English: I'll begin again by saying that there's no doubt that the settlement before us today is an opportunity missed to lift some of the pressures off the shoulders of local government, which, in turn, would have had a positive impact on public services more broadly, following years of ongoing austerity. It is clearer than ever, I believe, as we've heard from a number of speakers already, that our councils can't continue to operate effectively given the current financial climate. A shortage of adequate funding is certain to have a direct impact from hereon in on areas that, to all intents and purposes, have been protected to this point - education and social services are two that are foremost in my thoughts. A failure to spend sufficiently on social services has an impact on health budgets, and by cutting the funding of crucial preventative services, it increases pressure on the health service. And, of course, on the face of it, hardly anyone would disagree with the approach of providing more funding to the health service, but doing that without taking into account the interdependency between health and local government helps no-one. It is short-termist in essence. I would want to see the way that budgets are planned across various areas and how they overlap with strategic purpose changing. We need a government with a very clear vision to do that, with a focus on the long term and a willingness to bring strands of government and public services together, and that's not what we're seeing at the moment, I'm afraid. I'm very disappointed to have to report that I haven't received a response to a letter that I wrote jointly to the finance Minister and the education Minister before the final budget was laid, asking at the eleventh hour that the Government look again at a means of reducing the burden on our councils. Over the past months, in education specifically, I've received correspondence from council officials, heads and governors of schools - and I declare an interest as a governor myself at Ysgol Gyfun Llangefni - and I have been contacted by parents and people in the additional learning needs sector who are concerned about the impact of the budget and its effect on the education sector. The recommendation made by Government, to all intents and purposes, as to where the level of council tax should be on Anglesey for the next year, suggests that council tax should increase by around 10 per cent. That's the Government recommendation, but that's not increasing in order to invest and to increase budgets; it's an increase of 10 per cent while at the same time making big cuts to education budgets. I know that officials are working hard to mitigate the cuts that they are going to have to make in education. There has been talk of over £1.5 million, and I do hope that that figure can be lower. But schools have no scope to make further cuts. One headteacher told me, 'I'm not going to worry anymore, because if I start worrying about the financial deficit then I'll make myself ill. So, what I'm going to have to do is try and deal with the situation and accept that there is an inevitable overspend'. We didn't get to this question from me in the last questions session to the Minister: 'Will the Minister make a statement on school budgets given the local authority settlement for 2019-20?' The written response I received was: 'Across Government, we give priority to assisting schools through the local government settlement. We continue to provide additional grant funding above core funding for schools through local authorities. In the current Assembly term, we are committed to investing £100 million to increase standards in schools'. Now, that response has infuriated local government and those in education in my constituency. It's an unconsidered response because core funding is the problem. Without adequate core funding, an authority such as Anglesey is pushed to close schools whilst the Government brings in a new code in order to try and mislead people by suggesting that they're trying to save small schools but without providing any additional funding to implement that code. The situation we're in is not sustainable. I could talk about social services, too. When council officials tell me that they're concerned that they can't afford to implement court orders in order to safeguard vulnerable children who are under threat, that makes me think that there is something fundamentally wrong with the level of funding provided to our local authorities. They will have to make it work, but that's the level we're talking about. We're talking about substantial cost to protect the most vulnerable in our society, and we've reached that point where local government can no longer afford to do those things. Yes, there's been an unfair and unjust decade of austerity from the Conservative Government in London, but there are political decisions that have been made by the Labour Government here in Wales that mean that the vulnerable are suffering, and local government is a perfect example of that.
Welsh: Mi gychwynnaf eto drwy ddweud nad oes dim amheuaeth bod y setliad sydd o'n blaenau ni heddiw yn gyfle sydd wedi cael ei fethu i godi tipyn o bwysau oddi ar lywodraeth leol, a fyddai, yn ei dro, wedi cael sgil-effaith bositif ar wasanaethau cyhoeddus yn ehangach yn dilyn blynyddoedd o lymder parhaus. Mae'n gliriach nag erioed, rwy'n credu, fel rydym ni wedi clywed gan sawl siaradwr, na all ein cynghorau ni barhau i weithredu'n effeithiol yn y sefyllfa ariannol bresennol sydd ohoni. Mae diffyg cyllid digonol yn sicr o effeithio'n uniongyrchol o hyn ymlaen ar feysydd sydd i raddau helaeth wedi cael eu gwarchod tan rŵan - addysg a gwasanaethau cymdeithasol yw'r ddau brif rai sy'n dod i'r meddwl. Mae methiant i wario'n ddigonol ar wasanaethau cymdeithasol yn effeithio ar gyllidebau iechyd hefyd, wrth gwrs. Drwy dorri cyllid gwasanaethau ataliol hanfodol, mae'n ychwanegu pwysau ar y gwasanaeth iechyd. Wrth gwrs, ar yr wyneb, prin fyddai unrhyw un yn anghytuno efo'r hyn sydd wedi digwydd i roi rhagor o arian i'r gwasanaeth iechyd, ond dydy gwneud hynny heb ystyried y cyd-ddibyniaeth sydd yna rhwng iechyd a llywodraeth leol yn helpu neb. Mae o'n fyr dymor wrth ei hanfod. Fe fyddwn i'n dymuno gweld y ffordd y mae cyllidebau yn cael eu cynllunio ar draws wahanol feysydd, sut maen nhw'n dod at ei gilydd efo pwrpas strategol, yn newid. Mae angen llywodraeth efo gweledigaeth glir iawn i wneud hynny, efo ffocws ar yr hirdymor a pharodrwydd i dynnu haenau o lywodraeth a gwasanaethau cyhoeddus at ei gilydd. Nid ôl hynny rydym ni'n ei weld ar hyn o bryd, rwy'n ofni. Mae'n siomedig iawn gen i orfod adrodd nad ydw i hyd yma wedi derbyn ymateb i lythyr ysgrifennais i ar y cyd at y Gweinidog cyllid a'r Gweinidog Addysg cyn gosod y gyllideb derfynol yn gofyn ar yr unfed awr ar ddeg ar i'r Llywodraeth edrych eto am ffordd i leihau'r baich ar ein cynghorau ni. Dros y misoedd diwethaf, yn addysg yn benodol, dwi wedi derbyn gohebiaeth gan swyddogion o'r cyngor, penaethiaid a llywodraethwyr ysgolion - dwi'n datgan budd fel llywodraethwr fy hun, yn Ysgol Gyfun Llangefni - ac mae rhieni wedi bod yn cysylltu â fi a phobl yn y sector anghenion addysg arbennig, yn bryderus am effaith y gyllideb ar ddarpariaeth i'r sector addysg. Mae argymhelliad y Llywodraeth, i bob pwrpas, ynglŷn â lle dylai lefel treth cyngor fod yn Ynys Môn ar gyfer y flwyddyn nesaf yn awgrymu y dylai'r dreth cyngor godi 10 y cant, mwy neu lai. Dyna argymhelliad y Llywodraeth, ond nid codi 10 y cant er mwyn buddsoddi, er mwyn cynyddu ar gyllidebau; codi 10 y cant a gweld toriadau dyfnion i gyllidebau addysg. Dwi'n gwybod bod swyddogion yn gweithio'n galed iawn i leihau'r toriadau y maen nhw'n mynd i orfod eu gwneud i addysg. Mae sôn wedi bod am dros £1.5 miliwn. Dwi'n gobeithio y bydd hynny'n gallu bod yn is. Ond does gan ysgolion ddim lle i wneud toriadau pellach. Mae un pennaeth yn dweud wrthyf fi, 'Dwi ddim yn mynd i boeni ymhellach, oherwydd os af i boeni am yr gagendor ariannol dwi'n ei wynebu, fe wnaf i wneud fy hun yn sâl. Felly, beth dwi'n mynd i orfod ei wneud ydy jest trio delio â'r sefyllfa a derbyn bod yna orwario yn digwydd'. Wnaethon ni ddim cyrraedd y cwestiwn yma gennyf yn y sesiwn cwestiynau diwethaf i'r Gweinidog: 'A wnaiff y Gweinidog ddatganiad ar gyllidebau ysgolion yn sgil setliad llywodraeth leol 2019-20?' Yr ateb ysgrifenedig a gefais yw: 'Ar draws y Llywodraeth, rydym yn rhoi blaenoriaeth i gynorthwyo ysgolion drwy'r setliad ar gyfer llywodraeth leol. Rydym ni'n parhau i roi cyllid grant ychwanegol sylweddol uwchlaw'r cyllid craidd i ysgolion drwy awdurdodau lleol. Yn ystod tymor presennol y Cynulliad, rydym ni wedi ymrwymo i fuddsoddi £100 miliwn i godi safonau ysgolion'. Mae'r ymateb yna wedi corddi llywodraeth leol a rhai mewn addysg yn fy etholaeth i. Ymateb di-hid; cyllid craidd ydy'r broblem. Heb gyllid craidd digonol, mae awdudrod fel Ynys Môn yn cael ei gwthio i gau ysgolion ar yr un pryd ag y mae'r Llywodraeth yn dod â chod newydd er mwyn trio twyllo pobl i feddwl eu bod nhw'n trio arbed ysgolion bach, a dim arian ychwanegol i weithredu'r cod, ac yn y blaen. Hynny ydy, dydy'r sefyllfa dŷn ni ynddi hi ddim yn gynaliadwy. Mi allwn i sôn am wasanaethau cymdeithasol hefyd. Pan fydd swyddogion cyngor yn dweud wrthyf i eu bod nhw'n bryderus na allan nhw fforddio gweithredu gorchmynion llys er mwyn gwarchod plant bregus sydd dan fygythiad, mae hynny'n gwneud i fi feddwl bod yna rywbeth sylfaenol o'i le efo lefel y cyllid sy'n mynd i mewn i lywodraeth leol. Bydd yn rhaid iddyn nhw wneud iddo fo weithio, ond dyna'r lefel dŷn ni'n sôn amdano: costau sylweddol i amddiffyn y mwyaf bregus yn ein cymdeithas ni, a dŷn ni wedi cyrraedd at y pwynt rŵan lle dydy'n llywodraeth leol ni ddim yn gallu fforddio gwneud y pethau yna. Oes, mae yna ddegawd annheg ac anghyfiawn o lymder wedi dod o du'r Llywodraeth Geidwadol yn Llundain, ond mae yna benderfyniadau gwleidyddol wedi cael eu gwneud gan y Llywodraeth Llafur yma yng Nghymru sy'n golygu bod y bregus yn dioddef, ac mae llywodraeth leol yn enghraifft berffaith o hynny.