The prosecutor of Por Ávila, Pedro Pascual, has demanded this Tuesday an “structural” increase in the regional funding earmarked for local entities, so that they do not continue to assume alone the increase in the cost of services. In response to this request, the Minister of Health and Social Services, Alejandro Vázquez, has defended that the Junta is meeting its commitments and that its contribution grows by 20 percent within the social services agreement.
At the Plenary Session of the Cortes of Castilla y León, Pascual has insisted that the legal nature of the provision of social services cannot be used as a pretext to shift the lack of financial resources onto neighbors. He has highlighted the sharp increase in wage costs, in social contributions, in supplies, and in operating expenses that town councils and provincial councils must face.
The representative from Ávila has also raised the advisability of reinforcing specific actions in the province of Ávila, including the rollout of a home-delivered meals service in very elderly municipalities to address unwanted loneliness, as well as shortening waiting times in dependency assessments, which are currently at an average of 60 days for 680 people.
From the Junta, the Minister of Health and Social Services, Alejandro Vázquez, has denied that there is any “financial insufficiency” and has argued that the framework funding agreement is based on a shared co-responsibility model with local entities. He has specified that in the province of Ávila, the amounts allocated to the City Council of the capital and to the Provincial Council go from 14.5 million euros in 2024 to 17.4 million euros in 2026.
Vázquez has also emphasized that, with these funds, the regional government covers 100 percent of the technical staff of the Centers for Social Action (CEAS) and 90 percent of the home help service. In addition, he has pointed out that the City Council of Ávila lost the right to receive 659,000 euros in 2025 for not correctly justifying the programs carried out.