Thank you, Minister, and Welsh Government also for bringing forward today's debate on the 2023-24 local government settlement, which, of course, councils and councillors up and down Wales have been eagerly awaiting, because we know this local government settlement is crucially important for our councils and councillors, who do so much in providing the public services that our local communities rely on, and this is why it's so crucial that our fantastic councils are funded sufficiently to enable them to deliver these vitally important services. And Minister, I certainly join you in your opening comment in recognising the outstanding work delivered by many of our councils, especially over recent times.

I'd firstly like to say also, on this side of the benches, we certainly welcome that there is an increase to the local government settlement, and the 7.9 per cent. It will make a difference for those local authorities. And I've heard in evidence in the Local Government and Housing Committee and from a number of council leaders that this is perhaps more than anticipated a few months ago. I was also pleased, Minister, to see that population data from the 2021 census has been able to be used in the funding formula allocations for the next financial year as well. As you know, it's something I've raised a number of times, in terms of the use of data, so I'm pleased to see that it is being refreshed. Certainly, a concern continues to be, though, that some of those other data points aren't able to be refreshed at the moment, but I also understand that progress is being made to see how this data can be improved as soon as possible.

But, Minister, there are concerns within the local government settlement, which aren't being dealt with, I believe, sufficiently at the moment, and therefore will not enable us to support your motion here today. The first concern from my side and from our side of the benches is a link between these continued council tax rises and the levels of reserves that local authorities are holding. So, you will know that councils in Wales at the moment are currently holding over £2.5 billion-worth of useable reserves. What we're not seeing is councils seeking to use those and keep council tax at a sensible level. So, for example, in Caerphilly, there's a 7.9 per cent council tax rise, but they have £233 million in useable reserves; we see in Carmarthenshire County Council residents are going to be paying a further 6.8 per cent increase in council tax, but the council there has £230 million in useable reserves; we understand that Rhondda Cynon Taf has over £250 million in useable reserves. I certainly acknowledge, Minister, that those reserves may not want to be used for day-to-day spend, but there must be ways in which those councils, working with you in Government, can see how best to ensure that those reserves are not being sat on, but are being used to support those communities and keep the pressure on our hard-working local taxpayers as minimal as possible. 

These points, in my view, certainly lead to the second issue on the local government settlement, which is the funding formula that you're using to allocate funding to local authorities, which I believe needs to be reviewed. I'm sure you'd agree with me, Minister, and with many residents from across Wales, that it simply can't be right that we see councils sitting on these huge reserves while council tax rises continue to go against people who are certainly working through the cost-of-living challenge.

I find it puzzling that some councils are able to only increase council tax by, say, 1 per cent this next financial year while other councils are having to raise it by nearly 10 per cent. Surely that points to a discrepancy in the funding formula, where one council is able to raise it by 1 per cent while other councils have to raise it by nearly 10 per cent. Something cannot be right in a funding formula that forces councils to have a 10-times difference in the percentage of council tax that they're looking to increase by. As you'll know, Minister, more and more council leaders from across Wales are joining calls for the funding formula to be reviewed, and I'll be interested to hear from you as to how satisfied you are with the fairness of the current funding formula and what discussions you may or may not be having with the Welsh Local Government Association as to how that funding formula can be reviewed in the future as well. 

A final concern on this, with the local government settlement, and its impact on councils, Minister, is the housing support grant, which has already been mentioned in this Chamber this afternoon and is something that I've raised in the past as well. You will know that homelessness and housing support services, who went above and beyond during the pandemic, are facing a 10 per cent increase in costs through the next financial year, and along with this around 30 per cent of housing support staff are currently paid below the national living wage and real living wage— wages that your Government is committing to ensuring the public sector are paid, but is not now enabling others to receive the same types of pay. 

As we know, over the past decade, the housing support grant has been reduced in real terms by £14 million, and this is during a time of increased demand and pressure—demand and pressure our councils are facing in terms of housing and homelessness more than ever. Fifty-six per cent of staff working in the sector say they're struggling to pay their bills, with some describing the situation as 'horrendous'. So, I would call on you to urgently rectify the situation, Minister. I'm disappointed this settlement will not enable councils and councillors to pay and provide that funding to those housing support services sufficiently enough. 

To conclude, Deputy Presiding Officer, on this side of the benches, we continue to regret the unfair nature of the local government settlement and the funding formula in particular, along with the key areas that I've identified here today. So, in light of this, we will be voting against this motion. Thank you.