Part II of the Local Government Act 2000 (“the 2000 Act”) provides for the National Assembly for Wales to specify which local authorities may operate 'alternative arrangements' i.e. arrangements for the discharge of an authority’s functions which do not involve the creation and operation of an executive in accordance with section 31(1)(b) and section 32(1) of the 2000 Act.

The Local Authority (Alternative Arrangements) (Wales) Regulations 2001 (“the 2001 Regulations”) (as amended) permit all county and county borough councils in Wales to operate alternative arrangements provided that those arrangements are in the form required by the 2001 Regulations (as amended).

The 2001 Regulations specified functions that are not to be the responsibility of an authority’s Board or are to be the responsibility of such a Board only to a limited extent or only in specified circumstances. In regulation 2 these regulations make changes to the 2001 Regulations in Schedule 1 by adding to the list of functions not to be the responsibility of an authority’s Board, by adding to the list of functions in Schedule 2 which may (but need not) be the responsibility of an authority’s Board and amending Schedule 3 by adding to functions not to be the sole responsibility of an authority’s Board.