The Welsh Local Government Association is meeting in Swansea today and as per usual a procession of the great and the good will be gracing Councillors and Officers with their presence.
Star turn this year is Assembly Finance Minister, Andrew Davies who plans to urge Council leaders to protect the most vulnerable in society from the effects of the downturn.
The vast majority if not all of those assembled will of course have this objective as their number one priority. However, it would help everybody if the Finance Minister himself treated such vital frontline councils services with the same importance when it comes to actually doling out the money.
This year despite the fact that the Welsh Government got a 4.6% uplift in their budget, Councils themselves only got a 2.9% increase. This contrasts unfavourably with all other Assembly departments, including Central Administration who had a higher ranking in the Finance Minister’s largesse than the vital frontline services he now wants to protect.
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