18 January 2008
Council leaders in Wales have condemned the budget presented to the Welsh Assembly on January 15 as 'the worst local government settlement since devolution'.
Finance and Public Service Delivery Minister Andrew
Davies found an extra £4.7m for local government in the final version of the Welsh Assembly Government's spending plans for 2008/09 to 2010/11, giving all local authorities a minimum funding increase of 2%, with an average rise of 2.4%.
Davies said: 'We will be working with local government to simplify funding arrangements, target areas of underperformance and develop minimum standards of service delivery across Wales.'
But the Welsh Local Government Association savaged Davies' budget, describing the 2% floor as 'a belated recognition that rises in the region of 1% are totally unrealistic to deal with the scale of problems that councils face'.
Changes since the draft budget proposals were issued on November 5 had raised the average uplift for councils, but only from 2.3% to 2.4%, the WLGA noted. The new figure 'remains well below inflation and barely matches the teachers' pay rise'.
WLGA leader Derek Vaughan said councils now faced a 'Hobson's choice' between raising council tax and cutting services.
'The position for frontline services is particularly daunting with the gap between education funding in Wales and England widening and the recent PISA [Programme for International Student Assessment] report showing that attainment levels for our pupils are around the level of countries like Azerbaijan and Croatia. The lack of investment in our future is unforgivable,' he said.
The budget will be debated by the Welsh Assembly on January 22.
PFjan2008
