Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Trefnydd – in the Senedd at 1:52 pm on 30 January 2019.
One of the features that I think does need to be looked at is that, when you look at the councils that have had an increase in funding most recently, many of them have seen a substantial increase in their reserves. So, this is money that could be spent on public services but is being held in bank accounts and not available for dealing with the current problems. Rhondda Cynon Taf, for example, has a staggering amount of £152 million in its reserves, up from £148.9 million in the previous year. Torfaen has nearly £30 million in reserves, up from £24 million, and Neath Port Talbot is up to £76 million from £65 million. So, surely, there must be some kind of control on councils keeping an excess of the cash available to them in reserves. After all, the Auditor General for Wales has recently criticised community councils for reserves rising to £38.7 million in Wales by April 2018. So, I hope that the finance Minister will support my call for the role of reserves to be reconsidered in relation to the block grant settlement.