Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 1:44 pm on 29 June 2022.

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Photo of Sam Rowlands Sam Rowlands Conservative 1:44, 29 June 2022

Again, thank you, Minister. It would be interesting to hear, perhaps in a further response, of any particular areas you think councils may do less on. I absolutely agree it's up to those local democratic members to make that decision, but I'm sure an indication as to where some of those expectations might be would be useful. Of course, fundamental to delivering those services is the fair funding formula for local authorities. I'm sure, Minister, you were as excited as I was this week to see some of the headline figures from the census being announced. And some of those latest statistics are quite stark, actually. They're showing an ageing population, which we did know about already, but the census continues to point to that, with around 21 per cent of our population in Wales now being over the age of 65, 1 per cent being aged over 90 years old, and, in places like Conwy county, the figure for over 90-year-olds is actually the highest in Wales, at 1.5 per cent; around 2,000 people over the age of 90 years old in that one county alone. And as I've mentioned time and time again, the current funding formula, in my view, does not properly take into account and support older people at the level that they need support. And we also saw just last week the now Labour-run Monmouthshire County Council vote for a motion—a cross-party motion, supported by all, I understand—calling for a review of the funding formula. So, it's not just Conservative councils now looking at this; Labour councils also seem to be dissatisfied with the funding formula. So, in light of this, can you provide us here today, Minister, with an initial assessment of the information coming out of the census and how that may affect the funding formula in future, and also what your thoughts are on the Labour-run council for their calls for a funding formula review?