Thank you to the Minister and the Welsh Government for bringing forward today's debate on the 2022-23 local government settlement. At this point, I'll just declare an interest that I still am an elected member of Conwy County Borough Council, and, sadly, after 14 years, that will soon be changing this year. I'd certainly like to join the Minister in recognising the exceptional work carried out by our councils throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. They went above and beyond in providing those exceptional services to local people, and showed what can be done when they are enabled to do so. But it's crucial to note that this good work occurred before the pandemic as well, and will continue after, which is why this and future local government settlements are so important. Councils must be adequately funded, to enable them to deliver the high-quality public services that our residents need.

The settlement always has the potential to unleash councils and allow them to maximise their potential. On this side of the benches, we don't believe this has occurred in this here today. There are three areas that I would like to raise that highlight this issue in particular. The first is in relation to the local government funding formula. As council leaders and the WLGA have stated, a 9.4 per cent increase in funding is, of course, welcomed. I certainly acknowledge this significant increase in funding for councils. Nevertheless, this funding comes after years of underfunding. It's also important to note that, despite this 9.4 per cent increase, over the last decade, Welsh Government revenue funding in real terms has decreased by around 17 per cent through to councils. And despite this big increase, we're still seeing councils up and down Wales having to raise council tax significantly to deal with the pressures that they are facing.

An area this points to in the funding formula, which perhaps needs further consideration, is around the reserves held by councils. Some councils have significant usable reserves, which, in my view, should be used to benefit citizens and not held back. An example of this is that in 2021, the financial year previous to this year, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Swansea and Caerphilly councils had the biggest amount of usable reserves at £208 million, £183 million and £180 million respectively—nearly £600 million-worth of reserves between three councils there. Other councils such as Merthyr Tydfil, Conwy and Monmouthshire had reserves of £27 million, £30 million and £32 million respectively—less than £90 million between them. There's an issue there in how some councils are able to continue to have significant funding, with significant levels of reserves, but others will be struggling. Another issue around the funding formula is the data that's used, and I've raised this previously in the Chamber. Thank you, Minister, for acknowledging some work that you and your officials are likely to do on this and to review, because some of aspects of the funding formula are over 20 years old—some of the data points. Thank you for looking to review that and I look forward to an update on that as soon as possible. That's the first area—the funding formula.

The second area that is an issue, in my view, is a very recent one. I haven't heard anything today around how those who are fleeing Ukraine will be supported via councils. It's likely that councils will be housing those refugees coming out of Ukraine. I'd be interested to know whether consideration has been put into the funding formula and the settlement to enable councils to properly support those who are fleeing Ukraine over the coming weeks and months. We know that councils are already stretched in housing services. Many councils are having to put significant sums of money into housing at the moment. So, further support there, I'm sure, is needed to enable councils to deliver services properly.

Finally, there continues to be concern with councils regarding the Government and Plaid Cymru's co-operation agreement, specifically the effects it'll have on services delivered by those councils. We already know that the co-operation agreement has committed to taking some powers away from councils and radically changing council tax. Those will be significant new asks of councils in delivering many new policies, not all of which seem to be fully or appropriately funded. So, I'd be interested to hear if the Minister has any concerns with the financing and delivery of some aspects of the co-operation agreement that is in place at the moment.

And to conclude, Deputy Presiding Officer, as I'm sure the Minister has already acknowledged, we do, in the Welsh Conservatives, support the increase in the local government settlement and appreciate the positives that this will have for councils. However, we do regret how the local government settlement continues not to deal with some of the issues I've raised today. In light of this and what I've outlined, we will be abstaining today. Nevertheless, I'd like to thank the Minister for the funding acknowledged in the settlement and for her continued co-operation and discussions on the settlement. Diolch yn fawr iawn.