Welsh councils are set to get £1.25 million in a bid to get them to broadcast their meetings on the internet.
Carl Sargeant said: “I want to give as many people as possible access to the proceedings of local government, just as they already have for bodies such as the Assembly and Parliament.
“In a modern democracy, the development of the communications technology means that members of the public should be able to see how decisions affecting their everyday lives are taken.”
The Minister has also urged principal councils to work with their local community councils to provide the public with information about their local council. This will become a requirement within the Local Government (Democracy) (Wales) Bill that is currently being considered by the Assembly.
Another initiative being developed as a way of way of widening participation in local democracy is enabling councillors to attend council meetings remotely. The Minister says that he sees this as key way of promoting democracy and so is pleased that the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011 includes a requirement for principal councils to do this.
Each county council will receive £40,000 aimed at promoting broadcasting and remote attendance of councillors at council meetings.
A total of £375,000 across Wales will be aimed at helping to develop community council websites but the amount paid to each principal council will vary partly in accordance with the number of community councils in their area.
Perhaps, in Caerphilly Borough Council`s case, and in order for the public, in the words of Carl Sargent, to,
" give as many people as possible access to the proceedings of local government, just as they already have for bodies such as the Assembly and Parliament.
They may like to start be ensuring that all members of the public who turn up and attend Council Meetings to are able to follow the business of the meeting by providing them with Agendas and Minutes which the Councillors will already have, and ensuring that any documents handed out at the meeting by officers are also made available to the public who may be there.
Perhaps Carl Sargent the Minister responsible and our Assembly Members, who represent Caerphilly, and there are four of those, may like to address this fundamental communication issue first, and before they spend millions of pounds on allowing Councillors not to attend meetings for which they are paid a salary to do.