English: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Can I start off by saying I welcome the statement? Can I also say that what local government most needs is a financial settlement that allows you to fulfil the needs of the communities served? And whatever the Bill has - and there are lots of very good things in the Bill - it's the financial settlement that is the real driver for local government. Three very positive statements on the Bill: extending the local government franchise to 16 and 17-year-olds may well get all of us as politicians paying more interest to the views of 16 and 17-year-olds than we have up until now - and I don't exclude myself from that, I don't exclude other Members in here either, and certainly not local authorities. Secondly, enabling the addition of people to the electoral register without application where the electoral registration officer is satisfied they have reliable information the individual is eligible for registration: it's not just your ability to vote, it's all the other things that go with being on the electoral register. Allowing principal council employees and officers who wish to stand for election to resign their posts once they are elected, rather than when declaring candidacy: I think that's a great step forward. And we both know people who've given up and then failed to get elected afterwards. But when is the resignation to take place - on being declared elected, or before they sign the declaration as an elected member? There can be four or five days in between those two dates. I have concerns about the five-year cycle. We brought a five-year cycle in for the Assembly, but looking at a five-year cycle for local government - . And it was to fit in with the Westminster Parliament, which was going to have a fixed, five-year term - well, that turned out well, didn't it? [ Laughter.] But I think five years is too long. I think four years is about right. I think three years is probably better than five, but I think five years does stretch the elastic of democracy too far, and I really would hope that we'd both turn the Assembly elections, which are not your responsibility, and local authority elections, back to a four-year cycle. Because we don't need to worry about Westminster; they seem to be running on a two-year cycle at the moment. [ Laughter.] I welcome the proposed provision for principal councils and eligible community councils to have a general power of competence. The only worry I've had, and I've campaigned for the general power of competence for the whole of my political life, is that some English councils in the south of England have turned the general power of competence into an ability to buy up estates and shopping centres all over Britain. And I think there may well need to be some control over that general level of competence - being competent to do anything within your own area, not competent to go and borrow £30 million to go and buy a shopping centre somewhere. I don't think any of us who have argued for a general power of competence in the past ever thought that's what people would use their general power of competence for. Is there a proposal to make it easier for local authorities to remove the three protected officers - the chief finance officer, the monitoring officer and the head of paid service? If I could call it the Caerphilly problem - . Because the difficulty, or the near impossibility, of having those three posts protected is such that, unless something is done, any other local authority who had a chief executive who was not prepared to go would be in exactly the same position as Caerphilly are and may well find themselves in further problems in the future. On behaviour and putting group leaders in charge of behaviour - brilliant idea. The only problem is, as you and I both know, the people who behave the worst tend not to belong to groups. They tend to be individuals, independents of various hues. They are the ones who tend to behave the worst, in my experience of local government and, dare I say it, other places. And, really, have we got an opportunity to bring some sort of action against those, because, if they haven't got a party leader, then who do you complain to? And, finally, on electoral systems, I think that's a whole debate in its own right. If I can just say I fundamentally disagree with every single word Dai Lloyd said on it. The STV wastes more votes than any other system. The great election result in a council in Scotland: three seats - topped the poll 1,700, second 1,500, the third person elected 354, because both the two largest parties were frightened to put up two candidates in case they didn't get anybody elected, and the other - . So, we really do need to start discussing this. And I think that - . And also - well, finally, I'll say that I wish Dai Lloyd was right that people vote in party blocks, because my experience in Morriston is that they tended to be very much a pick and mix when they were picking the people to represent them and, thankfully, most of the time they picked me.
Welsh: Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lywydd. A gaf i ddechrau drwy ddweud fy mod yn croesawu'r datganiad? A gaf i ddweud hefyd mai'r hyn sydd ei angen fwyaf ar lywodraeth leol yw setliad ariannol sy'n eich galluogi i ddiwallu anghenion y cymunedau a wasanaethir? A beth bynnag sydd gan y Bil - ac mae llawer o bethau da iawn yn y Bil - y setliad ariannol yw'r gwir sbardun i lywodraeth leol. Tri datganiad cadarnhaol iawn am y Bil: mae'n ddigon posib y bydd rhoi'r bleidlais mewn etholiadau llywodraeth leol i bobl ifanc 16 ac 17 oed yn sicrhau bod pob un ohonom ni wleidyddion yn rhoi mwy o sylw i farn pobl ifanc 16 a 17 oed nag a wnaethom ni hyd yma - ac nid wyf yn eithrio fy hun rhag hynny, nid wyf yn eithrio aelodau eraill yma chwaith, ac yn sicr nid awdurdodau lleol. Yn ail, galluogi ychwanegu pobl i'r gofrestr etholiadol heb gais os yw'r swyddog cofrestru etholiadol yn fodlon bod ganddo wybodaeth ddibynadwy fod yr unigolyn yn gymwys i gofrestru: mae a wnelo hyn nid dim ond â'ch gallu i bleidleisio, ond â'r holl bethau eraill sy'n ymwneud â bod ar y gofrestr etholiadol. Caniatáu i brif weithwyr a swyddogion cynghorau sy'n dymuno sefyll mewn etholiad ymddiswyddo ar ôl iddynt gael eu hethol, yn hytrach nag wrth ddatgan ymgeisyddiaeth: rwy'n credu bod hynny'n gam mawr ymlaen. Ac mae'r ddau ohonom ni'n adnabod pobl sydd wedi rhoi'r gorau i'w swyddi ac yna sydd wedi methu cael eu hethol wedyn. Ond pryd ddylid ymddiswyddo - pan ddaw'r datganiad ei fod wedi ei ethol, neu cyn iddo lofnodi'r datganiad fel aelod etholedig? Gall fod pedwar neu bum diwrnod rhwng y ddau ddyddiad hynny. Mae gennyf bryderon am y cylch pum mlynedd. Fe wnaethom ni gyflwyno cylch pum mlynedd ar gyfer y Cynulliad, ond gan edrych ar gylch pum mlynedd ar gyfer llywodraeth leol - . Ac roedd hynny i gyd-fynd â Senedd San Steffan, lle byddai tymor sefydlog, pum mlynedd - wel, aeth hynny'n dda, onid do? [ Chwerthin.] Ond rwy'n credu bod pum mlynedd yn rhy hir. Rwy'n credu bod pedair blynedd yn iawn. Rwy'n credu bod tair blynedd yn well na phump, mae'n debyg, ond rwy'n credu bod pum mlynedd yn ymestyn elastig democratiaeth yn rhy bell, ac rwy'n gobeithio'n wir y byddem yn troi etholiadau'r Cynulliad, nad ydych chi'n gyfrifol amdanynt, ac etholiadau awdurdodau lleol, ill dau yn ôl i gylch pedair blynedd. Oherwydd nid oes angen i ni boeni am San Steffan; ymddengys eu bod yn gweithredu ar gylch dwy flynedd ar hyn o bryd. [ Chwerthin.] Rwy'n croesawu'r ddarpariaeth arfaethedig i'r prif gynghorau a'r cynghorau cymuned cymwys gael pŵer cymhwysedd cyffredinol. Yr unig ofid oedd gennyf, ac rwyf wedi ymgyrchu dros y pŵer cymhwysedd cyffredinol drwy gydol fy mywyd gwleidyddol, yw bod rhai o gynghorau Lloegr yn ne Lloegr wedi troi'r pŵer cymhwysedd cyffredinol yn allu i brynu stadau a chanolfannau siopa drwy Brydain benbaladr. Ac rwy'n credu y gallai fod angen rhywfaint o reolaeth dros y lefel gyffredinol honno o gymhwysedd - bod yn gymwys i wneud unrhyw beth yn eich ardal eich hun, nid yn gymwys i fynd a benthyg £30 miliwn i fynd a phrynu canolfan siopa yn rhywle. Nid wyf yn credu bod unrhyw un ohonom ni sydd wedi dadlau dros bŵer cymhwysedd cyffredinol yn y gorffennol wedi meddwl erioed mai ar gyfer hynny y byddai pobl yn defnyddio eu pŵer cymhwysedd cyffredinol. A oes cynnig i'w gwneud hi'n haws i awdurdodau lleol gael gwared â'r tri swyddog gwarchodedig - y prif swyddogion cyllid, y swyddog monitro a phennaeth y gwasanaeth cyflogedig? Pe cawn i ei alw'n broblem Caerffili - . Oherwydd bod yr anhawster, neu'r amhosibilrwydd bron, o gael y tair swydd hynny wedi'u diogelu yn golygu, oni wneir rhywbeth, y byddai unrhyw awdurdod lleol arall a oedd â phrif weithredwr nad oedd yn barod i ymddiswyddo yn yr un sefyllfa'n union â Chaerffili ac fe allai yn wir wynebu mwy o broblemau yn y dyfodol. O ran ymddygiad a rhoi arweinwyr grŵp yn gyfrifol am ymddygiad - syniad gwych. Yr unig broblem yw, fel y gwyddoch chi a minnau, mae'r bobl sy'n ymddwyn waethaf yn tueddu i beidio â bod yn perthyn i grwpiau. Maen nhw'n tueddu i fod yn unigolion, annibynwyr o wahanol liwiau. Nhw yw'r rhai sy'n tueddu i ymddwyn waethaf, yn fy mhrofiad i o lywodraeth leol ac, os meiddiaf ddweud, mannau eraill. Ac, mewn gwirionedd, a oes gennym ni gyfle i allu gweithredu rhywfaint yn erbyn y rheini, oherwydd os nad oes ganddyn nhw arweinydd plaid, yna wrth bwy ydych chi'n cwyno? Ac, yn olaf, o ran systemau etholiadol, rwy'n credu bod honno'n ddadl gyfan yn ei rhinwedd ei hun. Os gallaf ddweud fy mod yn anghytuno'n sylfaenol â phob un gair y dywedodd Dai Lloyd amdano. Mae'r bleidlais sengl drosglwyddadwy yn gwastraffu mwy o bleidleisiau nag unrhyw system arall. Canlyniad mawr etholiad mewn cyngor yn yr Alban: tair sedd - y nifer mwyaf o bleidleisiau oedd 1,700, yn ail roedd 1,500, cafodd y trydydd person ei ethol gyda 354 o bleidleisiau, oherwydd bod gan y ddwy blaid fwyaf ofn rhoi dau ymgeisydd rhag ofn na châi neb ei ethol, a'r llall - . Felly, mae gwir angen inni ddechrau trafod hyn. A chredaf - . A hefyd - wel, yn olaf, fe ddywedaf y byddwn yn hoffi petai Dai Lloyd yn iawn wrth ddweud bod pobl yn pleidleisio mewn blociau pleidiol, oherwydd fy mhrofiad i yn Nhreforys yw eu bod yn tueddu i ddewis a dethol pan oedden nhw'n dewis pobl i'w cynrychioli a, diolch byth, y rhan fwyaf o'r amser fe wnaethon nhw fy newis i.