3. Will the Minister make a statement on the financial support provided by the Welsh Government to Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council? OQ56406

Yes. Welsh Government provides financial support to Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council through core unhypothecated funding, as well as by specific grants to the authority for a range of shared priorities.  

I'm grateful to the Minister for that. We are aware that the current local government settlement is an extremely generous settlement, and it's one that builds upon considerable additional expenditure through the pandemic to support local authorities who haven't been able to exercise their usual funding sources in the usual way, and they've had to deal with significant additional pressures. So, this builds on a policy that has been pursued by successive Welsh Governments that protects local government, that protects local services and protects local jobs, and this is done in a way that demonstrates a real commitment to local democracy in Wales as compared with the situation across our borders.

The £6.3 billion in capital and revenue expenditure being provided to local government in the budget we agreed yesterday is something that will enable councils not only in Blaenau Gwent, but across Wales to invest in their people, in their services and in their communities. I hope, Minister, you will agree with me that this is the way in which we exercise our values as Welsh Labour—investing in local people, local councils and local democracy—and there's a very, very real comparison with the way that local government is being torn to pieces across the border in England. 

I do indeed agree with Alun Davies on that point. I was very pleased in the settlement yesterday to have prioritised funding for front-line public services. The budget overall that my colleague Rebecca Evans presented just before I presented the local government settlement prioritised funding for health and local government very much in that budget, and local government in Wales indeed has had a very good settlement. 

In terms of Blaenau Gwent, the core unhypothecated funding for Blaenau Gwent council increased to over £120 million for 2021-22, which is an increase of 3.7 per cent, after adjusting for various transfers, overall. This comes, of course, after the excellent settlement in this current financial year for Blaenau Gwent, which increased by £4.3 million, an increase of 3.9 per cent after adjusting for transfers. Within the hardship fund, indeed, we've provided Blaenau Gwent with an additional £4.57 million for additional costs, and a further £1.7 million for lost income as at the end of February, which is a total of £6.27 million in addition to its normal funding, in order to take account of the hardships that that council, like many others, has experienced due to the pandemic. 

We take the view in Welsh Government—again, unlike colleagues across the border—that local democracy is a good thing and that local people elect their council and their council should be allowed to set the council tax that it requires. Blaenau Gwent, I understand, is increasing its council tax by 3.3 per cent, which is on the high side for Wales given the generosity of the settlement, but, again, we chose not to cap the council on the basis that we think local people elect the council that they want to have and they do the good job of deciding what the council tax should be. We have, however, asked councils to look very carefully at what's affordable in their area and, of course, I'm delighted to say that we have maintained full entitlement under the council tax reduction scheme for 2021-22, and we're providing £244 million under the council tax reduction scheme in the settlement in recognition of that. So, where there is hardship and the council tax is rising, people will be entitled to claim under the council tax reduction scheme. Again, no such scheme exists over the border, as it was abolished, as you know. I believe you might have been the Minister at the time of the abolition, actually, Alun. We decided to maintain that scheme, even though it wasn't fully funded when that happened. So, I'm delighted to be able to say that, but I do believe in local democracy and we have therefore allowed each council to have the freedom to set its own council tax. They have commended the very good settlement they have had for the second year running from the Welsh Government to them.