Janet Finch-Saunders
Meanwhile, back to Wales. First Minister, given the increase in cash terms in funding coming to Wales over the next four years and the calls yesterday from the leader of Denbighshire County Council for you to apply the same principles to local government, what guarantees are you now able to make in terms of a fair settlement for local government budgets here in Wales?
Carwyn Jones Y Prif Weinidog / The First Minister
Well, I can assure the leader of Denbighshire we won’t be applying the principles of the UK Government when it comes to English local government; I give him that assurance without any shadow of a doubt. Secondly, the Member is not correct in her assumption. This is a 4.5 per cent cut in our budget in Wales, not some sort of great increase in the budget. Only a Tory could interpret a 4.5 per cent cut as a good thing, or an increase, but there it is. Now, we will look at the financial settlement and the statement will be made on 9 December, but we will not be looking to slash local government funding as in England, and we will not be looking to transfer the burden of paying for social care onto local government in Wales, as is being done in England.
Janet Finch-Saunders
8. Will First Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government's budgetary priorities for health and social care? OAQ(4)2608(FM)
Carwyn Jones Y Prif Weinidog / The First Minister
Yes. We’ve invested more in the Welsh health service than ever before. In the last two years, we’ve invested an extra £1 billion in the Welsh NHS, despite the £1.3 billion that has been cut from the overall Welsh budget by the UK Government since 2011. We are not looking to local government to fund social care.
Janet Finch-Saunders
Thank you, First Minister. I’m sure you’ll join me in welcoming the historic funding floor introduced by the UK Conservative Government, set at 115 per cent, in line with the Holtham commission’s recommendation—a level that you yourself have previously called for—and the increase of £945 million to Wales’s consequential share of increased health spending in England. Will you now commit to protecting the health budget in Wales in real terms?
Carwyn Jones Y Prif Weinidog / The First Minister
Well, first of all, the floor is fine in principle, but because there’s no commitment beyond 2020, it doesn’t work. So, we need to see a commitment to a floor beyond 2020, otherwise the floor is not going to be effective. If that floor is to stay in place, it needs to stay in place for a substantial amount of time, not for five years; that simply isn’t going to be enough. In terms of the consequentials—we’re not getting consequentials of over £900 million, I don’t know where she gets that figure from. I can say the consequential from the CSR is £110 million for this year. So, the suggestion that somehow we are getting consequentials for health alone is quite simply untrue, because as the party opposite full well knows, when we get consequentials, we get negative consequentials in other areas. So, what the Chancellor gives with one hand he takes away with the other. So, the consequential for the coming financial year is £110 million. It’s not more than that.