Responding to the Welsh Government’s Draft Budget for 2024/25, Clwyd West MS and Shadow Minister for North Wales, Darren Millar has blasted cuts to spending on education across Wales and called for a fairer Funding Formula for Local Authorities so that Conwy and Denbighshire do not continue missing out.
Speaking in the debate on the Draft Budget in yesterday’s meeting of the Welsh Parliament, Darren said that with Wales receiving £1.20 for every £1 spent on education in England, “there's absolutely no excuse whatsoever for the reduction in school spending here in Wales”.
He also referred to the huge hikes in council tax in Conwy and Denbighshire and made fresh calls for a fairer Funding Formula.
Speaking in the debate, he said:
“Our children really are our future and we have a duty in this Chamber to act in the best interests of future generations. That's why an Act was passed in this Senedd a number of years ago. And yet what we see in this particular budget are cuts to education spending and cuts to apprenticeships, both of which will have an impact on young people.
“I find it, frankly, astonishing, because we do know that, if you don't have a decent education, then it affects everything in the future. It affects your earning potential, it means you're more likely to end up in poverty, and poverty affects your health outcomes. It affects the investment that comes into your nation.”
Darren said given that Wales has been ranked in the PISA results as the worst education system in the United Kingdom “you would expect to see a Government that wanted to prioritise spending on education in order to make sure that that situation was turned around for the future”.
He added:
“That is not what we're seeing in this particular budget.
“We know that, in England, spending on schools has gone up, which means there's an opportunity to put spending up here in Wales, because we know that for every £1 that's spent on a pupil in England, Wales gets £1.20 to spend her, so there's absolutely no excuse whatsoever for the reduction in school spending here in Wales.
“I appreciate the other excuse that the Government might have is that it devolves responsibility for education spending to local authorities and it's up to them to decide how to carve up the cash that they are given. But we know that the local government funding formula is grossly unfair and inadequate, particularly to North Wales councils and to authorities in rural parts of Wales as well. That's why we have called consistently now, for a number of years, called for an independent review of the funding formula to make sure that every part of Wales gets its fair share of investment.
“It's because of the formula that in places like Conwy and Denbighshire, council taxpayers are going to have to pay a 10 per cent increase in their council tax while still seeing a reduction in the public services that those local authorities are able to provide, including the investment that they can put into schools, libraries and other important public services for the future.
“I would like to see, Minister, some change of direction in your budget, a shift of resources from things that, frankly, the people of Wales do not regard as priorities - things like increasing the number of politicians, things like the investment that you put in to a nationalised airport that didn't need to be nationalised, the millions of pounds that we spend on mini embassies around the world, which no doubt do wonderful and valuable work, but, frankly, are a luxury we cannot afford, and the money that you keep bunging to the unions with the Wales union learning fund on an annual basis.
“Let's see some fairness in the way that you carve up the cash, so that local authorities, particularly in North Wales, in places like Conwy and Denbighshire that I represent, have a fair settlement.”
