Welsh Government unveils £294m spending package in first supplementary budget

Mark Mansfield

The Welsh Government has unveiled a £294 million spending package aimed at delivering its key priorities for the year ahead, including social housing, schools, transport and support for families.

The First Supplementary Budget, published today, allocates additional funding across a range of areas as the new Plaid Cymru-led administration seeks to make early progress on its election commitments.

Among the new allocations are £20 million to boost the supply of social housing, £40 million to improve school buildings and £5 million for community facilities across Wales.

The budget also includes £10 million to maintain affordable bus and coach travel for young people while increasing services, £2 million for the Cynnal child payment and £2 million to expand opportunities for children to learn to swim.

The spending package builds on a series of major funding announcements made by ministers over the past week.

These include a £55 million investment in childcare, announced on June 16, to expand funded provision for two-year-olds and help providers increase capacity.

Two days later, the Welsh Government announced a £145 million package for the NHS, including £100 million to help reduce waiting times, £25 million for new surgical and diagnostic hubs and £20 million for maintenance work across the health estate.

On Sunday, ministers also confirmed £15 million to extend free school meals to more secondary school pupils from families receiving Universal Credit ahead of the new school year.

Cabinet Minister for Finance Elin Jones said the supplementary budget reflected the new government’s priorities and its commitment to delivering on promises made to voters.

She said: “This government was elected with a clear mandate and is delivering on it responsibly and at pace. This supplementary budget demonstrates that commitment, spending with purpose, with every pound working harder for Wales.

“We have inherited significant pressures in the NHS, in childcare and across public services and we are transparent about that.

“This Supplementary Budget concentrates resources on our clearest priorities: cutting NHS waiting times, expanding childcare, extending free school meals and easing cost-of-living pressures for families.”

She added: “This is about more than new funding, it’s about beginning to reshape how our public services work after 27 years of a previous government.

“This new government will ensure that every pound delivers better outcomes – better childcare, better healthcare and better public services for the people of Wales.”

Priorities

Responding to the Budget, Sam Rowlands MS, Welsh Conservative Shadow Minister for Finance, said: “This Supplementary Budget should have been an opportunity to take the difficult decisions to build a stronger economy and deliver on the priorities of the people of Wales.

“We needed a budget to support enterprise, help small businesses and attract investment into Wales.

“Plaid Cymru have not set aside a penny for hardworking small business owners in Wales who face higher business rates than in England and farmers too seem to have been ignored.

“This budget offers more of the same tired approach that we saw under Labour.  What we need is a budget that cuts taxes and gets the Welsh economy moving.”

Business groups broadly welcomed the additional spending but said ministers would need to go further in the autumn budget.

Stability

Joshua Miles, Head of the Federation of Small Businesses Wales, said the package provided stability at a time when many firms continued to face rising costs.

“It is welcome that a supplementary budget has been presented, providing a degree of stability and continuity for Wales at a time when businesses are still facing significant cost pressures,” he said.

“This supplementary budget keeps things ticking over, but the next budget must go further, delivering the bold measures needed to unlock the full potential of Wales’s small business community.”

Mr Miles said reform of business rates remained a priority for small firms, particularly those operating on high streets, and called for continued investment in transport infrastructure and long-term funding for the proposed National Development Agency.

“Our members will now be looking ahead to the autumn budget as the key moment for action,” he added.