2. What consideration has the Minister given to the impact of the autumn statement on the Welsh Government financial support that will be available for local authorities in South Wales West? OQ58788

Ahead of the autumn statement, I called on the Chancellor to invest in people and public services. While there was some additional funding in the UK Government announcements, it failed to address the significant gaps in funding for public services.

Yes, I'd agree, Minister. Our local authorities are facing huge financial pressures, and I'd like to echo what Huw Irranca-Davies said about the importance of engagement not only in those briefings, but I know, in Neath Port Talbot, the council is going out into all the communities of the local authority area to have public meetings so that people fully understand what's at stake here and to ask for ideas about how things can be managed. There are specific pressures on local authority budgets in terms of the increasing demand on social care in my region. In Neath Port Talbot, for example, there's been a steady increase in referrals to adult social services and children and young people's services over the last two years, and Bridgend council recognises in its own words that gaps exist in social care services. Without additional funding to meet the need for social services for adults and children, it will be impossible, of course, to solve some of the causes of the crisis in the health service—for example, people unable to leave hospitals, and more people going to hospital due to pressure on families that don't have the right support. According to the Wales fiscal analysis team, the Chancellor's recent autumn statement means there'll be an additional £1.2 billion available to the Welsh Government over the next two years as a result of the Barnett consequentials. So, can the Minister provide assurances that the funding included in this £1.2 billion for local government social care services is passported in full during the next two years into local government settlements?

I'm very grateful to the Member for the question, and for reiterating the same message I'm hearing from leaders as well in terms of the specific pressures on social care. They're also very keen to impress upon me the pressures in education as well, and those are two of the main areas of expenditure for local authorities. And I would also welcome and encourage people to engage with the work that local authorities are doing in terms of trying to reach out to the public, so that the public understands the very real pressures that the authority is under locally, but also then that authorities can take decisions having listened to the public on what their priorities are for their particular area. So, I do commend that outreach work that local authorities are doing across Wales.

It is the case that the autumn statement did mean that we would receive in Wales an extra £1.2 billion over the next two years as a result of consequentials through the autumn statement. What I will say is that it means £666 million next year, and that, even still, leaves a gap of around £1 billion in our budget as a result of pressures. So, there will inevitably be difficult decisions for us to take as a Welsh Government, and also difficult decisions for public services more generally. I'll be publishing our budget on 13 December, so I don't want to give too much detail at this point, particularly because we still haven't come to those final decisions, and we're having ongoing discussions with partners—I'm talking to colleagues about the pressures they're seeing in their particular areas. But I've listened very carefully to what the Member has said about that particular area of priority.

I'd also say, in relation to the £1.2 billion, that it is helpful if colleagues understand where the consequentials have come from. Now, I'm very much of the view that consequential funding comes to the Welsh Government and the Welsh Government will take the decisions in relation to where that funding goes; it's not a case of just passporting money on. And it's a case, really, of understanding what the pressures are, because I think we do the Welsh Treasury, the Welsh Government, this Senedd, a disservice if we're just seen as a kind of post box for consequential funding. So, what we will do is undertake serious pieces of work looking at where the pressures are, where our priorities are as a Government, and, particularly also, looking at our programme for government. Obviously, we have shared interests in that area as well.

And just to finally add on that, 44 per cent of that £666 million for next year relates to new schemes in the field of business rates. So, obviously, we're looking very carefully at support for business. So, what I will say is that when the Chancellor gave the impression that it was £1.2 billion for public services, I think that that was slightly misleading and there's a lot more to unpick underneath those figures. 

Minister, in your prepared answer there, you called on the Chancellor to invest in people and public services. Well, I think we can call on you to do the same. You've had £1.2 billion extra from the UK Government, on top of a record settlement that existed already. So, how much can local government expect? We know that investment in social care leads to better health outcomes, to savings in the NHS. So, perhaps you can enlighten us today on how much local government can expect from this wonderful windfall?

I will enlighten the Member on 13 December, Llywydd, when I publish the draft budget. It's not too long to wait now, but there's a lot of work which needs to be undertaken rapidly between now and then. But, on 13 December, we'll be publishing the Welsh Government draft budget alongside that whole suite of information that we always publish—the chief economist's report, our narrative that goes along with the document, and some of our other analysis as well. We always try to publish as much information in as much detail as we can.