Diolch yn fawr, Ddirprwy Lywydd. Rydw i’n falch o gyflwyno o flaen y Cynulliad i’w gymeradwyo setliad llywodraeth leol 2017-18 ar gyfer y 22 o gynghorau sir a chynghorau bwrdeistref sirol yng Nghymru. Y flwyddyn nesaf, ar ôl cymryd popeth i ystyriaeth, bydd awdurdodau lleol Cymru yn derbyn dros £4.1 biliwn o gyllid refeniw cyffredinol. Mae hwn yn gynnydd o 0.2 y cant, o’i gymharu â’r flwyddyn 2016-17. Dyma’r cynnydd cyntaf yn y setliad llywodraeth leol ers 2013-14.

Mae’r setliad yn adlewyrchu ein cytundeb gyda Phlaid Cymru i roi £25 miliwn yn ychwanegol i lywodraeth leol i’w helpu i ddarparu gwasanaethau hanfodol, yn ogystal ag £1 filiwn ar gyfer cludiant i’r ysgol a £3 miliwn ar gyfer cynllun peilot ar drefniadau parcio yng nghanol trefi. O gofio am y pwysau o bob cyfeiriad ar gyllideb Cymru, rwy’n credu bod hwn yn setliad teg i lywodraeth leol a’i fod cryn dipyn yn well na’r hyn y buasai’r rhan fwyaf o bobl o fewn llywodraeth leol yn ei ddisgwyl.

Dirprwy Lywydd, the Welsh Government has protected funding for local government in Wales in recent years, and this settlement is no different. Now, I recognise that, despite these efforts, gross revenue funding by Welsh authorities was 4 per cent lower in real terms over the period 2010-11 to 2015-16. Across our border in England, however, according to the National Audit Office, councils were having to deal with reductions in the real-terms spending power available to them of 25 per cent over the same period.

In preparing the settlement, careful consideration has been given to the advice of the distribution sub-group and finance sub-group around improvements to the local government funding formula. The distribution reflects the most up-to-date assessment of relative need, based on a wealth of information about the demographic, physical, economic and social characteristics of every authority in Wales. In the normal manner, a formal consultation has been carried out on the provisional settlement, and I am confident that the funding announced provides councils with a robust basis for their financial planning for the coming year.

In the final settlement, a further £6 million has been provided over and above the funding set out in the draft settlement for work to support the prevention of homelessness. Homelessness, or the threat of it, has a significant negative impact on people’s lives. Preventing it, therefore, contributes to our well-being goal of a healthier Wales and to achieving our well-being objective of improving access to secure and safe homes.

I said here in the Assembly in our first full draft budget debate that this was a budget for stability and ambition, and that ambition extends very directly to those commitments in ‘Taking Wales Forward’ to be discharged in partnership with local authorities. This settlement, therefore, provides £4.5 million to fund the commitment to increase the capital limit used by local authorities that charge for residential care. The limit will rise from £24,000 to £30,000 in the next financial year, and this is the first step in the delivery of our commitment to move towards a limit of £50,000. Secondly, the settlement provides £0.3 million to fund the commitment to introduce a full disregard of the war disablement pension in financial assessments for charging for social care. And thirdly, £1.6 of additional funding outside the settlement has been included to ensure that no authority sees a reduction of greater than 0.5 per cent in its budget, compared to its 2016-17 general revenue funding allocation.

Dirprwy Lywydd, it’s a shared ambition with local government that specific grants are used sparingly and strategically, and the settlement for 2017-18 contains £3.1 million of funding previously provided through specific grants. This includes £2.85 million of funding previously provided via the social services delivering transformation grant. In total, this means that annual funding of over £194 million has been transferred into the settlement since 2011-12, and, as finance Minister as well as local government Minister, that is a process that I intend to pursue further as this Assembly proceeds.

Dirprwy Lywydd, amendments to the budget happen in both directions. The change in arrangements for the registration of the education workforce has resulted in a transfer out of the settlement of £1 million formerly provided in respect of teacher registration fee subsidies. The bulk of changes, however, have been to add to the resources available to local government in Wales.

The final budget, approved by the National Assembly last week, provided for an additional £10 million in recognition of the particular financial challenges arising from the provision of social care, including workforce pressures. This is over and above the £25 million originally announced in recognition of the importance of strong, local social services to the long-term success of the health service in Wales and in recognition of the growing pressures that social services face.

As Members will know, through announcements made before Christmas, an additional £10 million for non-domestic rates relief in 2017-18 is to be provided alongside the £10 million already announced for the transitional relief scheme. The mechanism for deploying this additional funding has been agreed through discussion with Plaid Cymru. It will be delivered through local authorities and targeted at businesses on the high street and in the hospitality sector.

Alongside the settlement, I published the latest information on the Welsh Government grant schemes for 2017-18. The most up-to-date information on local authority capital funding has also been released. Overall for next year, there has once again been no reduction to general capital funding, which remains at £143 million.

As Members will be aware, while the unhypothecated settlement is the largest single source of funding available to authorities, it is not the only one. In setting their budgets and council tax levels for next year, I expect every authority to take account of all the available funding streams and to consider how to secure best value for Welsh taxpayers through effective and efficient service provision, deploying the latest advice from the Wales Audit Office in their particular circumstances.

We offer considerable flexibility to authorities in Wales, which is not available to their counterparts in England. That flexibility allows them to exercise autonomy and responsibility in managing their finances. In return, it is for them to shape their budgets in the round, combining resources made available nationally with revenues raised locally.

Dirpwy Lywydd, this is a fair settlement for local government in challenging times and enables authorities the opportunity to focus on the significant changes that will be required to manage the longer-term reductions in funding.

I’ll repeat the message that I’ve given to all public services in Wales and their partners since the overall draft budget was published in October: now is the time to plan ahead purposefully and unstintingly for those decisions that will be needed to make harder choices and face the tougher times that lie in the future. In the meantime, and as for next year, I ask Assembly Members to support the motion before them this afternoon.