Today’s Comprehensive Spending Review bodes ill for Wales, says education union UCAC.
“We were already reeling from last week’s devastating blow to Higher Education. Many of the proposals in the Browne Report were confirmed today, and further compounded by news of “reducing education costs for 16-19 year olds” and “reduced allocations for Local Authorities”,” said Elaine Edwards, UCAC’s General Secretary.
“The Welsh Assembly Government will make its own spending decisions in due course, but we fear that the severity of the cuts, coupled with the unfairness of the outdated Barnett formula, will mean that Ministers are straight-jacketed in terms of their options.”
Whilst welcoming the protection of school budgets, UCAC also expressed deep concern about public sector jobs and the inevitable effect on public services. “Our members at every level of the education system will be worried for their jobs and about how they’ll be able to maintain services for children, young people and local communities with fewer resources. Wales relies heavily on the public sector, not only as an employer but also as a provider of essential services. We need to ensure that everyone in Wales, whatever their background, is supported by a strong public sector at this economically challenging time – cutting the public sector is not the answer.”
“These are challenging times. As a union, we’re ready to defend our members, fight for every citizen’s right to a high standard of education, and to assist the Assembly Government in any way possible to find fairer solutions than those proposed at Westminster today.”
