Morgans business rate promise welcomed

14 Jun 07
The Welsh Local Government Association has welcomed First Minister Rhodri Morgan's commitment to consider reallocating some business rates to councils.

15 June 2007

The Welsh Local Government Association has welcomed First Minister Rhodri Morgan's commitment to consider reallocating some business rates to councils.

Association leader Derek Vaughan, speaking at the WLGA conference in Swansea last week, also looked forward to the prospect of three-year settlements for local government.

'We can go down the road of death by a thousand cuts and service delivery which barely satisfies the public, or we can avoid debates about tinkering with structures, not ruling out mergers and create new delivery models,' he said.

Social justice and public services minister Andrew Davies told the conference: 'Tackling child poverty and social housing are going to be the two main policy areas to address. Local government is going to have an important role to play.

'The public sector must accept the need for change. We need to step up progress and focus on the delivery of outcomes and not on processes. People don't care about processes. They care about what difference services make to their everyday lives.'

He confirmed that the Assembly would consider proposals to relocate elements of the business rate in discussions about local government funding.

PFjun2007

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