The human costs of the cuts planned for the Welsh economy must be taken into account in order to protect the most vulnerable people in society, a bishop warned today.
Responding to the Draft Budget of the Welsh Assembly Government the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon, the Rt Revd John Davies, said that for every “winner” in the Budget, there would be “losers”. He also called for a review of the delivery of public services to ensure they offered value for money.
Bishop John is the Church in Wales’ spokesman for Church and Society. His full statement follows:
“With our dependence on public sector employment at a significantly higher level than other parts of the United Kingdom, we in Wales are bracing ourselves for the cuts already announced and planned changes to the benefits system to start to impact on families, individuals and elsewhere.
“In its Draft Budget for the next three years, the Assembly Government has promised to protect, as far as possible, front-line services such as schools, skills and health and, as a church which must have a special concern for the young, the poor and the sick, we must commend that promise and hope that it is proved in practice. I am particularly pleased to see that the Foundation Phase and Flying Start initiatives have been singled out for support and that there has been an attempt to support the construction industry through the provision of some new capital projects. There are areas such as transport and the environment, in which significant cuts seem to be inevitable. What must be borne in mind is that for every increase in support, there must be a corresponding cut elsewhere even deeper than would have otherwise been imposed. For every ‘winner’ there will be a ‘loser’.
“Underlying each and every cut or economy measure is, of course, the human cost. And, whilst nobody can doubt the fact that somehow the UK budget deficit has to be addressed, with all parts of the UK, Wales included, playing their part, I would hope that the measures announced today take proper account of that human cost and that they will be implemented in such a way as to minimise the pain felt by the most vulnerable in our society.
“The Budget Minister, Jane Hutt A.M. has indicated that the programme announced is based on the best available evidence and that she hopes that the impact and duration of the measures announced will be as minimal as possible. I would very much hope that this would be so. I would also hope that, in implementing its programme and as a contribution to ensuring that economies are appropriately and fairly targeted, the Assembly would undertake a comprehensive review of the delivery of services as a means of ensuring that all parts of the machine are operating as efficiently as possible and that for every pound spent, value for money is delivered.”
