The Effect of Inflation on Budgets

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 3:01 pm on 21 September 2022.

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Photo of Jeremy Miles Jeremy Miles Labour 3:01, 21 September 2022

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.