Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:05 pm on 13 December 2022.
I just wanted to pick up on what Rebecca Evans said—that we've got £3 billion less overall, and that's £1 billion less for the upcoming year in 2023-24. Does that mean that we'll have £2 billion less in our budget for 2024-25, under the current circumstances as known, because, obviously, that makes it even more challenging to look forward to the following year? And it's certainly the way in which Cardiff Council is approaching its challenges in that this year is very difficult, but I'm sure they'll be mightily relieved to hear about the additional millions that are going to be put into the local government settlement. But what they're saying is that the situation financially next year, the following year, 2024-25, is really, really frightening. So, we all need to think about how we're going to get through the next couple of years and, hopefully, have a change of tack after that.
I agree with some of what Mike Hedges says, and not about the not-really very many millionaire farmers. I'm hoping that the sustainable farming scheme is going to deal with farmers who pollute the landscape—we can't have that; we can't be paying people to pollute our rivers. But I'm confident the sustainable farming scheme will deliver on our food security, which is absolutely essential.
I want to pick up on this point about 'no to land banking' by health boards—absolutely right—or by any other public bodies, except that we have to be precautionary that we're not going to need to buy that land back at a much higher price because of some future needs. So, I think what we need to do is, in line with 'Future Wales', we really do need to think very, very hard about what we're going to need, certainly over the next five years, in terms of future development of services, to ensure that the land that we currently control is not being given away when we may need it, for example, for affordable housing.
I really welcome the nearly £19 million increase in the discretionary assistance fund, because that is absolutely crucial for anybody who has their washing machine break down. If they haven't got any resources, if they're struggling to even buy the food and pay their bills, they're never going to have the money to buy a new washing machine, and, without it, if you've got young children, it's a total disaster. But it could be something just as basic as having a bed for a child to sleep on as opposed to sleeping on the floor, or an electric blanket to keep an elderly person warm. These are really, really important things. I also applaud the £10 million more for the homeless. The First Minister had already told us about the rise and rise every single month in the numbers who are finding themselves chucked out of their homes. I visited Cardiff Council's self-contained bedsit accommodation, which is being developed in Adamstown to provide over 100 units for people who've previously been homeless. And, in this weather, it is completely terrifying to think of anybody sleeping outside. But, sadly, this is an increasing problem, and therefore we need to build more council housing, frankly, because otherwise, we're never going to deal with the numbers who desperately need new homes.
I welcome the £20 million capital grant for local authorities to decarbonise, because they're supposed to be—our aim is that they're all decarbonising their buildings by 2030. So, more projects like the solar farms at Morriston Hospital need to be headlined so that others are working out how they're going to invest in order to save on their energy bills. What resources, therefore, will be deployed to spread that word, and what reward can we also offer to home owners? Forty per cent of houses are owned by people who own them outright. What consideration has the Minister given to varying the amount of the land value transaction tax to reward those who decarbonise their homes, which will benefit future generations when they move on?