English: Can I also thank the Cabinet Secretary for his statement? Councils in Britain are the largest in Europe, as the Cabinet Secretary knows. John Stewart has said 'the average size of a British local authority is 10 times the average size of local authorities in the rest of Europe.' At a Gorwel meeting last week, chaired by David Melding, it was stated that Slovenia, a country roughly the size of Wales, has approximately 10 times the number of councils. Do large authorities perform better? Birmingham, which is the largest authority in Britain and one of the largest, if not the largest in Europe, has had serious problems with its social services. In Wales, three local authorities - Swansea, Cardiff and Rhondda Cynon Taf - make up approximately a quarter of the population of Wales. Do these authorities perform better than medium-sized and smaller authorities? I have yet to see any evidence to say so. If the Minister can identify evidence that I can see to show that larger authorities are performing better, I'd be very pleased to see it. If we look at health, is there any evidence that the two largest health boards, Betsi Cadawaladr and Cardiff and the Vale, perform better than the others? There are two things that are guaranteed to annoy me when I hear them on the radio. The one is, 'Wales is the same size as Birmingham,' despite the fact it's three times the size, and the other one is that larger organisations are better than smaller ones, despite the inability to provide any evidence to support that. Of course, before the 1970s' reorganisation, there were lots of little local authorities in Wales: Llwchwr Urban District Council, Gower Rural District Council, and, perhaps the most famous of all, Tredegar Urban District Council, where Nye Bevan was a member. Big can also mean bureaucracy, big can mean inefficiency and big can mean remoteness. With local authorities, there's a right size for different things. If you look at planning, for example, the right size for development control is nowhere near the right size for a structure plan. Can I raise two points and questions on what the Minister has put forward -
Welsh: A gaf innau hefyd ddiolch i Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet am ei ddatganiad? Cynghorau ym Mhrydain yw'r rhai mwyaf yn Ewrop, fel y mae Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet yn gwybod. Mae John Stewart wedi dweud bod maint cyfartalog awdurdod lleol ym Mhrydain 10 gwaith maint cyfartalog awdurdodau lleol yng ngweddill Ewrop. Mewn cyfarfod Gorwel yr wythnos diwethaf, o dan gadeiryddiaeth David Melding, dywedwyd bod gan Slofenia, gwlad sydd oddeutu yr un maint â Chymru, tua 10 gwaith y nifer o gynghorau. A yw awdurdodau mawr yn perfformio'n well? Mae Birmingham, yr awdurdod mwyaf ym Mhrydain ac un o'r mwyaf, os nad y mwyaf yn Ewrop, wedi cael problemau difrifol gyda'i wasanaethau cymdeithasol. Yng Nghymru, mae tri awdurdod lleol - Abertawe, Caerdydd a Rhondda Cynon Taf - yn cyfrif am tua chwarter poblogaeth Cymru. A yw'r awdurdodau hyn yn perfformio'n well nag awdurdodau o faint canolig a llai? Nid wyf wedi gweld unrhyw dystiolaeth sy'n dweud hynny eto. Os gall y Gweinidog ddangos tystiolaeth y gallaf ei gweld i ddangos bod awdurdodau mwy yn perfformio'n well, byddwn i'n falch iawn o'i gweld. Os edrychwn ni ar iechyd, a oes unrhyw dystiolaeth bod y ddau fwrdd iechyd mwyaf, Betsi Cadawaladr a Chaerdydd a'r Fro, yn perfformio'n well na'r lleill? Mae dau beth sy'n sicr o'm cythruddo pan fyddaf yn eu clywed ar y radio. Un yw, 'mae Cymru yr un maint â Birmingham,' er gwaethaf y ffaith ei bod tair gwaith ei faint, a'r llall yw bod sefydliadau mwy o faint yn well na rhai llai, er gwaethaf y ffaith na ellir darparu unrhyw dystiolaeth i gefnogi hynny. Wrth gwrs, cyn y gwaith ad-drefnu yn y 1970au, roedd llawer o awdurdodau lleol bach yng Nghymru: Cyngor Dosbarth Trefol Llwchwr, Cyngor Dosbarth Gwledig Gŵyr, ac, efallai yr enwocaf ohonynt i gyd, Cyngor Dosbarth Trefol Tredegar, lle'r oedd Nye Bevan yn aelod. Gall mawr hefyd olygu biwrocratiaeth, gall mawr olygu aneffeithlonrwydd a gall mawr olygu pellenigrwydd. O ran awdurdodau lleol, mae maint cywir ar gyfer gwahanol bethau. Os ydych chi'n edrych ar gynllunio, er enghraifft, nid yw'r maint cywir ar gyfer rheoli datblygu yn ddim byd tebyg i'r maint cywir ar gyfer cynllun strwythur. A gaf i godi dau bwynt a chwestiynau ar yr hyn y mae'r Gweinidog wedi ei gyflwyno -