The WLGA warmly welcomes the approach taken by the Welsh Assembly Government in dealing with the capital budget cuts arising from the announcement on 24 May 2010, by the UK Government which highlighted that it would be cutting budgets in 2010-11, by a total of £6.2bn of which the “Welsh share” equated to £162m split between £113m in revenue and £49m capital.
WLGA Leader Councillor John Davies said:
“We applaud the decision not to defer the cuts but to use a range of mechanisms to deal with the impacts of this. It includes using End Year Flexibilities (EYF) within the Assembly Government’s budget to protect the cut to capital spending which will be further drastically hit over forthcoming years. As such this is a key move to protect front line public service provision in areas such as local government. We hope that the announcement in November regarding 2010-11 revenue budgets will also avoid cuts to council budgets.
“Jane Hutt AM, the Minister for Budget and Business has had to reconcile a range of difficult choices and in particular sought to protect the key 21st Century Schools programme investment into the buildings that inspire our young people; places that can accommodate 21st century technology and be adapted to meet the changing needs of learners for a modern economy.”
WLGA Finance spokesperson Councillor Rodney Berman stated –
“Clearly there will be more challenging announcements to follow this October’s Spending Review at Westminster when the cuts to the public finances across the UK will be set out in more detail to deal with the huge deficit. In this setting it is a time for realism in terms of service expectations as authorities will inevitably have to make tough choices on what they prioritise. Dialogue with the Welsh Assembly government will therefore need to be conducted with rigour and honesty to ensure that the impact of these cuts are spread evenly across the public sector”
