Local Government (Democracy) (Wales) Act 2013

1 Overview

(1) This Part provides an overview of the provisions of this Act.

(2) Part 2 renames the Local Government Boundary Commission for Wales as the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales and reforms its constitution and functions.

(3) Part 3 makes provision about—

(a) the duties of the Commission to monitor the arrangements for local government and to conduct reviews where appropriate, and the duties of principal councils to monitor the arrangements for the communities in their area and to conduct reviews where appropriate (see sections 21 and 22),

(b) the types of reviews that can be conducted, the considerations to be taken into account by the reviewing body and the changes that can be recommended in relation to each type of review (see sections 23 to 33),

(c) the procedure for conducting reviews (see sections 34 to 36),

(d) the implementation of recommendations following a review and associated matters (such as the transfer of staff or property between principal councils and other public bodies) (see sections 37 to 44).

(4) Part 4 makes provision about the review of the membership of certain public bodies.

(5) Part 5 makes provision—

(a) about the appointment of a presiding member for a principal council;

(b) restating and extending the powers of local authorities in relation to promoting and opposing private Bills;

(c) requiring community council information to be made available electronically;

(d) about the electronic publication of certain public bodies’ (including local authorities) registers of members’ interests;

(e) relating to remote attendance at meetings of principal councils;

(f) relating to the role of democratic services committees;

(g) applying political balance requirements to the audit committees of principal councils;

(h) relating to the functions of the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales and how it prepares reports;

(i) about the establishment of joint standards committees;

(j) enabling the standards committee or monitoring officer of a relevant authority to refer cases relating to conduct to the standards committee or monitoring officer of another relevant authority.

(6) Part 6 makes general provision about this Act.