The Financial Effect of COVID-19 on Local Authorities

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 2:06 pm on 23 June 2021.

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Photo of Rebecca Evans Rebecca Evans Labour 2:06, 23 June 2021

I'd like to echo Buffy Williams's admiration and thanks for local government workers who, as she said, have gone absolutely above and beyond through the course of the pandemic, and keep doing so as we try and move through this current period as well.

It is absolutely the case that communities such as the one Buffy represents have played an incredibly important part in our history, and sacrificed a great deal as a result of it. The coal tip legacy that we have here in Wales is exactly that—it's a legacy, and it's something that the UK Government also needs to play its part in helping resolve. There is a large piece of work going on that looks at coal tip safety across Wales and coal tip remediation, to explore what work needs to be done there, but that work, I have to say, is a huge piece of work. It will span 10 years and it will take a lot of financial resources, too, so we are trying to work with the UK Government to secure funding to support us with that work. The First Minister wrote to the Prime Minister on 19 March proposing ways that we could move forward on that. He is currently awaiting a response, but it's something that we will continue to press the UK Government to work with us constructively on.