English: Effective budgeting is about both how much and how well money is spent. Unfortunately, the pandemic has shone a spotlight on the failings of successive Labour Welsh Governments in managing our vital public services. In the year before the pandemic, NHS waiting times doubled in Wales and increased eight times during the pandemic. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation reported last year that Wales has retained the highest poverty rate of all UK nations throughout devolution since 1999. Further, their 'Poverty in Wales 2020' report two months ago found that Wales still has lower pay for people in every sector than the rest of the UK, and that even before coronavirus, almost a quarter of people in Wales were in poverty, living precarious and insecure lives. As the Bevan Foundation states, 'Poverty was a significant problem in Wales long before the arrival of Covid 19.' These shocking statistics highlight the failure of successive Labour Welsh Governments over more than two decades to adequately use their resources and devolved responsibilities to tackle long-standing social injustices in Wales. For example, despite spending £0.5 billion on its flagship Communities First policy, it did not reduce the headline rates of poverty in the vast majority of communities and still less in Wales as a whole. Further, the Centre for Towns has found that Wales is the worst-performing area of the UK with regard to economic well-being. This draft budget provides wholly inadequate support for the third sector and charities in Wales at the forefront of Wales's response to the pandemic, whilst experiencing a dramatic decline in vital income to support services. It states that an additional £700,000 will be provided on top of the £3 million to support the sector in its response to COVID-19 and the £24 million Welsh Government third sector COVID-19 response fund. However, the Wales Council for Voluntary Action estimate that charities in Wales have lost around 24 per cent of their income this year, or £1.2 billion for charities based in Wales. This draft budget therefore needs a greater focus on helping our communities to build back better. For example, the Bevan Foundation have called on the Welsh Government to use some of the unallocated hundreds of millions from the additional £5.2 billion provided by the UK Conservative Government as part of a multi-year investment strategy to support families in poverty. Responding to the Finance Committee's consultation on the Welsh Government's draft budget proposals, the WCVA stated: 'The voluntary sector must be supported and resourced to fulfil its central role in the recovery from the pandemic' and that 'co-production must play a key part in the design and delivery of preventative services.' The WCVA response to the Welsh Government's draft budget proposals goes further, stating: 'The voluntary sector continues to require greater resource to respond to increasing demand on its services' 'A thriving third sector has a vital role to play in the prevention agenda. The sector has many groups and organisations which have developed to redress specific problems or prevent them worsening.' It's also able, they said, 'to bring wider benefits to society through community engagement and make communities feel more empowered and connected.' And they said: 'Coproduction of services must play a key part in this.' For the first time in many years, a draft budget is not proposing to cut the housing support grant, which is welcomed, as is additional funding for social housing. However, Welsh Labour have overseen a Welsh affordable housing supply crisis, which did not exist when they first came to power in 1999. And although the sector states that we need 20,000 new social homes over a five-year Senedd term, Labour's 20,000 new affordable homes target includes a range of housing types, not just social homes. As for local government, despite the impact of COVID-19 on local services and communities in Wales, councils will receive a smaller increase in their settlement than in this financial year. North Wales councils are again losing out, with an average 3.4 per cent increase, compared to 4.17 per cent in south Wales and 5.6 per cent for top-place Newport. And this Labour Government is, once again, refusing a funding floor to protect councils like Wrexham and Ceredigion, expected to cope with increases of just 2.3 per cent and 1.96 per cent respectively. I've been repeatedly telling successive Welsh Governments for many years that working with the public and voluntary sectors to design, deliver and fund key early intervention and prevention services will spend money better, deliver more, reduce cost pressure on statutory services, and therefore save more from the Welsh Government's budget too.
Welsh: Mae cyllidebu effeithiol yn ymwneud â faint a pha mor dda y caiff arian ei wario. Yn anffodus, mae'r pandemig wedi tynnu sylw at fethiannau naill Lywodraeth Lafur Cymru ar ôl y llall wrth reoli ein gwasanaethau cyhoeddus hanfodol. Yn y flwyddyn cyn y pandemig, dyblodd amseroedd aros y GIG yng Nghymru a chynyddodd wyth gwaith yn ystod y pandemig. Adroddodd Sefydliad Joseph Rowntree y llynedd fod Cymru wedi cadw'r gyfradd tlodi uchaf o holl wledydd y DU drwy gydol datganoli ers 1999. At hynny, canfu eu hadroddiad 'Tlodi yng Nghymru 2020' ddeufis yn ôl fod gan Gymru gyflogau is o hyd i bobl ym mhob sector na gweddill y DU, a hyd yn oed cyn y coronafeirws, fod bron i chwarter y bobl yng Nghymru mewn tlodi, yn byw bywydau ansefydlog ac ansicr. Fel y dywed Sefydliad Bevan: Roedd tlodi yn broblem sylweddol yng Nghymru ymhell cyn dyfodiad Covid 19. Mae'r ystadegau brawychus hyn yn tynnu sylw at fethiant naill Lywodraeth Lafur Cymru ar ôl y llall dros fwy na dau ddegawd i ddefnyddio eu hadnoddau a'u cyfrifoldebau datganoledig yn ddigonol i fynd i'r afael ag anghyfiawnderau cymdeithasol hirsefydlog yng Nghymru. Er enghraifft, er iddi wario £0.5 biliwn ar ei pholisi blaenllaw Cymunedau yn Gyntaf, ni wnaeth leihau'r prif gyfraddau tlodi yn y mwyafrif llethol o gymunedau a llai fyth yng Nghymru gyfan. At hynny, mae'r Centre For Towns wedi canfod mai Cymru yw'r ardal sy'n perfformio waethaf yn y DU o ran llesiant economaidd. Mae'r gyllideb ddrafft hon yn rhoi cymorth cwbl annigonol i'r trydydd sector ac elusennau yng Nghymru sydd ar flaen y gad yn ymateb Cymru i'r pandemig, gan brofi gostyngiad sylweddol mewn incwm hanfodol i gefnogi gwasanaethau. Mae'n nodi y bydd £700,000 ychwanegol yn cael ei ddarparu ar ben y £3 miliwn i gefnogi'r sector yn ei ymateb i COVID-19 a'r gronfa ymateb COVID-19 gwerth £24 miliwn gan Lywodraeth Cymru. Fodd bynnag, mae Cyngor Gweithredu Gwirfoddol Cymru yn amcangyfrif bod elusennau yng Nghymru wedi colli tua 24 y cant o'u hincwm eleni, neu £1.2 biliwn ar gyfer elusennau wedi eu lleoli yng Nghymru. Felly, mae angen i'r gyllideb ddrafft hon ganolbwyntio mwy ar helpu ein cymunedau i ailgodi'n well. Er enghraifft, mae Sefydliad Bevan wedi galw ar Lywodraeth Cymru i ddefnyddio rhai o'r cannoedd o filiynau sydd heb eu dyrannu o'r £5.2 biliwn ychwanegol a ddarparwyd gan Lywodraeth Geidwadol y DU yn rhan o strategaeth fuddsoddi aml-flwyddyn i gefnogi teuluoedd mewn tlodi. Wrth ymateb i ymgynghoriad y Pwyllgor Cyllid ar gynigion cyllideb ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru, dywedodd CGGC: 'Mae'n rhaid i'r sector gwirfoddol gael cefnogaeth ac adnoddau er mwyn iddo gyflawni ei swyddogaeth ganolog yn y broses o adfer ar ôl y pandemig,' a 'rhaid i gyd-gynhyrchu chwarae rhan allweddol yn y gwaith o gynllunio a darparu gwasanaethau ataliol.' Mae ymateb CGGC i gynigion cyllideb ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru yn mynd ymhellach, gan ddweud: 'Mae'r sector gwirfoddol yn parhau i fod angen mwy o adnoddau i ymateb i'r galw cynyddol ar ei wasanaethau' 'Mae gan drydydd sector ffyniannus ran hanfodol i'w chwarae yn yr agenda atal. Mae gan y sector lawer o grwpiau a sefydliadau sydd wedi datblygu i ddatrys problemau penodol neu eu hatal rhag gwaethygu.' Mae hefyd yn gallu, meddai, 'dod â manteision ehangach i gymdeithas drwy ymgysylltu â'r gymuned a gwneud i gymunedau deimlo'n fwy grymus a chysylltiedig.' ac meddai: 'Rhaid i gydgynhyrchu gwasanaethau chwarae rhan allweddol yn hyn.' Am y tro cyntaf ers blynyddoedd lawer, nid yw cyllideb ddrafft yn cynnig torri'r grant cymorth tai, a groesewir, fel y croesewir cyllid ychwanegol ar gyfer tai cymdeithasol. Fodd bynnag, mae Llafur Cymru wedi goruchwylio argyfwng cyflenwi tai fforddiadwy i Gymry, nad oedd yn bodoli pan ddaethant i rym gyntaf ym 1999. Ac er bod y sector yn dweud bod angen 20,000 o gartrefi cymdeithasol newydd arnom ni dros dymor pum mlynedd y Senedd, mae targed Llafur o 20,000 o dai fforddiadwy newydd yn cynnwys amrywiaeth o fathau o dai, nid cartrefi cymdeithasol yn unig. O ran llywodraeth leol, er gwaethaf effaith COVID-19 ar wasanaethau a chymunedau lleol yng Nghymru, bydd cynghorau'n cael llai o gynnydd yn eu setliad nag a geir yn y flwyddyn ariannol hon. Unwaith eto, mae cynghorau'r gogledd ar eu colled, gyda chynnydd o 3.4 y cant ar gyfartaledd, o'i gymharu â 4.17 y cant yn y de a 5.6 y cant ar gyfer Casnewydd sydd ar y brig. Ac unwaith eto, mae'r Llywodraeth Lafur hon yn gwrthod cyllid gwaelodol i ddiogelu cynghorau fel Wrecsam a Cheredigion y disgwylir iddyn nhw ymdopi â chynnydd o ddim ond 2.3 y cant ac 1.96 y cant yn y drefn honno. Rwyf wedi bod yn dweud wrth naill Lywodraeth Cymru ar ôl y llall, dro ar ôl tro ers blynyddoedd lawer y bydd gweithio gyda'r sectorau cyhoeddus a gwirfoddol i gynllunio, darparu ac ariannu gwasanaethau allweddol ymyrryd ac atal yn gynnar yn golygu gwario arian yn well, yn cyflawni mwy, yn lleihau pwysau costau ar wasanaethau statudol, ac felly'n arbed mwy o gyllideb Llywodraeth Cymru hefyd.