Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance – in the Senedd at 1:56 pm on 14 November 2018.
Well, I don't disagree with the point that the Member is making. These are very difficult times for local authorities. I will do whatever I can with the money we received in the budget to mitigate some of the challenges that they face. Where they have other sources of funding available to them, it is right that they should think very carefully about how they can put that money to work to support local services, and I've no doubt, in the way that my colleague Alun Davies said, their local populations will look carefully to see that they are making good use of all the funds that are available to them. I think that's something that our local authority colleagues do all the time, but, in a moment when pressures are particularly acute, it's right to point to the fact that, as well as money that they get from Welsh Government, there are other sources of funds available to them, and that they have to think of planning their expenditure in the round.