The setting of council tax is a matter for each authority taking account of all the sources of funding available and local priorities for service delivery.

Once the £35 million transfer from the Environment Single Revenue Grant to the local government revenue support grant is taken into account the revenue budget available to the portfolio reduces by 1.55% in 2018/19. Its capital budget rises by more than 16% compared to previously published plans for 2018-19.

We remain on track to commit all the EU funds available to Wales by 30 March 2019, and thus brought within the UK Treasury guarantee.

In developing our plans in the draft Budget my starting point is always with our manifesto commitments and then aligning our spending allocations to achieve prosperity for all.

I announced on 9 October that the Welsh Government will maintain full entitlements under our Council Tax Reduction Scheme for 2018-19. This means that around 300,000 vulnerable and low-income households in Wales will continue to be protected.

The Welsh Government is committed to reviewing the way in which the performance of local government is monitored to create a simpler system of performance measures, clearly aligned with local government’s agenda of service improvement.

Our spending plans reflect our commitment to create an integrated public transport network, including an extra £173.2m for the South Wales Metro, £50m to develop a new rail station and park and ride facility in Llanwern and investing £50m to take forward the North Wales Metro.

The tax changes announced in the draft budget mean Wales will have the lowest starting rate of tax for the purchase of business premises in the UK and that over 90% of non residential transactions will pay the same or less tax in Wales. We expect the changes to lead to an increase in commercial activity.

I hold regular discussions with local authorities across Wales including Caerphilly CBC. Responsibility for effective performance and delivery rests with local authorities. They are accountable to elected members and the public for their performance and improvement, based on sound corporate governance and independent challenge.