Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 1:43 pm on 29 June 2022.
I would absolutely recognise that local government did experience real difficulties during the pandemic, both in terms of lost income and those opportunities lost in terms of making up income, and, of course, the additional pressures that they had on a range of services, which is why I think it's been well recognised that Welsh Government worked very carefully to provide support in terms of lost income and other support for local government at that point. But, as Sam Rowlands says, years two and three of the spending review are much more difficult because of the way in which the increase was very much frontloaded, and it does mean that local government will have to make difficult decisions, just as we will in Welsh Government, where our budget over the three-year spending review will be worth £600 million less than we understood it to be at the time of the spending review, as a result of inflation. So, local government will be facing difficult decisions just as we are in terms of what we're able to deliver and how quickly we're able to deliver it. How local government decides to deal with those pressures, I think, is a matter for each of them individually. But, obviously, we would look to support them and engage closely with them as they take those difficult decisions.