Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance – in the Senedd at 2:13 pm on 14 November 2018.
Well, Llywydd, in the current year, we have increased by some 30 per cent, albeit from a low base, the money we provide to each local authority as part of their annual flood risk management revenue grant, and I intend to sustain that grant at its higher level again next year. Vikki Howells, I know, will be aware that correspondence has been received from the leader of her own council on behalf of local authorities across Wales identifying the additional costs that they have had to sustain as a result of storm Callum. As part of my ambition to assist local authorities in the dilemmas that they currently face, I've made it clear to Councillor Morgan, the leader of RCT, that I will be doing everything I can to assist local authorities with the additional revenue and capital costs that storm Callum has given rise to. We continue to be in correspondence with local authorities to refine those figures and I hope to be able to say something positive on that over the next few weeks.