Mark Drakeford: Of course I agree that the formula should rely on the most up-to-date data possible. That’s why I was pleased to agree the recommendations in relation to population numbers and school pupil numbers. I think every effort is made, both by local authority partners and those who advise them, to make sure that the formula does depend on the most reliable data available. During my visits around...
Mark Drakeford: Well, we will continue with that intention in the next financial year. I’ve spoken to all Cabinet members and they have all placed some grants into the RSG for next year. That is part of the pattern that we, as a Government, have drawn up over the past few years. I am eager to proceed in the same way for next year, where we can provide greater flexibility for local authorities to use the...
Mark Drakeford: I’ll do that in exactly the way I explained a moment or two ago. We have a funding formula. It is an agreed formula. It is revised every year. It’s been revised again this year. It involves political voices and expert voices in it, and I take the advice of that expert group. We will use that formula as recommended to me and then we will distribute the quantum that we are able to make...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, I have to be a bit careful not to anticipate the detail of the statement that will not be released until later this afternoon. What I think I can say at this point to the Member is that I do intend to use a floor mechanism for next year’s distribution to local authorities and that will be reflected in the settlement that I will lay before the Assembly later today.
Mark Drakeford: I think there are two different ways in which it’s important to explore this issue in Wales. First of all, I am keen to set in motion work that will look at the whole way in which we raise local taxation in Wales and to see whether the system we currently have is the one that best reflects future needs. However, whatever methods you use for raising money, there will always be a need to find...
Mark Drakeford: Well, those really are questions for the Cabinet Secretary with responsibility for the childcare policy area. I know that he’s working very actively with officials and partners beyond the Assembly, informing the pilot schemes, and I’m sure that he’ll make an announcement to Assembly Members as soon as he’s in a position to do so.
Mark Drakeford: Well, our approach to childcare in Wales has always been predicated on the links between affordable, available and good-quality childcare on participation in the labour market. We’ve always wanted to make sure that childcare is there in sufficient quantity to make sure that women, in particular, are able to pursue careers in the jobs market in the way that they would wish. The Member makes...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, I’m happy to confirm what I said to the Finance Committee, that if you want to design a system that has the active participation of parents within it and learns from what they tell us about the sort of childcare they will need for the future, we need to calibrate the programme to take account of those views, and that will mean a build-up over time in the capacity that we will...
Mark Drakeford: Well, may I thank Simon Thomas for the question? Over the life of the programme from 2014 to 2020, around £1.9 billion is available through European structural funds in Wales—£855 million, namely 44 of that allocation, has already been committed. I expect the remaining £1 billion to be deployed to the maximum extent, although our ability to do so remains dependent on the UK...
Mark Drakeford: Thank for that question. Of course, I acknowledge the excellent work that the Sêr Cymru programme undertakes. I had an opportunity, when I was responsible the health sector in Wales, to collaborate with Edwina Hart at the time on this programme and to try and attract people to life sciences in Wales and to do the excellent work that is carried out in Swansea. Bydd cynllunio popeth rydym am...
Mark Drakeford: I was very pleased last week to be able to announce an additional £850,000 of European Union funding for the scheme that Mike Hedges refers to. Participating businesses in it include Tata Steel, BASF, the Royal Mint and others. They will be actively involved in formulating research projects based on the technological developments taking place within their industries. Our aim, as he knows, is...
Mark Drakeford: I thank Rhianon Passmore for the question. Islwyn has benefitted from structural funding in many different ways, from the very local support of two apprentices at a Newbridge dental surgery to the far wider impact, for example, of the Aspire to Achieve programme for at-risk young people and the Business Wales SME and entrepreneurship support scheme.
Mark Drakeford: Well, the impact would be the one that I’m sure the Member would anticipate: that those investments that we are able to make, which help to shape the futures for individuals and communities and to secure the long-term success of the Welsh economy, would be set back if we did not have the money that is currently guaranteed to us as a result of our membership of the European Union. It would...
Mark Drakeford: I thank Lynne Neagle for the question. The majority of the funding provided to local government by the Welsh Government is delivered through the annual settlement. In this financial year, 2016-17, the settlement provided £4.1 billion in unhypothecated revenue funding.
Mark Drakeford: Well, as I said during the statement on the budget yesterday, the Cabinet Secretary’s decision on Communities First is not driven by budget considerations. It is driven by making better use of the funding that has been put to those purposes in the past, bringing it together with budgets for Families First and Flying Start and trying to make sure that we have more of an impact in those...
Mark Drakeford: I listen very carefully to what rural authorities say to me, and the changes to the social services strand in the formula this year very much do respond to the argument that those authorities have put. I’m afraid the Member will have to wait with everybody else to see the specific impacts of those changes on particular authorities for next year.
Mark Drakeford: Well, all opposition party spokespeople, Dirprwy Lywydd, were offered a technical briefing on the announcement that will be made later this afternoon, and all opposition party spokespeople were offered that briefing at more or less the same time. It’s a courtesy that we are keen to continue to afford opposition party spokespeople, because we would like to see people well-informed so that,...
Mark Drakeford: I thank Dawn Bowden for that. Working in partnership with trade unions and public service employers, progress continues to be made in broadening adoption of the living wage in Welsh public services.
Mark Drakeford: Well, I certainly congratulate Merthyr Tydfil and Caerphilly councils for the approach that they have adopted and the leadership that they have shown in this area. The Member began, I thought, with the most important case for the real living wage, that it actually benefits employers as well as employees, and that there are strict business advantages to companies who deploy the real living...
Mark Drakeford: I thank Angela Burns for the question. The proposals I announced on 4 October for mandatory and systematic regional collaboration between local authorities are intended to build resilience and enhance the effectiveness of services and outcomes for citizens.
