Thank you. Today, I'm presenting to the Senedd for its approval an amendment to the current year's local government settlement. Following consultation with local government, through the Welsh Local Government Association, I'm proposing to further increase local government revenue funding this year by £60 million through an increase in the revenue support grant, delivered through an amended 2021-22 local government settlement. The amended local government finance report reflects a £50 million increase in funding, which was announced in the second supplementary budget, as well as a further £10 million that I have made available through careful reprioritisation of Welsh Government funding. This additional funding equates to an increase on a Wales level of 1.3 per cent over that which was announced by my predecessor last March, with every authority gaining at least an additional £1.1 million.

As this funding is non-recurrent, there will be no adjustment to the base for calculation for the 2022-23 settlement in light of it. This funding will support local authorities in managing their budgets more effectively over the period 2021-25 against the context of inflationary and service pressures and the ending of the local government hardship fund. It will also help them to continue to decarbonise services and respond to the climate and nature emergency.

While this funding is unhypothecated, it is intended to also enable local government to respond to their ambitions to increase the capacity of domiciliary support services through funding driving lessons and providing access to electric vehicles, and this is an example of how authorities are working to decarbonise services and to respond to the climate and nature emergency. I therefore ask Members of the Senedd to support this motion today.