LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOUNDARY COMMISSION FOR WALES
30 JUNE 2006 AT CARADOG HOUSE, ST ANDREW'S PLACE, CARDIFF
Present:
Commission
Mrs Susan Smith (Chairman), Mr J E Davies (Deputy Chair), Mr Dennis Roberts (Member)
Secretariat
Mr Edward Lewis (Secretary), Mr Steve Halsall, Mr Dave Carr
National Assembly for Wales
Mr J Palmer (Head of Local Government Policy Division)
The Chair welcomed Mr Palmer to the meeting.
1. DECLARATION OF INTERESTS
1.1 There were no new interests declared.
2. MINUTES OF COMMISSION MEETING HELD ON 27th APRIL 2006
2.1 These were agreed subject to minor amendments.
3. MATTERS ARISING
3.1 Merlin Issues
3.1.1 It was reported that Merlin had sent an engineer to the Commission's offices to assess the outstanding re-wiring in the main office. It was expected that Merlin would undertake the necessary work soon.
3.2 Accounting Software
3.2.1 The Secretary advised that there had still been no progress with the installation of the accounting software on the Commission's server by Merlin. This was despite numerous attempts by the Secretariat to obtain feedback from Merlin regarding progress. Mr Palmer said that he would make representation on this issue to Merlin on behalf of the Commission if he was provided with a brief on the background to the situation. It was agreed that the Secretariat would provide Mr Palmer with a brief on the situation.
3.3 Management Statements and Financial Memorandum (MSFM)
3.3.1 Mr. Lewis informed the meeting that the Commission's draft MSFM was still with the Assembly Compliance Office. The issue had been raised at the Secretariat's quarterly liaison meeting with the sponsor division, who had promised to send a revised version of the MSFM as soon as it was available. It was thought that the main reason the agreement of the MSFM had been delayed was that the Assembly wanted a standard MSFM to be adopted for all ASPBs and they therefore had difficulty with some of the changes the Commission had requested. There was also an unresolved issue in respect of whether it would be appropriate for the Commission to display the National Assembly's logo on official documents.
3.4 Commissioners' Appointments
3.4.1 It was noted that up to date assessments for the Deputy Chair and Member were still required. It was agreed that the Secretary would forward previous versions of assessments to the Chair.
3.5 Staffing
3.5.1 The secretary confirmed that an additional part time team support had been seconded to the Commission from the Assembly.
4. COMMUNITY REVIEWS
Directed Reviews
4.1.1 The Commission noted the provisional timetable for the community reviews. It was reported that the Secretariat was still awaiting final agreement on the amended direction for Wrexham. However, it was expected that this would be received soon and the review could then commence.
4.1.2 It was reported that directions were still being awaited for Rhondda Cynon Taff. Directions for Ynys Môn needed to be clarified since the Council had failed to specify the communities to be reviewed. The Commission had been providing Conwy with advice, however, the Council had yet to finalise which communities they wanted to review.
4.1.3 The Commission enquired whether there was now a system in place to ensure that future directions issued by the Assembly for community reviews were accurate. The Secretary said that there had been lessons learnt by both the Secretariat and the Assembly from dealing with the directions for Wrexham and that he considered that all future directions issued should now be correct.
4.1.4 The Commission expressed concern that the Assembly's process for issuing directions seemed to be slow. Given the time constraints on the Commission for completing the community reviews this process would need to be speeded up if possible as the situation was likely to become urgent by 2007. It was considered that the problem lay in both the local authorities not providing clear information on the areas they wanted to review, and the Assembly's legal process for drafting the directions being time consuming.
4.1.5 It was agreed that the Commission would highlight the importance of community reviews at their meeting with the Welsh Local Government Association in July.
Review of Community Council Election Results 2004
4.2.1 The Commission considered the results of the information collated on the community council elections. It was noted that 77% of the seats were uncontested whilst 12% were vacant indicating that the community councils were not appropriate to their community's needs. It was considered that the results might indicate that local authorities were not undertaking reviews of the electoral arrangments of their communities.
4.2.2 The Commission considered what action would be appropriate for them to take in order to highlight the importance of community reviews to local authorities. The Commission's guidelines issued in 1976 were insufficient in themselves and needed to be considered in conjunction with the area covered by a community council. One of the reasons for this was that, given a community council's role in the planning process, it was the case that there would be less work for a council in sparsely populated areas. It was noted that the Office of National Statistics already had a system for classifying communities as urban or rural. The Commission considered that updated guidance for local authorities would be desirable but would require consultation and would, therefore, need to wait until after the review of principal authority electoral arrangements.
4.2.3 The Commission considered that it might be useful to commence an exercise to update the guidance and noted that the work of the Assembly in this area and the outcome of the Aberystwyth report may make changes necessary. The Assembly had only just commenced their research and it was expected that they would report in late November or early December with a policy statement being issued in January.
4.2.4 The Commission considered that the only action they could currently take would be to remind local authorities of their duty to review community council electoral arrangements and that when doing so they should take account of the nature of the community being reviewed. There was also an option to include advice formulated by the National Association of Local Councils and the work undertaken by Powys County Council.
5. CONFIDENTIALITY AND REPRESENTATIONS
5.1 It was agreed that the Commission would adopt the suggested warning paragraph and include it in the review letters and on the website.
6. ANNUAL OPEN MEETING
6.1 The Secretary advised that the accommodation had been arranged in Welshpool. A full list of speakers had not yet been confirmed although invitations had been sent to the Chief Executive of Powys County Council and the Assembly's Local Government Policy research officers.
7. ANNUAL REPORT ON THE WELSH LANGUAGE SCHEME
7.1 The Commission noted the draft Welsh Language Scheme Report. It was agreed that reference to the web site being upgraded should be added to paragraph 3.5 of the report.
8. LETTER FROM DYFFRYN CLYDACH COMMUNITY COUNCIL
8.1 The Secretary tabled a draft response to the letter from Dyffryn Clydach Community Council. The Commission considered that, although some representations were inaccurate, it was usually concerning issues which did not affect the Commission's decision. It was also the Commission's practice to verify claims made in representations on issues which would influence the Commission's decision. The draft reply was accepted subject to some amendments. It was agreed that the reply should be sent for legal advice before being issued.
9. FINANCE REPORT - YEAR END 2005-06
9.1 The Commission noted the Finance Report for 2005-06 which showed an underspend of £11,117 for the year.
10. BOUNDARY COMMISSION FOR WALES
10.1 The Commission considered that the current arrangement for the LGBCW to provide a secretariat for the Boundary Commission for Wales (BCW) had proved to be beneficial for both bodies, particularly as the work loads of the respective bodies had not conflicted. However, there was a need to ensure that priority would be given to LGBCW work. The Commission considered that this arrangement should continue and that they did not agree with the functions of the BCW being transferred to the Electoral Commission. It was agreed that the Commission would make representation to this effect at the Committee on Standards in Public Life's public inquiry in Cardiff on the 6 July 2006.
10.2 It was reported that Steve Halsall had attended a meeting organised by Prof. Butler and Prof. McLean for the secretaries of the boundary commissions. The meeting had been interesting with academics and representatives from the political parties also attending.
11. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
11.1 Mr Palmer informed the meeting that the coming month and rest of 2006 would be both busy and significant for the Assembly's Local Government Policy Division. The main events would be:
- The Government of Wales Bill was soon to become an Act;
- Sue Essex would be stepping down as Local Government Minister at the next Assembly elections;
- The Beecham Review Report was due to be published on the 10 July and launched in Cwm Amman, Sue Essex would be making a plenary statement on the review on 11 July 2006;
- A Public Service Leaders conference was to be held in Swansea on 14 July;
- The Lyons report to ministers was due in mid December 2006; and
- A seminar and consultation on the Local government Policy statement were to be arranged for the autumn. The Policy was due to be issued early in 2007.
11.2 It was agreed that the Secretariat would obtain the agendas for the Welsh Local Government Association and One Voice Wales (OVW) annual open meetings for the next Commission meeting.
11.3 It was agreed that the Secretariat would try to obtain copies of the Beecham Report and the Lyons Report.
11.4 It was reported that OVW had a new interim Chief Executive, Mr Simon White. It was agreed to invite him to the Commission's Annual Open Meeting.
12. DATE OF NEXT MEETING
12.1 The date of the next meeting was provisionally set for 27 July 2006.
16/11/2006