Rebecca Evans MS, Minister for Finance and Local Government
The Welsh Government is determined to support the Ukrainian people in their brave resistance to Putin’s assault on their sovereignty, independence, and right to self-determination.
We have already made a substantial contribution to the humanitarian effort in Ukraine and are committed to providing a high level of support to accommodate people from Ukraine who are seeking safety and sanctuary in Wales, both in the short term through our super sponsor scheme, and the longer term through investment of capital funds, and investment through our social home building budget to support innovative development of additional homes.
Our spending on humanitarian support for people from Ukraine is above and beyond the funding provided by UK Government. We do not receive consequential funding for our welcome centres or arrival hubs, for example, because these provisions go above and beyond what is available to people from Ukraine arriving in England. I would like to take this opportunity to recognise the immense efforts of local authorities, health boards, the third sector and a wide range of other partners in Wales for their roles in the active provision of this support.
We will continue to provide humanitarian support to the Ukrainian people, and it is right the UK should continue to provide much-needed military support. However, defence and foreign affairs are reserved matters.
This is a novel, worrying and potentially divisive approach by the Treasury – seeking to use devolved budgets, that should be for investment in devolved areas, like health and education, to fund reserved spending areas such as military aid and defence. Funding for these areas should rightly be met by the UK Government.
Ultimately, because of the exceptional circumstances, we have accepted this situation in light of our ongoing commitment to support Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in their fight against this senseless act of aggression, but it should not be a precedent.
This funding has not been provided from Welsh Government underspends but will result in challenging decisions to be made about our limited capital budget.