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Extra £570m NHS funding in Welsh draft budget Extra £570m NHS funding in Welsh draft budget
(35 minutes later)
Finance Minister Jane Hutt has announced extra funding worth £570m over three years for the Welsh NHS. The NHS in Wales will get £570m of extra funding over three years, Finance Minister Jane Hutt has announced.
It includes £150m for this financial year, she told AMs as she unveiled the Welsh government's draft budget in the Senedd.It includes £150m for this financial year, she told AMs as she unveiled the Welsh government's draft budget in the Senedd.
The extra money would help the NHS respond to the findings of the Francis Inquiry into the failings at Stafford Hospital, she said.The extra money would help the NHS respond to the findings of the Francis Inquiry into the failings at Stafford Hospital, she said.
However funding for local government will see a cut of 5.81% next year.
She added that the pressures faced by the NHS "will continue to grow".She added that the pressures faced by the NHS "will continue to grow".
Ms Hutt said the government had faced some "tough decisions". Welsh NHS spending will rise from £5.722bn to £5.927bn next year, an increase of 3.58% in cash terms or 1.68% in real terms.
But local government spending will fall from £4.648bn this year to £4.466bn next year, a cut in cash terms of 3.91% or 5.81% in real terms.
Early calculations suggest that local government cuts are particularly tough.
Their budget will be around 9% lower in real terms between now and 2015-16.
Budget deal
Earlier in the day, Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood and Liberal Democrat leader Kirsty Williams agreed to help the minority Labour administration get its budget through the assembly chamber.
Conservative shadow finance minister Paul Davies criticised the budget deal with Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats.
"Clearly they are willing to prop up this failing Labour government," he said.
Under the terms of the deal, ministers will devote £100m to Plaid and Lib Dem spending priorities in return for the two opposition parties abstaining in the crucial vote in December.
The money included £50m to treat more patients in the community rather than hospital and the doubling of funding for the pupil deprivation grant, a scheme to help poorer school pupils.
It followed negotiations which began in July and were completed last week.
The deal was signed in First Minister Carwyn Jones's office shortly before it was announced.
Ms Hutt called the draft budget "fair and responsible" which "delivers our priorities for Wales, sticking to our principles and standing up for Wales".
She said: "Since 2010, the Welsh budget has faced unprecedented cuts by the UK government. We cannot shield all services from the effect of the UK government cuts and the implications of prioritising spend."
BBC Wales education correspondent Arwyn Jones writes:
The Pupil Deprivation Grant (PDG) was introduced last year.
Schools are allocated funds of £450 per child on free school meals, aged five to 15, which goes directly into their budgets.
Following today's deal, that should more than double to £918 in 2014/15.
The Welsh government has always stressed that each school will be able to decide how it spends its allocation of money.
But it does expect the money to help challenge the link between poverty and achievement in schools, with a particular focus on literacy and numeracy.
However earlier this year there were reports that schools were absorbing the money into their budgets, using the money to buy tablet computers and to pay for teaching assistants.
So now schools have to account for their spending by publishing an online breakdown, as part of a push for greater transparency.
Last month a survey of schools by the Liberal Democrats suggested that only 23% of schools use the PDG funding strictly for pupils on free school meals.
But that's the only real evaluation to date of the PDG.
To be fair, it is still early days, and the Welsh government has commissioned a team from Cardiff University to monitor how effective the grant has been. They're due to start reporting their findings next year.
So, yes, the money may have doubled. But we'll have to wait to see if it's money well spent.
Following the announcement of the draft budget, the National Union of Teachers (NUT) said while education had not been shielded from the implication of cuts to Welsh government finances, they were pleased with the "significant investment" for the PDG.
NUT secretary David Evans said: "We are still lagging behind other parts of the UK. However, I think it is fair to accept that in the face of swingeing cuts to the Welsh government's funding to have £35m earmarked for schools through the PDG is something to be positive about."