Diolch, acting Llywydd. Between 2010-11 and 2019-20, Welsh Government revenue funding to local government fell by a shocking 17 per cent. Additionally, the Office for National Statistics has reported that between March 2010 and 2020 there was a 19 per cent decrease in staff for local government in Wales. These stark and shocking figures give us just a snapshot of the lack of support that our local authorities were receiving before the pandemic. They have been at the forefront of the COVID-19 response and shouldered a significant burden throughout the pandemic. Staff have been seconded to different departments and they helped to establish support networks and even, indeed, deliver food to vulnerable residents. This certainly stretched their already depleted resources and services past breaking point.

In freedom of information responses I've received from local authorities, I've actually been quite shocked to see, between 2018-19 and 2020-21, there's been around a £10 million or an 118 per cent increase in the spend on housing individuals in temporary accommodation. And speak to any local authority leader or cabinet member and they'll tell you that the homelessness budget is a real severe strain now, and it's something that is not dissipating. This increase is, without doubt, actually, if you look at this in a strategic way, partly down to the Welsh Government's continued failure to deliver on the number of new build houses our communities require. And it has been made clear to me by at least one member that the spend has rocketed even higher this financial year.

Sadly, this is not the only example of where councils have been left holding the can for Welsh Government's failings, forcing local authorities to make up budgetary shortfalls through other means. In October of last year, the BBC reported that Cardiff city council was due to see its public debt skyrocket by roughly 70 per cent, with the forecast of the council borrowing over £1.4 billion by 2023-24. This situation has made it clear that this Welsh Government is hiding away from taking all the necessary steps to fund and support local authorities. Rather, they are shifting this burden onto local authorities, forcing local councillors to cut vital public services, which detrimentally impacts our most vulnerable citizens, increasing council taxes, stifling local economic growth and adding additional financial pressure to residents who are already struggling to cope with the cost-of-living crisis in Wales. It is those regulatory departments who have seen depletions in their staff; our planning authorities now having backlogs of several planning applications. Llywydd—acting Llywydd—they should not have to be so overstretched. As announced in the recent UK budget, the UK Conservative Government has committed to increasing the Welsh Government budget by an additional £2.5 billion per year for the next three years on top of the annual baseline funding of £15.9 billion per year, yet, the Welsh Government, you do continually cry wolf all the time about lack of resources.

As has been said here today, the current funding formula is not fit for purpose. And I was shadow Minister for local government for seven years here, and in 2010 we were having the same arguments. And the Minister at that time, pointing a finger at me, was saying, 'But the leaders, that's what the leaders want.' Well, I'm telling you now, it definitely needs to be looked at, because standing up tonight and asking these very same questions, it's rather like déjà vu; you really do need to get a grip now and have a look at that funding formula. I once had a meeting with civil servants here, or Government officials here, and they said, 'Janet, we can tweak it, but it would be just impossible to review the funding formula.' But it doesn't sit right now, especially when you look at my own constituency of Aberconwy. I have people moving out of county into other areas where they've no family or friends network, because there are no social care packages available in Conwy. That's not the authority's fault; it is lack of funding.

It cannot be right that you are allowing some local authorities to hoard taxpayers' money, whilst my own Conwy County Borough Council is having to increase council tax by 3.9 per cent. Peter Fox admirably mentioned about the hundreds of thousands that some local authorities—predominantly Labour authorities—in south Wales, how they're allowed to hold on, year on year on year, to £120,000, £130,000, and £1.3 million in some instances. It cannot be right when Conwy's figure is—