With only seven out of 22 Welsh Local Authorities set to receive a lower increase in the Local Government Settlement in 2022-23 than Isle of Anglesey County Council, and with the Council having received poor settlements in previous years, North Wales MS Mark Isherwood has asked the Finance Minister today why the County continues to miss out.
In today’s meeting of the Welsh Parliament, Mr Isherwood highlighted that despite prosperity levels per head in Anglesey being the lowest in Wales, the County Council is set to receive a meagre settlement yet again and asked Finance Minister why this is.
Speaking in the Senedd Chamber during a question on the ‘Capital Settlement for Isle of Anglesey County Council’ he said;
“Although Local Government Revenue Funding for 2022-23 will increase by 9.4 per cent, there's an element of robbing Peter to pay Paul here, with Local Authority General Capital Funding across Wales, and in Anglesey, down 16 per cent. Further, although prosperity levels per head in Anglesey are the lowest in Wales, at just under half those in Cardiff, and Anglesey is amongst the five local authorities in Wales where 30 per cent or more of workers are paid less than the voluntary living wage, Anglesey received one of the largest cuts in the Local Government Settlement in 2019-20, one of the lowest increases in the Local Government Settlement in both 2020-21 and 2021-22, and only seven out of 22 Welsh local authorities, including Gwynedd, will receive a lower increase in the Local Government Settlement in 2022-23.
“Given that the Welsh Government tells us that its Local Government Formula is heavily influenced by deprivation indicators, why does Anglesey therefore lose out?”
In her response, the Minister said:
“We have a Revenue Settlement from the UK Government, and we have a Capital Settlement from the UK Government. We've deployed both in full. We've over-programmed on capital and we plan to draw down the full borrowing. So, there's no element of robbing Peter to pay Paul. What we do see in the Capital Settlement is the direct impact of the UK Government's very poor Capital Settlement for Wales.”
Speaking afterwards, Mr Isherwood said:
“Yet again, a Labour Minister dodged accountability for Welsh Government decisions by passing the buck to the UK Government. This would be tiresome if it wasn’t so serious.”