Settlement - entirely predictable and completely inadequate, says WLGA
10 December 2008
‘An entirely predictable local government settlement that fundamentally fails to address the extreme pressures facing local government and provide answers to some key questions.’ This message has been delivered today by the WLGA in its response to the publication of the final local government settlement which will see councils getting an average increase of 2.9% next year.
Cllr John Davies (Pembrokeshire), WLGA Leader said:
“Throughout this entire financial round, local government has protested over the inadequacy of the settlement. Sadly, today’s announcement comes as no surprise for Welsh councils. The Minister for Local Government consulted local government on their views of the provisional local government settlement but he has not listened to any of the representations that have been made, therefore making this consultation process void. The WLGA has consistently pressed the need for answers to some key questions, particularly around the difference of treatment between public services in Wales by the Welsh Assembly Government. However, none of these questions have been answered and indeed the Assembly Government’s silence has been deafening.”
Cllr Rodney Berman (Cardiff), WLGA Finance Spokesperson said:
“The WLGA has consistently called for the 1% efficiency assumption (approx £38m) that is currently taken off local government funding to be returned to councils as a means of freezing council tax rises. The Welsh Assembly Government has failed to do this and thereby missed the most obvious measure to help struggling families across Wales. The ‘One Wales’ government is clearly spreading resources too thinly and front line services are being penalised as a result.
“It is ironic that the day after the hugely respected Harvard Economist, Professor Niall Ferguson, suggested ‘Wales can survive the worst of the economic slump by using its public sector to maintain employment’ that the Assembly Government drastically cuts local authority budgets in real terms. Many local authorities are now being forced to consider job losses, including my own which is having to consider slimming down its workforce by between 500 and 750 posts over the next 8 years. Equally importantly, many authorities will institute vacancy freezes which means that the possibility of local government providing alternative employment for people during the recession is ruled out.”
Below are the key questions that the WLGA has put to the Welsh Assembly Government over the last few months but which have not been answered:
• Why is it that that the health service in Wales will receive an above inflation 5.3% increase in their settlement compared to local authorities who will only scrape above half the NHS’s allocated increase?
• Why is it that the Assembly Government which delivers no front line services gets a budget increase of 4.8%?
• Why is it that the chronic under-funding of social services continues to grow in Wales- despite the Assembly Government identifying an emerging £350m shortfall in funding in this policy area over the next 10 years?
• Why is the gap widening in the funding of our children’s education in Wales compared to England where every pupil receives approx £400 more than their counterpart in Wales?
• Why are some of the poorest areas of Wales such as the South Valleys, North West and Rural Wales receiving increases as low as 1.5%?
Ends