North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has said that cuts to local authority budgets in North Wales could be avoided if the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Mark Drakeford AM, budgeted smarter.
This week it was announced that all six of the North Wales authorities will receive a year on year reduction in their funding, whilst In comparison, 7 of the 12 South Wales authorities will receive an increase-in or continuation-of the level of funding from last year.
In a question to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance on Preventative Services in the Assembly Chamber yesterday, Mr Isherwood said the cuts could have been prevented had Mr Drakeford budgeted smarter in order to deliver more through early intervention and prevention.
He said:
“Yesterday's local government provisional settlement figures show an overall 1 per cent reduction for local government, with every local authority in North Wales seeing a reduction, although seven in South Wales saw a standstill or increase, and with NHS funding, however, going up 7 per cent, rather than seeing how we could budget smarter in order to deliver more through early intervention and prevention.
“How, therefore, do you respond to the statements in the letter from the Welsh Local Government Association, issued to us all yesterday, signed by the WLGA leaders from all Parties, in which the WLGA Conservative group leader, Peter Fox, said, 'With £370 million new monies arriving from Westminster, an imaginative approach to funding preventative services to keep people out of hospitals was needed. Instead, the Welsh Government has given the NHS a seven per cent increase and cut council budgets for the eighth year in succession.'
“We're not advocating a cut in NHS funding; what we're advocating is imaginative, smart, preventative budgets that keep the pressure off health services by the two working better together.”
In his response the Cabinet Secretary referred to local authority funding cuts in England.
He added: “The general point that the Member makes, however, I think is a sensible one of course. When money is as short as it is, and when it reduces every year, everybody has to focus on trying to make that money go further, to use innovation, to have new ideas.”
Mr Isherwood added:
“His response failed to acknowledge that the document I quoted from was issued jointly with representatives of the WLGA Labour, Plaid Cymru and Independent groups, and did not therefore merit the partisan response my question received.
“Behind his rhetoric, Mark Drakeford’s budget means spending more to deliver less, rather than spending better to improve lives and save money. Unless health, social and third sector care are enabled to fund preventative services together, we will continue to see a Welsh NHS which is unable to cope with demand.”