3. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on Welsh Government spending commitments in relation to the local government and public services portfolio? OAQ52006

Can I thank the Member for that question? And no doubt I will find my answer to it any second now. Llywydd, the local government and public services portfolio will spend £5.4 billion in 2018-19, comprising £3.7 billion in revenue, £209 million in capital and £1.1 billion in annually managed expenditure. That investment covers a range of vitally important areas, including housing, homelessness, childcare and the council tax reduction scheme.

Okay. Thank you for that answer. There are financial implications to Government spending if a proposed prison in Port Talbot or elsewhere in Wales is to go ahead. Have you made any analysis of the impact in terms of how you would need to allocate extra resources to departments? I understand the public service Cabinet Secretary made a statement during recess, where the impacts on other aspects of public services and policy were raised as part of the reason for announcing a delay. So, I've received, myself, some information that shows that there is considerable impact on public resources relating to existing prisons, so I would like to ask: have you given any thought, specifically, to the impact on public services in south Wales and how you would need to potentially change the budget if there would be a need to do so?

I thank her for that further question. I have, of course, seen the statement on justice policy put out by my colleague Alun Davies during the recess. Whenever there are developments in this field, we work closely with the Ministry of Justice to make sure that, if non-devolved activity is being developed in Wales, the necessary resources come with it. We do that, however, at the point when there is a specific proposal around which those discussions could take place. So, the general answer to the Member's question is, were there to be any proposals, of course those discussions would happen, but they don't happen in this specific instance because there is nothing on the table around which such discussions could be focused.

Cabinet Secretary, around £100 million of grants were dehypothecated in this year's budget for local authorities and local government, and, of course, we see that as a positive move forward. Obviously, the costs of administration are very high. However, a number of local authorities have raised serious concerns that the £13 million that was previously allocated for the minority ethnic, Gypsy/Traveller and Roma element of the educational improvement grant was actually withheld and not actually passed on to this particular budget line. The education Secretary has since admitted error in this regard, thereby transferring this extra funding to make up for the shortfall. However, once again, our more rural local authorities were completely excluded from this correction. Cabinet Secretary, this does not inspire confidence in the budget setting of the Welsh Labour Government. So, therefore, what assurances can you provide me with that any dehypothecated funding going forward in the future will reach those authorities and the budgets that they're intended to do so?

Well, I'm grateful for what the Member said at the start of her question about her support for the general principle of dehypothecation, and I was very keen, in this budget round for this year, to take a step forward in that, because, at times when local authority budgets are under such pressure, we respond to the case they make to us that, if money goes into the revenue support grant, they can make more flexible, and therefore more effective and more efficient, use of it.

In relation to the minority ethnic achievement grant, we have come to an agreement, Llywydd, with the Welsh Local Government Association on that matter. I have provided an additional £5 million from central funds to assist with the education of children from those backgrounds, and my colleague Kirsty Williams has added a further £2.5 million to that sum to make sure that future development of this provision on a regional footing can be carried out. We were glad to reach that agreement with the WLGA. As we move further grants into the RSG, I accept the general point the Member made—that that has to be done carefully and has to be done with thorough discussion in advance to make sure that the particular strand in the budget formula that we use means that money ends up in the places where it is most needed.