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.
