Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 1:38 pm on 2 February 2022.
Apologies in advance, as I'll follow the same theme as Llyr, if I may, but I'm conscious of your answer, Minister. As we know, the pandemic has had a substantial economic impact on families and resulted in more people needing access to financial advice and support. Councils are often the first port of call for people, and offer an important source of help and advice, and so increasing demand for support will have cost implications for councils, and pressures will no doubt rise as more help is required for individuals, communities and many other groups across the wider community. As I understand it, the Welsh Government's single advice fund is available to local authorities, but only if the funded services are to be planned and delivered on a regional basis. Therefore, Minister, I wondered what consideration has the Welsh Government given to relaxing the single advice service criteria to allow councils to more easily access funding so that they can expand their local support services in a far quicker and targeted way? And what else is the Welsh Government doing to help councils to provide additional support to those who need it? Thank you.