25 July 2008
In view of the media coverage surrounding the action taken by WAG Education Minister to ask the inspectorates and the WAO to review the closure of a North Wales school, the WLGA has issued the following statement regarding the ramifications this will have across Welsh local government.
Cllr Peter Fox (Monmouthshire) WLGA Spokesperson for Lifelong Learning said:
“We believe that the Minister’s action sets an unhealthy precedent which will have ramifications across Welsh local government and which will require debate within the WLGA. Local authorities are consistently called upon to take tough decisions which do not always chime with public opinion. In this respect the Minister’s action may have an adverse impact on innovation in the public services in Wales. It sends the wrong message to board members, councillors and senior management that projects which are acted upon in terms of risk management as deemed to be not operating satisfactorily could subsequently trigger a heavy-handed intervention from WAG.
There are numerous examples of the Welsh Assembly government changing its own policies or reversing decisions which it has previously taken. That is a matter for them as central government as this is matter for local sovereignty and determination. If the Welsh Assembly Government is going to call in the inspectorates each time a council closes a facility, the inspectorates are going to be very busy over the next 3 years. Councils across Wales are going to have to take tough decisions on what services and facilities they can afford to run when the level of Assembly Government funding for local government is increasing by only about 2.5% a year, well below the rate of inflation.”
For more information contact: Natasha Weeks