Local Democracy Bill passed by the Assembly

Things are starting to wind down at the National Assembly as the summer recess approaches. The major business left largely consists of tying up loose legislative ends. At least four Bills are/were on course to be passed before July 19^th .

There've been problems with Mick Antoniw's (Lab, Pontypridd) Asbestos Disease Bill, so its final vote has been delayed. There's also Peter Black's (Lib Dem, South Wales West) Mobile Homes Bill - due for a vote on July 10^th - and the controversial Human Transplantation Bill, which is up for the vote on July 2^nd .

On Tuesday, another of those four laws was passed – the Local Government Democracy Bill.

The Bill, in its latest incarnation prior to Tuesday (pdf), had the following provisions :

• Modifications to the Local Boundary Commission for Wales – Including its name (changed to Local Democracy and Boundary Commission), membership and introducing a ten year cycle to review electoral arrangements in each local authority and community.
• Modifications to the Independent Remuneration Panel (which sets local councillor's pay) – Amendments will be made to the Local Government Measure 2011, which will change aspects of how/when the panel submits its annual report, and give the panel the power to make local authorities publish information relating to councillors' pay and expenses.
• Political balance on Local Authority Committees – Makes political balance of membership of council committees a legal requirement.
• Joint Standards Committees – Gives local authorities the power to establish collaborative standards committees to deal with codes of conduct and their violations.
• Online presence for town and community councils – Every town and community council will be required to provide contact details and records of proceedings via the internet by May 2015.
• Council Chairs and Presiding Officers – Allows councils to seperate the role of an elected presiding officer from the ceremonical civic "chair" of the local authority (i.e Ceremonial Mayor).

OK, that's pretty dry stuff.

Amendments were tabled by AMs (pdf) and Local Government Minister Lesley Griffiths (Lab, Wrexham), which were also voted on to create a final version of the Bill (pdf), which will now go to Bet Windsor for the official stamp of approval, barring any intervention by Westminster.

Most of the amendments related to wording. The significant ones were :

• Amendment 3 - Peter Black AM & Rhodri Glyn Thomas AM (Plaid, Carms. E & Dinefwr) - Giving people reporting council proceedings "reasonable facilities". I'm not sure what that meant exactly. (Not Passed)
• Amendment 5 – Ditto – Introducing Single Transferable Vote for local authority elections. (Not Passed)
• Amendment 6 – Ditto – Provisions relating to the conduct of local authority elections, including election expenses. (Not Passed)
• Amendment 7 – Ditto – No payments to returning officers except those in relation to carrying out their duties. So it closes the (rumoured) "pocket the savings" loophole with regard election costs. (Not Passed)
• Amendment 54 – Lesley Griffiths AM – Brought in as part of a deal with opposition parties, it lays out the powers of the Independent Remuneration Panel with regard the pay of local authority chief executives. (Passed)

That agreement resulted Peter Black/Rhodri Glyn Thomas withdrawing their amendment (15) for setting maximum pay for "senior officers". Janet Finch-Saunders AM (Con, Aberconwy) kept it in as Amendment 9 which, as hinted, covered all senior officers, not just chief executives. (Not Passed)

"Local Democracy Bill" sounds like it would be meaty enough to send the proverbial equivalent of several columns of tanks over the Loughor, in order to liberate the Democratic People's Republic of Carmarthenshire. Nyet, comrades.

Echoing what Caebrwyn said yesterday, the reality is that it's quite a limp law, that deals mostly with administrative matters, was beefed up by opposition amendments (all of which failed to pass) and will likely mean nowt to the general public. The title makes it sound grander than it actually is, a bit like the Active Travel Bill.

It's understandable why the opposition and Welsh Government agreed to deal with local authority executive pay, following some rather embarrassing revelations over the last few months.

I'm not complaining, and it's without a doubt the headline part of the Bill. Executives shouldn't be paid so many more times their lowest paid worker's salaries. If we expect principles like those to eventually apply to private companies, we should expect them to apply to the public sector too.

What's not understandable, is why they've decided – in a law called "Local Democracy Bill" – to take powers away from local authorities. A sentiment echoed by others.

There's clearly frustration in Cathays Park and the Senedd about how services are being run at a local level. Although there's currently a review of local services taking place, Welsh Government and opposition alike are giving the the impression of being scared away from making root and branch reforms, and are instead trying to reorganise it via the back door – like the recent report recommending collaborative education authorities. I made my thoughts on local government clear(ish) earlier this year.

A lot has also been said recently about the media and public paying little or no attention to the Assembly, AMs and what the institution does. Here's a case in point. Try convincing the public at large that laws like these are important and a good use of AMs' time. Even I'm struggling.

Of course, it'll be very different on July 2^nd .