Welsh Finance Minister Andrew Davies has told the BBC that Council jobs and services could be safe despite a squeeze on budgets:
Welsh councils face spending cuts of millions of pounds, but Andrew Davies has told BBC Wales it need not lead to cuts.
His comments came after local government leaders warned that the budget squeeze could mean 2,000 job losses in Welsh councils next year.
Mr Davies said the savings could come from changes in working practices.
He has told BBC Wales’ The Politics Show that it was too early to talk about job losses.
“I don’t think there’s anything inevitable about service reductions or indeed cuts in jobs,” he said.
I think the kind of radical ideas we could see will be increasingly charging for public services or new charges for some public services
Professor Tony Travers“I’m not saying that might not be the outcome some time down the road but at this point in time I think we have enough evidence to know what works.”
He said there needed to be a radical change in working practices in the public sector.
Mr. Davies is right that in the long term changes to working practices and investment in joint working can save money but if he is serious about avoiding job losses and cuts in services in the near future he needs to treat local government on a more equitable basis.
This year councils only received a 2.9% uplift in their grants, the lowest of any government spending department. This was despite the Welsh Government getting a 4.6% increase in its budget.
Councils are not asking for special treatment, just that they get the same consideration as other government spending heads. A vital factor when one considers the key frontline services they ae charged with delivering.
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