Council budget pledges extra funds for education and care
Posted on Monday 20th February 2017
Newport City Council’s Cabinet has made recommendations for the 2017/18 budget that show a clear commitment to the city’s most vulnerable residents.
Following an extensive consultation with the public and partners, Cabinet today discussed feedback on the draft savings proposals put forward in December.
Councillor Debbie Wilcox, Leader of Newport City Council, said: “We asked people to let us know what areas were important to them, where we could make improvements, and where we should prioritise funding.
“We were very pleased with the response from both the public and our partners with replies up considerably on last year.
“We have given all the feedback careful consideration and as a result, additional funds have been allocated to key areas including education and care.
“We have to deliver a balanced budget, and this is proving harder and harder each year as the demand for services grows, yet our funding from Westminster continues to reduce.”
In response to feedback from the consultation, an additional £1.1million has been allocated to the budget for Newport’s schools. Although additional funding has been consistently given to schools over the last few years – either meeting or exceeding the level of the Welsh Government pledge – it was recognised that education in Newport could be affected without this continuing level of support.
“Providing excellent education for all our students is a major priority for the council. We are pleased to be proposing this additional budget, which the schools will be able to spend on their own priority areas. We will continue to work with them to help them best manage the funds available and to plan for the challenges and inevitable savings in future years.
“We have carefully managed the council budget, and as a result we have some funds available to reinvest. Education is an area we all agree is worthy of such investment.” said Councillor Wilcox.
A review of domiciliary care had also originally been proposed.
Councillor Wilcox, added: “There was a clear message from the consultation that people wanted this service to remain delivered by the council itself. We’ve listened, given it further consideration, and decided to protect this service for the foreseeable future.”
Cabinet also put forward a 3.5 per cent Council Tax rise for the year – less than the 4 per cent which was consulted on.
Council Wilcox said: “Although Council Tax accounts for less than one fifth of our overall budget, we fully recognise that it is a considerable monthly outgoing for our residents.
“We hope we have struck a balance between affordability and needing to fund vital services across the city. Even with this increase, Newport will continue to have the second lowest Council Tax level in Wales, and one of the lowest in the UK.”
The 3.5 per cent rise equates to an increase of just over £34 a year or 66 pence per week on an average Band D property. In neighbouring authority Blaenau Gwent, the same percentage increase would mean a yearly increase of nearly £51.
The proposed budget, including the Council Tax increase, will now go before full Council on Thursday 2 March.
Papers from the Cabinet meeting are available online. Minutes will be published in due course.