11. What assessment has the Minister made of the effect of inflation on 2022-23 school budgets ? OQ58383

The rise in inflation is having a significant impact on all public services and will affect school budgets. We know that school reserves are currently in a higher position, and we support local authorities in working with schools to manage their budgets in light of the current circumstances.

I thank the Minister for that response. Can I correct something that's been said earlier? School budgets are not the responsibility of the headteacher; they're the responsibility of the governing body in law. That's an important point to remember.

Yes, maybe the average amount of money in school governing bodies is relatively high, but that doesn't mean that some schools aren't running with very little money in reserves, and some school reserves are more down to good luck and things that have happened than anything else. I mean, these budgets were set at a very different time than we're in now. We've got teachers' pay and energy costs—I don't know what the teachers' pay increase is going to be, but I would guess it's going to be a lot higher than school governors set it back in March and April when things were in an entirely different situation. How does the Minister think schools are going to be able to meet those additional costs, and what additional support is going to be given either by local authorities or by the Welsh Government?

Just on the question of reserves specifically, I do take the Member's point that there is obviously a variable picture in different schools, and if you don't have the reserves, then this isn't applicable to that school. But the overall picture across the system in Wales is that, from the last data available, which is now coming up to a year old, school reserves have increased from £31 million in March 2020 to £180 million in March 2021. So, that's the overall picture across the system, and local authorities where that is the case will be working with schools to manage those increased reserves in a way that supports the needs of those schools.

As the Member will know, the local government settlement for this year increased by over 9 per cent. That will obviously be very significantly affected by the costs of inflation. There are obviously discussions with local authorities to understand where those pressures are, but as the Member will have heard me say in previous answers, there is a very real limitation on what the Welsh Government can do in the absence of the UK Government making good for the £600 million by which our budget has less purchasing power today than it did at the end of last year. 

Thank you, Minister. 

Just a couple of points from me at the end of those two question sessions. My expectation is that Members are here to ask their oral questions, if they've tabled questions, unless they have been formally withdrawn. My other expectation is that Members are here, and remain here, for the length of any ministerial question session they wish to be called in. Not all Members have met that expectation today either, and there are numerous guilty parties. Most of them are not in the Chamber to hear me say this at this point, but I'm hoping that their colleagues in almost every political party will pass the message on. I won't be as lenient next week.