Rebecca Evans: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I hadn’t intended to use this debate to educate Members about the 2020-21 consolidated accounts, but I will begin with that, because we’ve had a number of contributions that have just been so factually incorrect it’s very difficult to let them go. So, we’re talking here about the year that was the pandemic year. Obviously, that was an exceptional...
Rebecca Evans: ...million to the indicative allocations that were published at the last budget. That, in part, is due to the fact that we provided over and above the consequential funding that we received for both education and social care in the previous statement from the UK Government. And, as a result of the reprioritisation exercise that we undertook across Government, we were able to provide that more...
Rebecca Evans: Supporting vital public services through these hard times was a key priority in the 2023-24 budget. I have provided an additional £227 million for local government, including funding for schools and social care, which sits alongside other directly funded cost-of-living support interventions, including £18.8 million for the discretionary assistance fund.
Rebecca Evans: ...of the A465, for example, where we've seen lots of new local jobs being created, lots of employment for people who have experienced long-term unemployment, or who are not in employment, education or training, for example, and, of course, a number of community initiatives have been supported through the community initiatives programme, which was set up as part of that as well. So, I think...
Rebecca Evans: ...money case for the overall public purse. So, in terms of Caerphilly County Borough Council, they have submitted a business case proposing the voluntary termination of their PFI contract for the two schools, as you just described, and I've approved the continuation of some revenue support for the remaining period that the contract would have run if the PFI continued. It is now for...
Rebecca Evans: ...contribution to your local area, there are also fantastic opportunities within local authorities to progress within your career. I think that the more we can do to start getting young people at school and college to start thinking about careers in local government, the better, because as you say, there are great opportunities, and it really is a job where you can make a huge difference.
Rebecca Evans: ...were able to do so in this financial year to meet the costs of that. And I think that that is a really big and important step, but it just shows how far we are willing to go to support our NHS and education workers here in Wales. In terms of Ukraine, I think that, again, important points were made in terms of trying to ensure that the UK Government provides the funding that is needed to...
Rebecca Evans: ...of £412 million—a 2 per cent increase. We have had to make hard choices given our competing priorities. In this budget, we have made allocations to the health and social services MEG and the education and Welsh language MEG of £120 million and £32 million respectively, to support pay settlements for NHS Wales staff and teachers. Our NHS faces record demands and increased costs whilst...
Rebecca Evans: Well, we fund education differently here in Wales, because we trust local government here in Wales to do the right thing by their schools, and, as I've said, local government is passing that money on to schools and then some, so I think that the characterisation that we're seeing on the Conservative benches is inaccurate and unfair. We've also provided an additional £165 million for NHS...
Rebecca Evans: ...vulnerable people and on protecting businesses in Wales and our public services, and that's why you'll see an extra £227 million for local government. And that, of course, includes funding for schools and social care. And the Conservatives are entirely disingenuous when they suggest that funding has been cut for schools. We've passed on every penny of the £117 million additional...
Rebecca Evans: ...work that we have been doing through the young person's guarantee, which you will have seen from the recent announcement has helped thousands of young people into work or training or further education in the last year, which I think is really successful. I know that my colleagues work very closely with the four regional skills partnerships to make sure that young people do have the kinds...
Rebecca Evans: ...refer colleagues to the second supplementary budget, which we published yesterday. And that sets out that we've allocated £130 million to the health main expenditure group and £35 million to the education MEG in order to cover that payment, should it be accepted within this financial year. You'll also see from the supplementary budget that we've now drawn down everything that we can...
Rebecca Evans: ...I've referred to as being agreed as part of our spending review. I did give certain areas a degree of protection, so front-line health services, local government through the RSG, and part of the education budget were excused from that exercise to try and reprioritise across Government, but, I mean, I have to say it was such a difficult exercise. We've been asked why we couldn't...
Rebecca Evans: ...the review of the unit rate. Obviously, it's not straightforward, and they will be looking at the impacts of those different models in terms of agreeing the rate. At the moment, the current free school meal unit rate across local authorities is being looked at alongside the evidence of the rising costs and the expectation that we're putting on local authorities in respect of sourcing local...
Rebecca Evans: Two hundred and sixty million pounds has been committed to implement the universal free school meal provision programme over the next three years. I anticipate that this funding will be sufficient for the majority of local authorities, but have committed that any additional requirements will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
Rebecca Evans: ...2023-24 draft budget continues to focus on preventing harm to the most disadvantaged. Alongside the £165 million to protect our NHS, actions include protecting the £90 million funding for free school meals, investing a further £10 million in homelessness prevention and providing £2.2 million for our basic income pilot.
Rebecca Evans: ...to local government in excess of the funding that we received in consequential funding from measures that the UK Government had outlined in its autumn statement in the fields of social care and education. We were able to do that by undertaking a very painful exercise ourselves across Government in terms of identifying areas where we could reprioritise funding towards local government and...
Rebecca Evans: ...through various different forums when we're setting the Welsh Government's budget. In the past, I've engaged with economics students and have had discussions with them. My officials have gone into schools and talked about budgets. I've gone into a school as well and talked to them about Welsh rates of income tax and things like that. So, all of that sort of thing, I think—just the...
Rebecca Evans: ...of the autumn statement. Our capital budget will be 8.1 per cent lower in 2024-25 than in the current year. And, of course, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the London School of Economics Growth Commission and the UK Government's own National Infrastructure Commission have all said that investment in infrastructure and investment in skills absolutely is the way...
Rebecca Evans: ...227 million is being provided to local government through the settlement to help local authorities safeguard the important and wide range of services that they provide, including directly funding schools. As a result of the spending decisions made in relation to education in England, Wales received a consequential of £117 million a year in the autumn statement. Through the choices we have...
