After months of acrimony over budget settlement increases, the Welsh Assembly has given a £60m boost to help councils make efficiency savings. The assembly's finance minister, Andrew Davies, announced the money would be earmarked to fund ‘new and exciting models of service delivery'. The cash will be available on an investment basis to public service bodies to contribute towards projects which would ‘secure measurable improvements in efficiency', Mr Davies said. The Welsh Local Government Association welcomed the move, but said it was necessary, given the ‘very tight' financial climate councils were facing.