3. What discussions has the Minister had with the Minister for Housing and Local Government regarding the capital funding provided to local authorities? OAQ53924

The Minister for Housing and Local Government and I meet regularly to discuss a wide range of financial issues. Today, the Minister and I met with representatives of local government at the finance sub-group, where we discussed a range of matters including our investment in social housing.

Minister, in terms of tackling climate change and promoting sustainable transport, local authorities have a crucial role to play, naturally. Within the statement on the local transport fund last week, only a few local authorities were provided with funding for providing rapid charging points for electric vehicles. I was disappointed that there were no named developments in Neath Port Talbot or Bridgend in my own region. Do you agree that the Welsh Government needs to do more, jointly with local authorities, in order to develop a network the length and breadth of Wales? And how are you going to deliver that?

Our budget plans, which were approved by the Assembly in January, provide for more than £375 million of capital investment in local government over 2019-20 and 2020-21. And as part of our mid-point review of the Welsh infrastructure investment plan, we agreed £78 million for the local transport fund over three years. So, I think it is important to recognise the level of support that is going into the transport agenda through local authorities.

Of course, in our budget agreement, we have a Plaid Cymru-Labour commitment to invest £2 million in electric charging points, and that work is under way. You would have heard from the transport Minister yesterday in the Assembly that, actually, that £2 million allows us to lever down even more funding to invest in this agenda. But, clearly, there is a momentum now, I think, building behind electric vehicles and we would want to capture that.

The Welsh Government's written statement on the final local government settlement for 2019-20 identified capital funding for local government in Wales, including general capital funding of £193 million, falling to £183 million in the following year, but including £20 million for the public highways refurbishment grant. We all know that adverse weather has had an impact on potholes across Wales, which, presumably, is a consideration in the Welsh Government's delivery of these funding sums, but what actual assessment has the Welsh Government carried out of the total level of pothole action need across Wales? And how will it ensure that the funding that is available is being targeted where it's needed most?

Well, I've recently had discussions with colleagues across Government about the balance that we strike between road and infrastructure maintenance, and then the investment that we might want to put into new infrastructure, because it is important that we take good care of the infrastructure that we already have. In terms of the level of funding that might be needed to deal with all of the potholes that we have across Wales at the moment, I would certainly explore that with my colleague with responsibility for that—the Minister for Economy and Transport.