2. How is the Government ensuring local authorities have enough financial support to fulfil their duties and obligations? OQ57945

I thank the Member for that question, Llywydd. We do so by prioritising local government services in the Welsh Government budget. Local authorities will receive £5.1 billion from the Welsh Government in core revenue funding and non-domestic rates for investment in key services in this financial year, plus an additional £1.8 billion in specific revenue and capital grants.

Diolch yn fawr. From speaking to council leaders in my region, it's fair to say that many were pleasantly surprised by the latest financial settlement. It must therefore be disappointing, from your perspective, to see your party colleagues in Caerphilly county borough sitting on a reserve of £180 million, an increase of £40 million between the financial years of 2019 and 2021. This is £22 million more than the much larger Cardiff Council has in its reserves. Whilst this cash is hoarded, we see leisure facilities closing, street lights have been turned off and day-care centre provision for profoundly disabled adults being slashed. Cash is not the only solution to these problems, but, in almost all cases, it would help alleviate the situation and restore some services. First Minister, do you get frustrated when you provide adequate financial settlements for your party colleagues in local government only for them to sit on these piles of cash, like some council version of Scrooge?   

Well, Llywydd, there are a series of reasons why councils hold cash in reserve. A great deal of that money will be earmarked reserves. In other words, it's not money available to the council just to spend. It's there because they have a twenty-first century schools programme, for example, and that money is allocated already to make sure that that programme can go ahead. There is money that, because the UK Government provides settlements to us so late in the year, we end up having to pass to local authorities later in the year as well, and, rather than using it in an ineffective way along the lines of the shared prosperity fund, they hold it so that they can plan to make the best use of that expenditure. So, there are reasons why local authorities hold money in reserve, and that is true of local authorities of all political persuasions in many different parts of Wales.

I see that the Finance Committee, of which the Member is, of course, the Chair, is looking for a review of reserves held by local government, and, of course, we're happy to make sure that local government only holds the reserves it needs for the proper sorts of purposes. What I don't think is sensible, Llywydd, and I've looked at the Plaid Cymru manifesto for the Caerphilly area, and was lucky enough to be in Caerphilly yesterday—. I see that the manifesto commits a Plaid Cymru-run Caerphilly council to freezing the council tax next year—a really irresponsible course of action as it seems to me—and then to dip into reserves for recurrent expenditure on youth services. Again, not a course of action that I thought any Chair of a Finance Committee would be willing to recommend to his colleagues. 

Of course, one of the key duties and obligations that councils will be taking on now is the free school meals, part of the co-operation agreement, of course, First Minister, you have with Plaid Cymru over the next few years. But, of course, the revenue funding for that has only been committed for a couple of years from Welsh Government, and, as you'll know, First Minister, your colleagues in Plaid Cymru have suggested that perhaps taxing tourists and taxing tourism businesses should be a way to expand free school meals in the future. So, would you confirm, First Minister, whether it's Welsh Government policy or not to look at taxing tourists and tourism business to fund free school meals?

Llywydd, the Welsh Government's policy is that set out in the co-operation agreement between my party and Plaid Cymru, and that is to make sure that, during the period of that agreement, we are able to provide a free school meal for every child in primary-aged classes in Wales. I'm very proud of that commitment, and it will be a commitment that requires a great deal of effort on behalf of our local government colleagues to make sure that it can be delivered. And the funding set out in the Welsh Government's budget, which is for the full three years of the comprehensive spending review, guarantees that the funding will be there to deliver that commitment.

It really is very, very disappointing to see Plaid Cymru using First Minister's questions for their local election campaign. It's beneath the dignity of this Chamber to do that. Peredur Owen Griffiths is there reading out a question that was clearly written by the leader of the Plaid Cymru group on Caerphilly County Borough Council. He can do better than that. I know he's better than that. But now he's drawn me into this, let's just clarify what's going on in Caerphilly. Their reserves are being used to build and rebuild twenty-first century schools, they're being used to build council houses and they're being used to ensure that we hit net zero by 2030, and also to say a world-class town reshaping programme that is being seen in Caerphilly, Bargoed and beyond. That is why Caerphilly are keeping reserves. And using capital to spend on revenue, we know, is a mistake and will lead to austerity. What Plaid Cymru are doing in Caerphilly is acting like Conservatives. The only true vote you're going to get is by voting Labour in Caerphilly. The First Minister was there with me yesterday, will he support that view?

Llywydd, it was a great pleasure to be out on the streets of Caerphilly County Borough Council with Hefin David yesterday. It's a cruel thrust that he makes at Plaid Cymru Members. But what I would say to him, from the conversations that I was having and I could hear him having with people on the doorstep yesterday, is that the thing that matters most to people in Caerphilly are those investments that he mentioned. Time after time, when you're having conversations with people, it's the fact that they have young people in their families who struggle to get the housing that they need. The council house building programme of Caerphilly County Borough Council and other Labour-controlled councils around Wales is one of the things that offers hope to those families, and we heard that loud and clear on the doorstep yesterday.