Julie James MS, Cabinet Secretary for Housing, Local Government & Planning
The Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021 (“the 2021 Act”) included provisions to address several specific issues about the practical arrangements for job-share partnerships. These included voting arrangements in cabinet, quorum arrangements for meetings where job-share partners attended and rules about the number of cabinet members permissible when cabinets included job-share arrangements.
It is early days, but there has been, and continues to be, interest in these arrangements across Wales. The key point is that the legislation makes it possible for individual principal councils to put arrangements in place to support diversity, encourage greater exposure to the work of the executive and to establish career progression pathways. The number of principal councils that will have arrangements in place is likely to fluctuate depending on the individual circumstances of each council.
The 2021 Act provides for job share arrangements to be extended to senior non-executive roles such as committee chairs.
A consultation has been issued today to explore views about:
- the current arrangements for executive members and whether there are issues that have arisen during the application of these arrangements which require further consideration; and
- extending the provisions to non-executive roles, including the identification of issues that will need to be addressed if this approach is followed.
Job share is one aspect of our approach to diversity and one which can provide significant opportunities.
Members are encouraged to share your views about these matters as part of the consultation process.