Rebecca Evans: Well, I don't want to pre-empt the outcome of the ongoing budget discussions that are taking place across the board at the moment, but I will say the pressures on education, which the Member has described, have been brought home very strongly to Welsh Government by colleagues in local government, and my colleague the Minister for Education and Welsh Language always makes a very robust case...
Rebecca Evans: ...for the question, and for reiterating the same message I'm hearing from leaders as well in terms of the specific pressures on social care. They're also very keen to impress upon me the pressures in education as well, and those are two of the main areas of expenditure for local authorities. And I would also welcome and encourage people to engage with the work that local authorities are...
Rebecca Evans: ...one of those sessions. I think, in those sessions, you'll have heard that they will have seen pressures right across local government, but particularly in relation to pay inflation, energy costs, schools in particular, social care, the response to Ukraine and wider migration, and also housing and homelessness, and, obviously, all the challenges around the tight capital settlement as well....
Rebecca Evans: ...in the calendar year. And we've also provided a range of programmes that put money back into people's pockets at the time when they need it most, including our council tax reduction scheme, free school meals, and pupil development grant access, for example, which helps families with the cost of sending their children to school. So, we can absolutely provide the reassurance and the...
Rebecca Evans: ...leaders and chief executives yesterday morning, to talk through the implications of the budget, and again, they were making those very, very strong cases in terms particularly of social care, education and all of the pressures across the services that they provide, and talking about the implications for delivery if that funding gap is not met. So, I think it's helpful that we do now have...
Rebecca Evans: ...rented sector. And now, the UK Government is poised to repeat this flawed and failed experiment to fix the mistakes that it made. But we don't need austerity 2.0; what we need is investment in education and skills, business support and transport, to help boost economic growth and attract investment. Before the autumn statement, we were facing the worst financial outlook since devolution....
Rebecca Evans: Well, of course, the best thing that could happen to keep schools warm would be for the UK Government to step into this space. [Interruption.] I hear the Conservatives groaning out loud, but that is going to be the real answer in terms of ensuring that there is an affordable price for energy within schools. That's not the Welsh Government abdicating its responsibility. It's not the Welsh...
Rebecca Evans: ..., as you've referred to, as well, in terms of allowing them to keep on providing the vital services that they do. I'm sure we've all had discussions about the cost of just keeping the lights on in schools, for example, which has gone through the roof for future years. So, I know that those discussions are live, and just to reassure you that our procurement team are involved in that.
Rebecca Evans: ...into those figures in greater detail. Obviously, they are extremely concerning in terms of the pressures that are being faced. So, I'm being told that key areas include pay inflation, energy costs, schools, social care, the response to the situation in Ukraine and wider migration issues, alongside housing, homelessness and, of course, capital investment and the associated investment in...
Rebecca Evans: ...reserves position because, of course, local authorities will have earmarked funding for various things, not least our investment in the sustainable communities for learning programme and the new schools and so on.
Rebecca Evans: ...as you suggest, these are jobs, these are services that we all rely on in our communities. Local authorities aren't spending huge amounts of money doing things that don't matter; they're providing education, they're providing social services, they're dealing with waste, and so on. I think that these messages are really important, and they do need to get back to the UK Government that there...
Rebecca Evans: ...and that's certainly to be welcomed. There were lots of comments there in respect of growth and how the Welsh Government sees growth. Well, the growth commission that was established by the London School of Economics was created in order to identify ways of improving the UK's lacklustre growth performance, and that commission itself highlighted the vital importance of continuing to invest...
Rebecca Evans: ...to people, such as the £200 winter fuel support payment, and a wide range of programmes and schemes that put money back in people’s pockets—schemes like the council tax reduction scheme, free school meals and pupil development grant access, which helps families with the costs of sending their children to school. Looking ahead, we will publish the Welsh Government’s budget on 13...
Rebecca Evans: ...infrastructure, protecting local amenities and so on. We’re very clear on that. We’ve done lots and lots of good work with Plaid Cymru. You’ll be hearing a statement later on today on free school meals, in terms of our support for that. So, I think that these are two really clear examples of where the co-operation agreement is absolutely working very well. It’s working really...
Rebecca Evans: ...and confirm that I've heard what people have been saying about the cost-of-living crisis, mental health, especially young people, youth infrastructure, unpaid carers, public services, including education and other local government services, the importance of investing in R&I to boost skills and the economy and all of the challenges around public sector pay and conditions. And then other...
Rebecca Evans: ...It has stood the test of time since the 1990s and it represents local democracy in action. Overall, it is a very efficient and stable tax, raising £2 billion every year for essential services like schools and social care—services that we can't do without. It also has low administrative costs, is well understood by taxpayers, and its underlying basis, property value, is a good broad...
Rebecca Evans: ...pilots. As Peter Fox says, one is the young person's guarantee, and that's one of our key commitments to ensure that everyone under the age of 25 living in Wales has support to gain a place in education or training, or the support that they need to become self-employed. Taking part in the gender budgeting pilot does enable the young person's guarantee programme to review its systems,...
Rebecca Evans: I absolutely agree that those family engagement officers do excellent work in terms of being that bridge between the school and the family, and, as such, in the 2022-23 budget, we'll be investing £3.84 million in increasing the number of those family engagement officers that are employed by schools. The funding has been provided to local authorities, and that, then, allows them to target...
Rebecca Evans: ...in the equipment and the infrastructure necessary to deliver. There are discussions continuing with partners to understand what further support might be needed in terms of investment in the school estate, so I think that financial support is really important. I think the support of frequent discussion with local government as they drive forward and deliver this policy will also be...
Rebecca Evans: ...Plaid Cymru, we anticipate feeding nearly an additional 60,000 primary age pupils in our first year of roll-out. We will implement the scheme as quickly as possible to ensure that every primary school pupil receives a free school meal by 2024.
