Welsh budget: Most of higher education cuts are reversed
(about 7 hours later)
AMs will vote on the Welsh government's last budget before the assembly election later.
Most of the cuts that were planned for higher education have been reversed, the finance minister has announced.
Spending on the NHS will increase by £278m in 2016/17, a rise of more than 4%, but local authorities face an average cut of 2%.
The Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) had been facing cuts of £42m, around a third of its budget.
The Welsh Labour government said it had had to make some tough decisions, with higher education spending also hit.
But Jane Hutt told AMs £31m of them will be cancelled. HEFCW will now have to find £11m worth of savings.
The Lib Dems are expected to abstain, allowing the proposed budget to go through to its final stage.
She also set out plans to use £2.5m from reserves to help soften the blow of cuts to three rural councils: Powys, Ceredigion and Monmouthshire.
In total, health spending will rise to 48% of entire Welsh government spending, the highest proportion it has ever been.
AMs will vote later on whether to approve the 2016/17 budget, which includes an extra £278m for the NHS.
While spending on education and skills is due to increase by 1.1%, ministers have been urged to reconsider cuts of around a third to the body which funds universities, the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales.
There was an outcry from opposition parties when plans to cut council budgets by an average of 2% were announced in December, as rural authorities faced the biggest cuts.
Talks have also been held over whether to cap the worst of the cuts which are due to be felt by rural councils.
The Liberal Democrats claimed credit for securing some recompense for the three biggest losers.
A number of authorities, including Powys, Ceredigion and Monmouthshire, are facing cuts of between 3% and 4% because of the funding formula which can disproportionately affect areas with relatively sparse populations.
Ms Hutt said she would allow HEFCW - which funds Welsh universities - to keep £21.1m which was due to be diverted to tuition fee subsidies, and would give it an extra £10m to support part-time courses and research.
The budget is the result of a two-year deal between Labour and the Liberal Democrats after extra money was allocated to pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The budget is the result of a two-year deal between Labour and the Liberal Democrats after extra money was allocated to pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The Conservatives and Plaid Cymru have said they will vote against it.
The Conservatives and Plaid Cymru have said they will vote against it, but the Liberal Democrats are expected to abstain, allowing the bill to pass.
Rises in the economy and environment budgets are largely made up of capital spending increases in areas like roads and flood defences.
Finance Minister Jane Hutt said £120m of investment in infrastructure could create around 2,000 jobs during construction, "boosting growth and supporting the delivery of more efficient public services".
Conservative Shadow Finance Minister Nick Ramsay claimed Labour had "starved our health service of £1bn".
"Any piecemeal pre-election funding is an admission of failure for previous decisions and - quite simply - is too little, too late for many communities across Wales," he added.
A Plaid Cymru spokesman said: "We want to see a reversal of the unprecedented cuts to the higher education sector, we want the unbalanced local government settlement to be addressed, and we want to see the Welsh government invest in every part of Wales, instead of continuing to fund preparatory works on the new M4."
Liberal Democrat finance spokesman Peter Black said his party continued to "punch above our weight".
"Today's budget, which delivers on a number of our priorities, is evidence of that," he added.
