and a set of outdated public sector structures designed pre-devolution.
Mr Bennett said he was "disappointed" a cross-party deal could not be reached by Easter - the date set in the Williams report for ministers and councils to agree a way forward - and urged politicians not to treat the report's recommendations as a "political football". "These deficiencies are not technical points. They constrain our ability to improve services, and to support the economy and well-being of people in Wales."
'Ambitious' 'Irresponsible'
On Tuesday, ministers will start a law-making process to allow councils to merge voluntarily. A white paper on local government reform will be published, but with no majority in the assembly, the Welsh government needs a deal with its opponents to make the changes. Speaking later he added: "Local authority mergers will protect and improve local services.
Meanwhile, Labour is still consulting on its preferred changes - a series of mergers that would leave 12 councils. "They will help improve capacity of organisations to respond to the growing challenges they face.
Mr Bennett is the chief executive of Community Housing Cymru - the organisation that represents housing associations - but will soon take up a new post as the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales. "There have been too many interventions in recent years, where we have had to step in and take firm action in order to safeguard public services, particularly in some smaller local authorities. This cannot continue."
"Currently the people of Wales are being let down," said Mr Bennett. The Welsh government also published proposed legislation paving the way for councils to merge voluntarily if they wish.
"Too often services are poor and patchy. Perhaps you can have excellence and mediocrity or even failure within the same local government structure. Shadow Local Government Minister Mark Isherwood warned council bills should not "rise even further to pay for bureaucratic changes" and insisted it would be "irresponsible to push ahead when the cost of these changes will further hit service delivery".
"As we move forward - I sincerely hope Labour's first minister will put excellence in frontline services at the very top of the agenda, recognising that 'big' is not always beautiful, more efficient or cost effective," he said.
Plaid Cymru AM Rhodri Glyn Thomas said voluntary mergers would be a "piecemeal approach, rather than the full scale reform of public services that we need".
He said his party would have a "comprehensive policy" in its 2016 assembly election manifesto "on how different services can best be delivered".
'Mediocrity'
Earlier, a member of the Williams Commission said people were being "let down" by poor public services.
Nick Bennett, soon to become Wales' public services ombudsman, said he was "disappointed" a cross-party deal could not be reached by Easter - the date set in the commission's report for ministers and councils to agree a way forward - and urged politicians not to treat the report's recommendations as a "political football".
"Too often services are poor and patchy. Perhaps you can have excellence and mediocrity or even failure within the same local government structure," he said.
"We've got to be more ambitious as a nation and we've got to insist upon better.""We've got to be more ambitious as a nation and we've got to insist upon better."
'Fit for future'
Mr Bennett said the "status quo is not an option".
He added: "I hope today (Tuesday) we'll see a blueprint for the shape, not just of local authorities, but of transforming public services more generally so that we're fit for the future and that we can ensure that we've got sustainable public services given the fact that we're going to have less public money and more demands, more strain on public services.
"I was disappointed that we couldn't get cross-party consensus by Easter, but I hope that there'll be a majority position very soon.
"It's going to be no good, it's going to be letting the citizens of Wales down if people are going to play political football with this report and its recommendations when there's an opportunity to be constructive and to make sure that we shape public services in Wales that are fit for the future and can deliver for citizens across Wales."
The Welsh Local Government Association said it would be responding to the commission later.