IT WAS like old days when local government minister Brian Gibbons stood up to talk to the press about the amount of money he is giving local councils next year, writes Clive Betts from the Assembly press gallery.
True, there was a press handout. Dr Gibbons gave us the guts of what it contained.
But far more interesting and attractive was his presentation of a re-run of what an Assembly subject committee used to be like under the regime which existed up until the last election.
Dr Gibbons gave us the facts, he followed up with the political “spin”, and then he rested back and fielded the questions from the press, some of them hostile.
It was as if he were responding to the questions from the AMs of other parties on the committee. Of course, he was keen to ensure that his own view got over.
But what was the crucial difference between today’s briefing and what we generally receive from the weekly government press conference ? Was it that in the front row were sat three of the most senior officials from the minister’s department ?
On occasion, they were brought in to help the minister give an answer.
More important, their presence ensured that Dr Gibbons knew that he was not just speaking to the press; he was also addressing his officials. His answers were therefore that much more authoritative.
As everyone present could also answer back, the comments were thus far more valuable than the answers given in the Assembly itself. In the chamber, a strict protocol has to be followed by questioner which owes far too much to the “Mother of Parliaments” and far too little to the obtaining of information.
This is, of course, aside from the issue of how good the settlement is considered this time by local authorities. According to Dr Gibbons, the settlement is a good one.
“This settlement is significantly above current and projected levels of inflation,” he said.
But Kirsty Williams, the Lib Dem leader and AM for Brecon and Radnor had a different view half an hour later. Her local authority – Powys – gets one of the worst settlements of all. So, as you would expect, she differs from Dr Gibbons on how good the settlement is.
An extremely significant concession by the minister will see NO CAPPING of council tax this year.
To do so would go contrary to local government democracy, he said.
His reaction was very different from that of previous ministers. For instance, Sue Essex, a former senior local councillor herself, who knows all about local government democracy, was quite willing to impose capping on council tax when she was minister. She has now retired from the Assembly.
Dr Gibbons did not entirely reject a cap. But he made it quite clear that he was not thinking along those lines. He knew the sort of council tax figure that local authorities were considering; they all seemed quite fair.
However, if anyone did think of ascending towards the stratosphere ….
