English: I welcome this opportunity to discuss local government. In fact, I welcome any opportunity to discuss local government and I wish we had more of these debates on local government. I might not agree with what's been said by Mark Isherwood, Suzy Davies and Russell George, but I think it's important we get this debate and discussion taking place in front of everybody. Can I say, first of all, that this is taking place against a background of Tory austerity - a political policy, not an economic one? But what actually happens here? The percentage of the Welsh budget spent on health has increased year on year. As local government was the other large budget funded by the Welsh Government, it has gone down. But when you consider some of the services covered by local government - education, social services, highways, refuse collection, trading standards, food hygiene, pollution, sports facilities, homelessness and planning - it is easy to see how important local government and local services are. I stopped at 10, I could've kept on going, but I don't think anybody would have liked to have listened for five minutes to a list of what local government does. As the funding that local government gets from the Welsh Government, under the catchy title of 'aggregate external funding', goes down, two things happen: council services reduce, with council tax and charges increasing. There is a widely held belief by many council tax payers that their council tax pays for the services provided by the council. What has happened in recent years is that council tax has increased while services have reduced, and council tax payers have had a variety of reactions, varying between angry and confused. This is because council tax pays for less than a quarter of the total council services, with the rest being funded by the rate support grant and the councils' share of the universal business rates. I'm sure the Conservatives would like to apologise for the decision taken by the Conservative Government in the past, where they centralised and nationalised the business rate, because local authorities should be able to set their own local business rates. Now, it's all set centrally, and that has an effect. On business rates -
Welsh: Croesawaf y cyfle hwn i drafod llywodraeth leol. Yn wir, croesawaf unrhyw gyfle i drafod llywodraeth leol a hoffwn pe baem yn cael mwy o'r dadleuon hyn ar lywodraeth leol. Efallai nad wyf yn cytuno â'r hyn a ddywedwyd gan Mark Isherwood, Suzy Davies a Russell George, ond credaf ei bod yn bwysig inni gael y ddadl hon a'r drafodaeth sy'n digwydd o flaen pawb. A gaf fi ddweud, yn gyntaf oll, fod hyn yn digwydd yn erbyn cefndir o gyni Torïaidd - polisi gwleidyddol, nid un economaidd? Ond beth sy'n digwydd yma mewn gwirionedd? Mae'r ganran o gyllideb Cymru a werir ar iechyd wedi cynyddu flwyddyn ar ôl blwyddyn. Gan mai llywodraeth leol yw'r gyllideb fawr arall a ariennir gan Lywodraeth Cymru, mae wedi gostwng. Ond pan fyddwch yn ystyried rhai o'r gwasanaethau a ddarperir gan lywodraeth leol - addysg, gwasanaethau cymdeithasol, priffyrdd, casglu sbwriel, safonau masnach, hylendid bwyd, llygredd, cyfleusterau chwaraeon, digartrefedd a chynllunio - mae'n hawdd gweld pa mor bwysig yw llywodraeth leol a gwasanaethau lleol. Rhoddais y gorau iddi ar 10, a gallwn fod wedi parhau, ond ni chredaf y byddai neb wedi hoffi gwrando am bum munud ar restr o'r hyn y mae Llywodraeth Leol yn ei wneud. Wrth i'r arian y mae llywodraeth leol yn ei gael gan Lywodraeth Cymru o dan y teitl bachog 'cyllid cyfansymiol allanol', fynd i lawr, mae dau beth yn digwydd: mae gwasanaethau'r cyngor yn lleihau, ac mae'r dreth gyngor a thaliadau'n cynyddu. Ceir cred gyffredinol gan lawer o dalwyr y dreth gyngor fod eu treth gyngor yn talu am y gwasanaethau a ddarperir gan y cyngor. Yr hyn sydd wedi digwydd yn y blynyddoedd diwethaf yw bod y dreth gyngor wedi codi er bod y gwasanaethau wedi lleihau, ac mae talwyr y dreth gyngor wedi adweithio mewn nifer o ffyrdd, yn amrywio rhwng dicter a dryswch. Mae hyn oherwydd bod y dreth gyngor yn talu am lai na chwarter cyfanswm gwasanaethau'r cyngor, gyda'r gweddill yn cael eu hariannu gan y grant cynnal ardrethi a chyfran y cynghorau o'r ardrethi busnes cyffredinol. Rwy'n siŵr y byddai'r Ceidwadwyr yn hoffi ymddiheuro am y penderfyniad a wnaed gan y Llywodraeth Geidwadol yn y gorffennol, lle cafodd ardrethi busnes eu canoli a'u gwladoli, oherwydd dylai awdurdodau lleol allu gosod eu hardrethi busnes lleol eu hunain. Nawr, caiff ei osod yn ganolog, ac mae hynny'n cael effaith. Ar ardrethi busnes -