6. What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the impact of council tax increases on the residents of South Wales West? OAQ51993

Democratically elected local authorities are responsible for setting council tax every year. Local authorities are answerable to their local populations for the decisions they make, including setting council tax rates. The Welsh Government has this week launched a campaign to increase the take-up of our council tax reduction scheme, which supports low-income households.

Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. Bridgend residents have had a 4.5 per cent increase, Neath 3.7 per cent and Swansea a staggering 4.9 per cent increase. At the same time as my constituents are forced to pay these inflation-busting rises, wages are only rising by half these amounts. Cabinet Secretary, how can these increases be justified when services are being cut? How can we justify asking my constituents to pay out more of their dwindling income for fewer bin collections, unrepaired roads, broken street lights and service cuts?

I'm afraid, Llywydd, that the answer is very simple: the justification lies in the impact of eight years of austerity on public service budgets here in Wales—eight years in which, year on year on year, there is less money available to this Government and to local authorities to do the vital work that the Member pointed to. I know that local authorities of all persuasions across Wales think very hard about the impact that their decisions have on their local population. At least here in Wales, the least well-off households have the comfort of knowing that they do not pay council tax, whereas across the border in England over 2 million of the poorest households in the land are now having to make substantial contributions, not out of their not-rising incomes, but their frozen benefit incomes for local public services. 

Finally, question 7—Mick Antoniw.