Welsh council leaders are calling for a ‘Scottish-style concordat' to be agreed between Welsh local authorities and the Welsh Assembly Government, in a bid to improve local government services. That was the key message from the Welsh Local Government Association's annual conference in Llandudno last week, according to the WLGA's chief executive, Steve Thomas. Welsh council leaders used the conference to warn assembly members that partnership working needed to improve between central and local government if services were to survive the increasing financial pressures expected in future. Speaking to The MJ, Mr Thomas, said: ‘We want to form a Scottish-style concordat which codifies our partnership with the assembly. We don't have anything like that at the moment. We need an agreement with the assembly so we can set out the priorities we both share. That is the key message here.' He continued: ‘Welsh councils are growing very frustrated about the amount of initiatives coming out of the assembly which are not core priorities for councils. We need to agree where to concentrate our scarce resources.'
