Shadow Minister for Local Government and North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has once again challenged the Welsh Government over its Local Government Funding Formula, which has penalised local authorities in North Wales.
Questioning the Local Government Minister in the Welsh Parliament yesterday, Mr Isherwood raised the fact that Flintshire, Wrexham, Conwy and Anglesey County Councils received substantially less than the best funded local authorities in Wales this year, and asked what the Minister is doing to address the unfairness.
He said:
“Under the Welsh Government's Local Government Funding Formula, nine out of 22 Welsh authorities received an increase in the current financial year: Cardiff up 0.9 per cent, Swansea up 0.5 per cent, Wrexham 0.1 per cent cut, Flintshire 0.3 per cent cut, despite all having equivalent population increases. Alongside Flintshire, the Councils with the largest cuts of 0.3 per cent included Conwy and Anglesey, although Conwy and Anglesey are amongst the five local authorities in Wales where 30 per cent or more of workers are paid less than the voluntary Living Wage.
“Prosperity levels per head in Anglesey are the lowest in Wales at just under half those in Cardiff, and Conwy council has the highest proportion of over 65s in Wales at 25 per cent’ compared to Cardiff on 13 per cent, which has the smallest. When I questioned you about this here on 9 October, you replied, ‘we offer all the time that a local authority who thinks that the measures are not right should come forward and put its suggested adjustments into the distribution sub-group formula'. Have any local authorities come forward since you made that comment on 9 October and, if so, can you identify them?”
The Minister said “As far as I know, they haven't, but I will check for Mark Isherwood just to be absolutely certain”.
Mr Isherwood added: “In fact, the very week that you made that comment to me, a letter was sent to the First Minister and to yourself and to the Finance Minister and Trefnydd from Flintshire County Council, signed by its Leader and the Leaders of all Groups. It said, 'Flintshire has engaged with Welsh Government to make our case over a series of budget-setting years. We still contend that as a low-funded council per capita under the Local Government Funding Formula we are more exposed than most to the impacts of a decade of reductive' - a term they used - 'national budgets’.
“And they concluded, 'We would welcome a private discussion with you over our case for support and are resting on your judgment to make the best use of the uplift in the Welsh revenue budget to support the collective case for local government'.
“You replied on behalf of the Welsh Government on 4 November, 'The Welsh Government is committed to providing the best possible outcome to local government from our budget process', but then only discussed the size of the cake when their letter was about how the cake is sliced. Therefore, in response to the letter they did send to you the same week you responded to me, and you've repeated your offer to them, have you agreed to meet them, as they requested, to discuss the agenda that they raised with you in that letter?”
The Minister told Mr Isherwood she has met with all of the WLGA executives in North Wales.
Mr Isherwood also referred to correspondence from an Executive Member of Flintshire this summer about the ‘unfunded legislative impacts’ of Welsh Government legislation on Local Government, in which “They provided two examples…and they said that, in their case alone, the unfunded budget pressures (for these two pieces of legislation) next year would be over £0.5 million and, across Wales, over £10 million”.
In her response the Minister stated “Wales has been underfunded by the Conservative Government for the last nine years”.
Mr Isherwood added: “Once again, this Minister was more interested in partisan political point-scoring than answering evidence-based questions about Welsh Government responsibilities”.
