{"id":8601,"date":"2014-09-26T16:39:45","date_gmt":"2014-09-26T15:39:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ihbconline.co.uk\/newsachive\/?p=8601"},"modified":"2014-09-26T18:09:47","modified_gmt":"2014-09-26T17:09:47","slug":"wales-local-government-reforms-incentivised-mergers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=8601","title":{"rendered":"Wales Local Government reforms: incentivised mergers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Welsh Government announced the intention to offer incentives for any of the 22 Local Authorities to merge voluntarily<\/span>.<\/p>\n

The Welsh Government writes<\/span>:
\nMinister for Public Services, Leighton Andrews today outlined how he will take forward plans to create modern and effective Local Government in Wales.<\/p>\n

The Minister told Assembly Members the Welsh Government’s aim is to bring about fundamental and lasting change with new voluntarily merged authorities in place by April 2018.<\/p>\n

Leighton Andrews said: \u2018The analysis of public services in Wales compiled by the Commission on Public Service Governance and Delivery is sobering and provides a compelling case for change.<\/p>\n

\u2018In addition, we know the problems facing local authorities in Wales are likely to be compounded by the worsening financial situation and increased demand for services.<\/p>\n

\u2018While the Welsh Government has protect local authorities from the worst of the UK Government’s spending cuts in recent years and the average band D council tax bill in 2014-15 here is \u00a3193 lower than in England, continuing to provide services in the current configuration, salami-slicing more efficiencies and cutting services in isolation is not sustainable.<\/p>\n

\u2018We cannot continue to operate with 22 local authorities. There will be change, voluntary or not, and I am offering a unique opportunity to those who are willing.<\/p>\n

\u2018I want local authorities themselves to make fundamental and lasting change to create modern and effective Local Government in Wales.<\/p>\n

\u2018I hope they seize this opportunity since those who agree to merge voluntarily will determine their own future and will not face elections until May 2018.<\/p>\n

\u2018Local authorities who wish to end uncertainty for their staff and the wider public should urgently consider how best they can come together with neighbouring authorities to deliver services on a more strategic basis.<\/p>\n

\u2018I will say more about funds to incentivise voluntary mergers after the Provisional Local Government Settlement for 2015-16 is announced next month.<\/p>\n

\u2018I value frontline local authority services and the thousands of public service workers who deliver those services. Later this year will bring forward proposals for a Staff Commission to help them during the transition.<\/p>\n

\u2018I do not underestimate the scale of the challenge ahead or suggest this can be done overnight. The task is significant and I look forward to a constructive and engaged response from Local Government.\u2019<\/p>\n

Welsh Government news on Local Government reform<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Minister’s outline<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

IHBC newsblogs on Local Government<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Local Gov UK article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Welsh Government announced the intention to offer incentives for any of the 22 Local Authorities to merge voluntarily. The Welsh Government writes: Minister for Public Services, Leighton Andrews today outlined how he will take forward plans to create modern … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sector-newsblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8601"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8602,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8601\/revisions\/8602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}