, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
The trouble is this report isn’t terribly flattering on what the sector is doing.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Yes.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
You say a number of local authorities have digital strategies—the report finds that half do not. And I must say I found it a pretty underwhelming report, with a pretty pedestrian landscape painted of the pace of change in local government. And the reason I’m…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Thank you. I suppose, a question, if I can start with, for Reg Kilpatrick. It’s about the most recent Audit Wales report, 'Digital by design?', a look at local government performance on digital. I just wondered if you’ve had a chance to look at it and what…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Okay. Thank you.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
I know it's important. What I'm asking is whether, in terms of those grant schemes, there's a particular emphasis on getting those numbers up in town centres.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Okay. It's just in terms of town centres in particular. Obviously, there are a couple of different interventions you have there: there's the Transforming Towns loan, and then there's the transitional accommodation capital programme, which could be used by…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Can I just ask—
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Okay. Interesting. And in terms of training and supporting enforcement officers, which goes back, I guess, to the original question about that centre of excellence, best practice, support, what progress is there on that?
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
It's like most Government seasons, isn't it? So, then, the register of empties, where are things with that?
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Okay. That's a euphemism of choice.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
'Shortly'. That's a nice, flexible term, isn't it? [Laughter.]
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Okay. That sounds very useful. When will that be reporting?
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
From a quick Google search, there was a contract in April this year for a review into the empty properties enforcement scheme—that's slightly different to the register of empties, though, isn't it?
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
I just wanted to ask about the progress on the register of empties, which I think was a programme for government commitment. How's that coming along?
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
And that's all manageable, is it? It's not causing particular headaches for the way that you deal with your budget.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
It's an outlier, isn't it? I'm just interested, with outliers, in what's going on there. There may be a perfectly valid explanation. In terms of the budget spend, it's obviously a bit lumpy, as you've described, Sarah, the way these schemes come through the…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
But this is an example of a council that has a premium, but hasn't signed up to the grant.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Is that right?
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
I think it would be useful for all of us to know, and for you to reflect on, how useful a lever this is—is there a threshold at which it becomes a very useful policy tool, or is it simply a way of raising extra revenue for local authorities. I think that…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Well, some of them have been in place for a number of years. Rhondda Cynon Taf had it in place from the beginning.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
It would be interesting to hear your reflections on how some of the learning from the individual property grant and the empty homes scheme can be iterated, spread and scaled. So perhaps you can reflect on that. This was always meant to be a push-pull, where…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Okay. The Leasing Scheme Wales scheme, which I think is an excellent scheme, does seem to take quite a long time to get through the process—there are only 233 properties so far.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
We're not asking about enforcement. This is not about enforcement, it's about accessing the grants.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
I wanted to come on to that, because I wonder if there's a common theme with both Leasing Scheme Wales and the empty homes grant, and whether or not there's some kind of streamlining review that is worth doing, just to understand if these can be speeded up a…
