Much of £315m NHS boost in Welsh budget goes on pay rises

Funding for the Welsh NHS will rise by £315m next year, with at least £95m of the increase going towards pay rises.

The Welsh Government published a breakdown of its budget on Tuesday, indicating how much public services are likely to receive for 2019-20.

It sees cuts to flood prevention and Natural Resources Wales, but increases to further and higher education.

But the Welsh Conservatives called it a budget of "smoke and mirrors" that leaves the public "in the dark".

Councils already know that they are facing further cuts to their annual grant from the Welsh Government.

They have been told they will be a "top priority" if Wales gets in Chancellor Philip Hammond's budget next Monday.

Earlier in October Mark Drakeford revealed that health spending as a whole would rise but that core funding for councils would be cut.

The additional NHS funding meet the costs of pay awards, investment in primary care and meeting other growing costs.

Health boards and NHS trusts will see their individual budgets in December.

Published in the wake of Storm Callum, the budget also includes a cut to flood prevention, from £57m to £52m next year.

by Owain Clarke, BBC Wales health correspondent

We already knew the health and social care systems would be big beneficiaries of next years budget - getting a cash injection of £287m on top of the £220m that had already been planned.

The Welsh Government says the half a billion pound increase goes beyond what independent experts (e.g Nuffield Trust and Health Foundation) analysed would be needed spent dealing with extra pressures and demand of aging population among other things.

Today we got more detail about where exactly some of extra cash will go.

Core NHS services run by the health boards will get an extra £315m compared to this year - a large chunk will be used to fund pay rises for NHS staff.

A lot is on commitments already made, including money to transform the way the NHS in Wales works.

More from Owain

Nick Ramsay, Welsh Conservative finance spokesman, criticised the way the budget is presented.

"The Welsh Government's continual changes to the budget lines mean that there is no opportunity to consistently scrutinise their spending year on year, making this a budget of smoke and mirrors, designed to keep the public in the dark," he said.

He claimed the Welsh ministers had made it clear "that rural Wales is an afterthought when deciding the budget as they've cut the capital funding for flood defences, frozen spending on TB eradication, and reduced the local government settlements for certain councils".

Cash for post-16 education and higher education is rising, by £11m and £20m.

Natural Resources Wales, which has faced damning criticism in recent months over its handling of timber sales, faces cuts, from £68.3m to £66m in its day-to-day spending.

Funding for the Arts Council for Wales, the National Library of Wales, and Cadw remains flat at £31.3m, £10.8m and £10.8m respectively.

Meanwhile National Museums of Wales will see its cash budget cut.

The organisation's support will fall from £22.6m to £21.6m.

However the museum says that the budget is less year because it is repaying £1.3m to the Welsh Government's Invest to Save scheme, which has been used to fund commercial initiatives and others that aim to save cash.

The figure was £277,000 last year.

It has already been announced that local government faces real-terms cuts in its funding.

BBC Wales education correspondent Bethan Lewis said there are warnings schools will increasingly have to take the hit from cuts to local government, with other council services already cut to the bone.