Public Expenditure: Wales
The question
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the press notice entitled Major investment to boost growth and cement Britain’s place as cultural powerhouse, published on 20 February 2025, what consequential funding through the Barnett formula will be provided to Wales.
Answered by Darren Jones
The Barnett formula is applied when departmental budgets change – not when departments announce how they are spending their budgets. The Barnett formula was applied in the usual way, as set out in the Statement of Funding Policy, when the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s budget changed at Phase 1 of the Spending Review 2025.
The Welsh Government’s Phase 1 Spending Review 2025 settlement for 2025-26 is the largest in real terms of any Welsh Government settlement since devolution. The Welsh Government is receiving at least 20% more funding per person than equivalent UK Government spending in England. That translates into over £4 billion more in 2025-26.
The published Block Grant Transparency document provides a detailed breakdown of how the block grants are calculated and the next iteration will be published in due course.
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