The Funding of Schools

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 2:21 pm on 21 September 2022.

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Photo of Jeremy Miles Jeremy Miles Labour 2:21, 21 September 2022

(Translated)

In terms of workforce salaries, that funding has already been allocated according to the revenue support grant last year. That was the basis for their agreement. I agree with the comments made by Sioned Williams on the pressures on our schools because of the increase in the costs of heating and other costs related to inflation and so on. As the Member will know from what we were discussing in the Senedd yesterday, the Welsh Government’s budget buys £600 million less in services than it did in November of last year. So, we are calling on the Prime Minister and the Chancellor to make up that deficit, because that’s what everyone agreed was the need for public services in Wales at the end of last year. It's only the Westminster Government that has the financial firepower to make up that deficit.

Unfortunately, there are no simple solutions in this area. In terms of school budgets specifically—the Member mentioned the work of the WLGA in this regard—we do know, in light of the fact that we have continued to fund schools throughout the COVID period, although there’s been less provision in many different ways, that the reserves for schools in Wales have increased substantially over that period. So, we are supporting local authorities to work with schools to ensure that that source of funding is also taken into account as they look at the challenging situations faced by schools.