26 April 2017

Dear Cabinet Secretary

Reforming Local Government

Following our evidence session with you on the White Paper - ‘Reforming Local Government: Resilient and Renewed’, the Committee wants to seek clarity on some outstanding areas:

· Further information on the how the decision about electoral systems for individual local authorities will be arrived at; who will be responsible for making the final decision and what level of public consultation would be expected;

· Further information on the reasons why changes to the electoral system for local authorities will not be mandatory across Wales;

· Clarification on whether lowering the voting age to 16 for local authority elections would be a decision for individual local authorities;  

· Further information on how the Public Service Boards will operate within the proposed new governance arrangements;

· Clarification on staff eligibility for redundancy payments if made redundant by a local authority because of the consolidation of services into a cluster arrangement across local authorities, but are then appointed into a comparable job within the consolidated regional service.

With many thanks

Yours sincerely

John Griffiths AM

Chair, Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee

Croesewir gohebiaeth yn Gymraeg neu Saesneg.

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