The Welsh budget

Sam RowlandsConservative

8 October 2026, Finance Committee

Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2027-28: Evidence Session

Can I just try to make that point really clear? I think in the report, if I remember rightly, you said there were an extra 75 staff to handle the changes in Senedd reform. I think eight staff have yet to be recruited because we're awaiting that decision from the Business Committee. I guess that's an…

Tagged from the title of its item or question: “Draft Budget”Official Record

Manon Antoniazzi

8 October 2026, Finance Committee

Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2027-28: Evidence Session

The planning we have goes all the way back to the planning we did when we needed to give the Welsh Government figures for the regulatory impact assessment of the reform Bill. We've referred back to that as we go forward. There was a higher estimate there and a lower estimate in terms of how radical…

Tagged from the title of its item or question: “Draft Budget”Official Record

Benjamin Hodge MckennaReform

8 October 2026, Finance Committee

Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2027-28: Evidence Session

If the Business Committee makes a decision to change the way that Senedd business works, what's the process in the Commission in terms of deciding how the staff costs come along? And then, have you mapped out any potential scenarios based on ongoing discussions with the committee at the moment?

Tagged from the title of its item or question: “Draft Budget”Official Record

Manon Antoniazzi

8 October 2026, Finance Committee

Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2027-28: Evidence Session

I touched on previously the way that our corporate plan and our medium-term resourcing framework are then cascaded through the organisation in more granular terms, and we have service planning that feeds back into that going forward. We have business plans. The key decision-making body here is the…

Tagged from the title of its item or question: “Draft Budget”Official Record

Peredur Owen GriffithsPlaid

8 October 2026, Finance Committee

Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2027-28: Evidence Session

As you'll be aware, the Business Committee make those decisions as to how the business runs, and that's something that we as Commissioners and officials then have to bear in mind. Obviously, we, the same as you, will have seen some of the papers that have been shared with us as groups on the…

Tagged from the title of its item or question: “Draft Budget”Official Record

Benjamin Hodge MckennaReform

8 October 2026, Finance Committee

Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2027-28: Evidence Session

Looking at the experiences of this Senedd so far and the impact of Business Committee decisions, you've stated that there are further staff and non-staff costs in regard to decisions regarding Senedd business—changes to Plenary and things like that—and that those will only be allocated when the need…

Tagged from the title of its item or question: “Draft Budget”Official Record

Sam RowlandsConservative

8 October 2026, Finance Committee

Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2027-28: Evidence Session

Thank you. I appreciate that. The challenge we have, I suppose, is that there's an ask in this budget today. It is a bit of a chicken-and-egg—I appreciate that—because there has to be a funding envelope to start making some decisions. How we consider that as a committee is the thing that's not…

Tagged from the title of its item or question: “Draft Budget”Official Record

Manon Antoniazzi

8 October 2026, Finance Committee

Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2027-28: Evidence Session

I think this project has been driven by value-for-money considerations and considerations of what is the best way to solve the problem that we have. Doing nothing was not an option. The lease was coming to an end; there had to be a decision on how to take it forward. The calculations—which we hope…

Tagged from the title of its item or question: “Draft Budget”Official Record

Sam RowlandsConservative

8 October 2026, Finance Committee

Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2027-28: Evidence Session

I guess it comes to the point—. The Finance Committee consideration is the numbers behind this. So, it's the value of the asset at the end of the 50 years, and the value of an asset that is only 50 years old versus the value of an asset that is considered, on an asset book, 50 years plus the…

Tagged from the title of its item or question: “Draft Budget”Official Record

Ed Williams

8 October 2026, Finance Committee

Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2027-28: Evidence Session

Absolutely. Just to quote our commercial adviser, we are essentially getting a new building. I appreciate it's not going to go all the way down to the foundations, but all of the exterior—. The windows are going to be redone, a lot of the superstructure and the steel structure is going to be redone.…

Tagged from the title of its item or question: “Draft Budget”Official Record

Peredur Owen GriffithsPlaid

8 October 2026, Finance Committee

Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2027-28: Evidence Session

I'll bring Ed in on the structure and what works are going to be carried out during that refurb to make it fit for purpose for the future. Ed, did you want to comment a bit further on that?

Tagged from the title of its item or question: “Draft Budget”Official Record

Peredur Owen GriffithsPlaid

8 October 2026, Finance Committee

Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2027-28: Evidence Session

I'll take that to start, and then I'll bring Ed or Manon in afterwards. I think the extent of the works that are going to be carried out in our preferred bid is significant. In effect, it will probably look like a new building on the same site without knocking it down. So—

Tagged from the title of its item or question: “Draft Budget”Official Record