Jane Hutt AM, Minister for Finance and Government Business
This was published under the 2011 to 2016 administration of the Welsh Government
I have today tabled the Welsh Government’s Final Budget for 2016-17 ‘Fairer, Better Wales – Investing for the Future’ setting out the allocations we are making to support our priorities for Wales. This reflects the announcements I made in the Draft Budget Debate on 9 February.
The Finance Committee’s report on the Draft Budget 2016-17 was published on 2 February and I will respond to the Chair of the Finance Committee before the Final Budget Debate on 8 March.
Investing in infrastructure has been key to our economic stimulus approach in recent years. In line with this, in our Draft Budget 2016-17 we allocated an additional £230m capital, of which £80m was provided to support strategically aligned projects in accord with the priorities set out in the Wales Infrastructure Investment Plan (WIIP).
On top of this, I announced earlier this month additional capital investment of £120m for 2016-17 to support a range of pan-Wales projects in line with the priorities set out in the WIIP, including:
- £50m for priority transport projects
- £10m for the 21st Century Schools and Education Programme to support projects that will enhance skills for post-16 students
- £10m for Intermediate Care Fund, focusing on ‘step-down’ and re-ablement facilities for people with complex needs to support independent living and reduce demand on health services
- £10m for the Wales Ambulance Service Trust for the replacement of vehicles
- £5m for Green Growth Wales, providing repayable energy efficiency grants across health, local authorities and education
- £2m for flood and coastal risk management
- £3m for Warm Homes / Arbed, to tackle fuel poverty through green growth by investing in domestic energy efficiency measures
- £10m towards neonatal investment in developments across West, South and North Wales
- £20m of financial transactions to support housing and regeneration projects across Wales, including:
- £10m Land for Housing – the scheme will provide recyclable loan funding to registered social landlords to purchase land to support housing supply
- £10m Town Centre Loan Fund – expanding the current scheme to invest in empty and underutilised buildings by at least 40 initiatives.
This additional investment has the potential to create up to 2,000 jobs associated with the construction phases of specific projects, supporting economic growth both in the short and long term.
The new investment we published in our Draft Budget, together with the additional investment we have pledged since, means that in 2016-17 we are investing over £300m extra in Health and Health Services; an additional £239m to support growth and jobs; over £110m more to support educational attainment and an extra £41m to support children, families and deprived communities.
The full detail of changes between Draft and Final Budget is set out in the Final Budget Explanatory Note.
All Final Budget documentation is available in English and Welsh on the Welsh Government’s website.