The Welsh Government today published its First Supplementary Budget, allocating £294m across its key priorities for the year ahead.
Today’s budget confirms new funding of £20m to boost the supply of social housing, £40m to improve school buildings and £5m for community facilities that people across Wales rely on. It also includes £10m to keep bus and coach travel affordable for young people and increase services, £2m for the Cynnal child payment and £2m to give more children the chance to learn to swim.
The Cabinet Minister for Finance, Elin Jones, said:
“This Government was elected with a clear mandate and is delivering on it responsibly and at pace. This supplementary budget demonstrates that commitment – spending with purpose, with every pound working harder for Wales.
“We have inherited significant pressures – in the NHS, in childcare, and across public services – and we are transparent about that.
“This Supplementary Budget concentrates resources on our clearest priorities: cutting NHS waiting times, expanding childcare, extending free school meals, and easing cost-of-living pressures for families.”
The budget builds on a series of announcements made last week. On 16 June, a £55m investment was confirmed to help hundreds more families access funded childcare for their two-year-olds.
On 18 June, the Government confirmed a £145m boost for the NHS to help patients be seen more quickly, including £25m for new surgical and diagnostic hubs to speed up cancer and diagnostic tests and £20m for long-overdue maintenance in hospitals and surgeries.
And on 22 June, £15m was announced so that more secondary school pupils from families on Universal Credit can receive free school meals, in time for the new term.
Full breakdown of allocations:
- £100m revenue – NHS waiting times and elective care
- £25m capital – new surgical and diagnostic hubs
- £20m capital – NHS maintenance
- £45m revenue / £10m capital – childcare (12.5 hours for two-year-olds)
- £5m revenue / £10m capital – extended free school meals
- £40m capital – schools maintenance
- £20m – new social housing
- £8m – Young Person’s bus fare
- £2m – North–South coach travel
- £2m – Cynnal child payment
- £2m – School swimming
- £5m – Community Facilities Programme
The Minister added:
“This is about more than new funding, it’s about beginning to reshape how our public services work after 27 years of a previous government.
“This new Government will ensure that every pound delivers better outcomes – better childcare, better healthcare and better public services for the people of Wales.”
The Budget is published today and will be debated and voted on 14 July.
The post Welsh Government allocates £294m to key priorities in first supplementary budget appeared first on Wales 247.
