What consideration has the Cabinet Secretary given to removing section 20 from the Local Government Finance (Wales) Bill, following concerns raised by chief executives of local news publishers in Wales representing more than 30 titles that there will be title closures if public notices are removed from local papers?
The purpose of the Local Government Finance (Wales) Bill is to modernise the operation of the council tax and non-domestic rates systems, ensuring they are responsive to changes in the economy and able to meet future policy needs of Wales. Section 20 removes a statutory requirement that has been in place since 1992, for local authorities to publish changes in council tax rates in a public notice in at least one newspaper circulating in their area. It does not seek to remove statutory requirements around other types of public notices, as that would fall outside the agreed scope of the Bill. Unlike public notices relating to planning, licensing or transport, all council taxpayers receive the information they need about their council tax as part of their annual bill, whether they choose to receive their bill electronically or in hard copy.
I welcome the detailed scrutiny of the Senedd on the provision itself, through an additional and specific evidence session with stakeholders where a range of viewpoints were put forward. I accepted the Local Government and Housing Committee’s recommendation to work with local authorities to monitor the implementation of the policy.
The cost of this notice averages around £1,500 per year, with some costs as low as £600. I do not accept that the loss of revenue generated from a single advert per financial year will make a newspaper unsustainable. An annual advert published on an unspecified day in March that reaches less than an estimated 1.5% of residents does not appear to achieve the outcome of effective communication.
Our local and national newspapers do invaluable work informing and engaging with communities across Wales, and I fully appreciate the difficult economic climate that print newspapers are currently operating in. I recently met with representatives of the News Media Association and was able to provide re-assurance that our provisions have not been designed with any future or broader intention of paving the way for the removal of other types of public notices from newspapers.
It is important local authorities choose how best to provide information about council tax to communities, achieving value for money where public funds are to be used. I do not consider it appropriate to use legislation to require that public money is spent on council tax notices when every council taxpayer will receive this information directly in any case. However, local newspapers will wish to market their services to local authorities as valued clients, some of which have already indicated that they would continue to purchase the advertising space.