Evidence on Welsh budget

Economy A variety of pound notes and coins
NewsOctober 29th, 2018

The Bevan Foundation has shared its views about the Welsh Government’s draft budget to the Assembly’s Finance Committee.

Appearing before the Committee on 25th October, Director Victoria Winckler said that health continued to account for the lion’s share of the Welsh budget, leaving very limited room for manoeuvre on other services. She welcomed some commitments that would help reduce poverty, such as an increase in the Discretionary Housing Payments, but felt that it didn’t amount to a coherent ‘anti-poverty’ budget. She commented that while the term ‘poverty’ was used throughout the document, it wasn’t necessarily reflected in the actions.

She called for each budget line to be scrutinised by asking ‘What does this expenditure do to reduce inequality?’. She also pointed out that the budget had so much narrative it was difficult to assess where there might be cuts or to get a sense of scale as to whether the proposed financial allocations were adequate.

You can watch the recording of the session here or below.

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