MIKE HEDGES MS SUPPORTS WELSH GOVERNMENT BUDGET BUT ASKS FOR EXTRA SUPPORT FOR PUPILS TO RECEIVE FREE SCHOOL MEANS IF PARENTS ARE ON UNIVERSAL CREDIT AND EXTRA ENVIRONMENT FUNDING
Speaking from his Morriston Office, Mike Hedges said… ‘I Support the Welsh Budget but it is not unqualified support. I feel more could have been done to support children whose parents are on universal credit and I feel that funding should be available to enable NRW to carry out its functions with regards to monitoring air and water pollution.
The Welsh Labour Government has to construct its budget for the coming year against a difficult background and with a variety of uncertainties as to the future; more could have been done to support children and our environment and I will continue to press for this support to be provided if I am reelected in May.’
MIKE HEDGES MS
This budget may very well be replaced by a substantially changed budget in the first supplementary budget produced post May, depending on the result of the election. Whilst council tax funding is set for the year, all other areas of expenditure can be either increased or decreased. With less than nine weeks to go to polling day, it would be helpful if the Conservatives and Plaid Cymru produced their own spending plans, and actually made them balance. Plaid Cymru have identified a large number of areas they want to increase expenditure in, but have not identified where that funding is coming from. The Conservatives have a policy of cutting taxes and increasing expenditure, which, as we all know, is impossible.322
Whilst I will be supporting the budget, it is not uncritical support. Firstly, I am disappointed that money has not been found to provide free school meals to children of parents on universal credit from September when they return to school after the summer holidays. Hopefully, this will be resolved in the first supplementary budget.323
Secondly, I do not believe this budget is for a post-COVID world, with an expectation of mainly a return to March 2020. That seems to be the theme of an awful lot of people who have been speaking prior to me. Working at home, online retail and online meetings have become the new normal. There will be a small return to pre-March 2020 activity in these areas. We have seen the changes mentioned above become the new norm, which was the direction we were moving in pre COVID. I know a number of people thought the fourth industrial revolution was going to be artificial intelligence. They were wrong; the fourth industrial revolution is about home working.324
I would urge the Welsh Government to postpone road schemes that are not yet started until we see what demand is like. Certainly, I would again urge the Welsh Government to be very wary of using the mutual investment model. The National Audit Office found little evidence that Government investment in more than 700 existing public-private projects had delivered financial benefit. The cost of privately financing public projects can be up to 40 per cent higher than relying solely upon Government money, auditors found. Anyone who thinks that the mutual investment model leads to the private sector taking the risk is deluding themselves. The risk will be factored into any bid. Even an additional 10 per cent would cost £10 million for every £100 million contract.325
Turning to the environment budget, the environment is always a top priority for everybody in the Chamber, except for when we get to budget time. Then it makes its way down, unfortunately. I welcome some of the things the Welsh Government is doing in terms of the environment, like increased budget allocation for fuel poverty. I hope that it will be sufficient to deliver progress to meet the proposed fuel poverty target set out in the plan. I further welcome additional money for delivering home energy efficiency via Arbed and Nest. The expectation that 5,500 homes will benefit from Arbed and Nest, plus the many thousands who benefit from home energy efficiency advice from Nest, is welcome. Too many people in my constituency and others are living in cold, damp homes. Far too many people live in homes that are very expensive to heat, which affects everything from their health to their children's educational attainment. I also welcome the Welsh Government's energy service, providing support for public sector bodies to help them develop energy efficiency and renewable energy schemes. I'm also aware of public sector organisations using invest-to-save to improve energy efficiency. The public sector needs to lead on improving energy efficiency. I hope we'll get a further update on what invest-to-save has done to improve energy efficiency in the near future.326
Last August, the clean air plan for Wales to take a strategic direction on developing capacity and capability across Wales came in. If you believe, as I do, that the short-term reduction in transport is likely to be long term as more work from home at least some of the time, then air pollution from vehicles will reduce. I welcome the additional money for pilots to promote ultra low emission vehicles across the public sector. I also welcome the progress made by councils such as Swansea on increasing the number of electric vehicles they're using.327
I would urge the Government to bring in an extended producer responsibility for plastic packaging. An easy win would be for all wrapping paper and card to be just paper as opposed to plastic and paper or glitter coated. That can actually be achieved at no cost. Whilst funding for additional producer responsibility is not in the budget, the Welsh Government should get funding from its share of any expenditure from Westminster on this.328
Finally, I would urge the Welsh Government to look again at funding for NRW. When they cannot carry out basic air pollution and water pollution activity that the Environment Agency used to do, there is a problem. Thank you.
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