In an announcement in the Senedd today, Wednesday, 18 October, Rebecca Evans MS., Finance Minister said that Transport for Wales is to benefit from a £125 million increase in this year's budget, which will contribute towards helping to safeguard passenger services and continue the programme of transforming railways in Wales.
The additional funding was included in a package of financial measures announced by the Minister to help protect public services, the NHS, and transport in Wales.
Public services in Wales are facing extraordinary financial pressures, but after months of intensive cross-government negotiations, the Welsh Government has produced a plan to alleviate the problems. Speaking in the Senedd, the Minister announced a package of changes that includes an additional £425 million of funding to support the Welsh NHS this year.
According to the Minister, the government's priority is to protect core services, jobs, and people hardest hit by the current cost of living crisis.
The Welsh Government is to make up to £100 million available from in-year reserves and the Wales Reserve, and will request the UK Treasury to switch some capital funding to revenue funding this financial year, which is a mechanism that the UK government regularly uses to help manage its budgets.
The funding package also takes into account consequential funding that is expected to come from the UK government because of increased spending in devolved areas, most notably in public sector pay.
Another measure announced was regarding the local government Revenue Support Grant (RSG), which has also been protected. This is especially important as it helps to pay for schools, social care, and many services that people rely on in their day-to-day lives, including such things as recycling, waste collections, and local libraries.
Rebecca Evans, Minister for Finance and Local Government said: “We have worked hard across the government to put together a package of financial changes which protect Wales' public services, NHS and transport.
“We have made difficult yet prudent decisions, which protect people and will help to minimise, as far as possible, the impact of these extraordinary financial pressures on the key services on which we all rely.
“But I want to be clear, even though we have been able to re-direct additional funding into health and transport services, the NHS, in particular, still faces some extremely difficult decisions as a result of the challenging financial position.
“The combination of persistently high inflation, more than a decade of austerity, and the UK government's mismanagement of the economy means all public services are under intense pressure. Unfortunately, these are incredibly difficult times.”
