Jane Hutt, Minister for Finance and Government Business
This was published under the 2011 to 2016 administration of the Welsh Government
I am making this Statement to inform Members that I am launching ‘Community Asset Transfers in Wales – A Best Practice Guide’ today.
The guidance is the latest product to be produced by The National Assets Working Group (NAWG) and has been developed in response to feedback received from various sectors, including local authorities, third sector and town and community councils, who identified that there was a need to develop an overarching guidance document to support the Community Asset Transfer agenda.
The guidance is intended to support a step-change in enabling communities to play a more active role in service design and delivery, enabling organisations to be better equipped to undertake community asset transfers and in so doing develop a thriving and sustainable long-term use for property assets and services in communities across Wales.
It complements existing guidance such as the toolkit recently launched by the Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism will help to support the development of a consultation on Assets of Community Value which will be launched by the Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty in May 2015. The consultation will aim to develop a Welsh specific model to safeguard, enhance and protect assets for the benefit of our communities.
The publication of this guidance is also part of wider Welsh Government policy to place mutualism, co-operation and shared ownership with communities at the heart of the transformation of public services, as reflected in the White Paper ‘Reforming Local Government: Power to Local People’. The Minister for Economy, Science and Transport and the Minister for Public Services have jointly commissioned work to explore the potential role of mutuals, co-operatives and shared ownership in delivering modern public services and will report in mid April.
The guidance is attached.