What assessment has the Cabinet Secretary made of the financial situation of children's social services in Newport?
The Welsh Government does not monitor the financial position of individual local authority or regional social services. Core funding for local government is un-hypothecated and although social care and education have been prioritised for many years, each authority will determine how they allocate and use this funding as part of their budget-setting processes to meet the needs of their local populations.
The 2024-25 financial settlement will see local authorities receive £5.72bn via the Revenue Support Grant (RSG) and non-domestic rates (NDR) to deliver core services. This equates to a national increase of 3.3% or £184m from 2023-24 with no authority receiving an increase below 2.3%. In total, local authorities in Gwent received an extra £36.2m in 2024-25, an increase of 3.4%; Newport Council received an additional £14.4m or 5%, which was the largest increase in Wales.
I am proud of our continued close working relationship with local government and the Welsh Local Government Association in the face of continued pressures facing the sector. The final Budget for 2024-25 included a further £25 to restore the social care workforce grant to £45m, reflecting the importance we place on protecting core frontline public services as far as possible.