2. A wnaiff Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet roi'r wybodaeth ddiweddaraf am yr adnoddau y mae Llywodraeth Cymru wedi'u dyrannu i awdurdodau lleol i wella arwynebau ffyrdd? OAQ51802

I am providing £30 million in this financial year across all local authorities for the refurbishment of local roads. Details have been shared with local authorities.

Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. Earlier this month, you announced that the Welsh Government was providing councils in Wales with £30 million to improve the state of roads in their areas, and this measure was indeed widely welcomed from all corners of the political spectrum. Councillor Anthony Hunt, Welsh Local Government Association spokesman for finance and resources stated, 'We will look forward to continuing to have constructive and open dialogue to find sustainable responses.' Cabinet Secretary, based on the established highway allocation formula, what amount of moneys will Islwyn's Caerphilly County Borough Council receive from the £30 million investment, and what future opportunities are open to the Welsh Government to directly invest in the Welsh road network?

Presiding Officer, to answer the two questions directly, Caerphilly County Borough Council will receive an additional £1.5 million to spend on roads through this scheme, and responsibility for general road improvement, road spending and road maintenance, of course, falls to my colleague the Cabinet Secretary for economy and infrastructure.

But can I go a bit further than that in answering this question? I think it's important that we do support local authorities in ensuring that our local road network is fit for purpose. We all know that there are some significant problems in all parts of the country, and that is why, when we had the opportunity to do so, we found the £30 million in capital, available immediately to all local authorities, distributed on a fair basis, to ensure that local authorities have the resources, as well as the responsibility to be able to invest in a stable and safe road network. We've worked with Anthony Hunt and his colleagues to ensure that has been made available immediately, and I look forward to local authorities continuing a conversation with us about how we can work together in the future to maintain a safe and stable local road network.

Cabinet Secretary, given that you've got those very useful figures to hand in front of you, it would be remiss of me not to ask about my own local authority, at the risk of being parochial. Monmouthshire County Council—what share are they going to receive of that £30 million? We've heard how much Caerphilly will receive, so if you could update us on that, that would be great. And, also, in terms of the wider sharing out of that money, how do you envisage it being divided between urban and rural authorities, because there's clearly a large number of rural roads that are falling into disrepair and facing closure, and it's a lot more costly to try and maintain some of those roads in some of our rural authorities across Wales? 

Presiding Officer, nobody's surprised that Nick Ramsay's used the opportunity to ask the question he has. Members may be more surprised that I know the answer. Monmouthshire County Council will receive £921,218 as a consequence of this grant. The £30 million capital grant has been distributed using the transport element of the general capital funding formula, and this formula has been agreed with local government. I will say in answer to the question that I think it's important to ensure that these moneys are distributed fairly between urban and rural, north and south, according to the needs of the area, and I hope that the funding formula that we have available to us does exactly that. 

Cabinet Secretary, the backlog of road repairs is having a detrimental effect on the people in my region, South Wales West. One of my constituents is unable to take his wheelchair-bound wife out because of the state of the pavements around their home. When he called the council, they simply said that he was at the bottom of a very long list of repairs. So, how does your Government plan to tackle the backlog of repairs, which are trapping people in their homes, damaging their vehicles and resulting in personal injury?

We have made this money available to all local authorities immediately in order to address those sorts of issues. Where there are specific issues, I would invite the Member to take that up in writing, either with the local authority or with us directly. But I will say also to the Member that the reason that these backlogs and these funding problems are being faced by local authorities across Wales is because of an austerity programme that is being delivered by a UK Conservative Government, and your party believes that they should go further and reduce funding still further. I disagree with them, and I disagree with you.