5. Statement by the Minister for Finance and Local Government: Progress on Gender Budgeting

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:42 pm on 5 July 2022.

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Photo of Rebecca Evans Rebecca Evans Labour 4:42, 5 July 2022

It is absolutely the case that the social care sector does have that higher proportion of female workers, so the investment that we make in the social care sector does have that direct impact on those workers and their future, and of course on the families who they support. And we know that women tend to live longer than men, so we have more older women to be supporting within our communities as well, so I think that investment in social care is always a good investment and certainly from that gender perspective. We did provide a step change in support for local authorities in our last budget, 2022-23, and particularly so in relation to social care. So, we worked really closely with local government itself to understand the quantum of funding that they would need in order to continue to provide social services of the quality that we would want to see. And they provided us with a figure of £180.5 million over and above the existing resources, so we were able to meet that request in full, bearing in mind that real focus that we have on providing sustainable and quality social services, and that is alongside additional funding in respect of the real living wage. The real living wage, again, I think, is a perfect example of how we're investing in women and making choices that support women, and has that gender focus at its heart, so it's absolutely one of the key areas. And also, not just paid carers, of course; unpaid carers are often—usually—women, and so our support for unpaid carers has to be seen through that gender-focused lens as well. So, I think that the example that has been given is absolutely a perfect one in terms of our gender budgeting approach.