20 Ionawr 2025 , Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Cyflwyniad, ymddiheuriadau, dirprwyon a datgan buddiannau
Can I welcome Members to this meeting of the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee? I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Laura Anne Jones to the committee and to thank Natasha Asghar for her contribution. Apologies have been received…
15 Ionawr 2025 , Finance Committee
Cyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru 2025-26: Sesiwn tystiolaeth 7
Well, speaking as someone who’s a great fan of Flying Start, I thank you for that, and I think that one of the things this committee could do, and my colleagues agree with me, is try and tease out from the finance Minister exactly what the funding of Flying…
15 Ionawr 2025 , Finance Committee
Cyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru 2025-26: Sesiwn tystiolaeth 7
Okay. Thank you. The final question from me: to what extent does the draft budget address your priorities? What would you have liked to have seen in the draft budget, and what would like to take out to fund it?
15 Ionawr 2025 , Finance Committee
Cyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru 2025-26: Sesiwn tystiolaeth 7
And on the distribution, sometimes it tells you more about age than it does about relative poverty, and older people tend to be better off, only because they tend to have grown-up children and they tend not to have all the costs associated with a child.
15 Ionawr 2025 , Finance Committee
Cyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru 2025-26: Sesiwn tystiolaeth 7
Okay. Thank you very much for that. Tell me if I've got this wrong, really, on transport, you're saying we're spending a higher proportion on trains than buses, and the poorer people are the ones who use buses.
15 Ionawr 2025 , Finance Committee
Cyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru 2025-26: Sesiwn tystiolaeth 7
Thank you; that's very helpful. Distribution analysis reports state that the budget provides far greater impact upon the 20 per cent of the population who have the least. What are your thoughts on this analysis, and what populations do you think could have…
15 Ionawr 2025 , Finance Committee
Cyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru 2025-26: Sesiwn tystiolaeth 7
Can I start off with housing? I agree with you entirely that we need much more council housing. I was one of the people who came from a generation who benefited from the provision of good-quality council housing. It's unfortunate that Treasury rules don't…
15 Ionawr 2025 , Finance Committee
Cyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru 2025-26: Sesiwn tystiolaeth 6
And keeping some of the capital, or all of the capital, receipts.
15 Ionawr 2025 , Finance Committee
Cyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru 2025-26: Sesiwn tystiolaeth 6
It's on capital. You've talked about the importance of digital. As somebody who earned my living in it and almost worked in this building in the distant past when Welsh Health Common Services Authority were based here, I'm very much committed to the use of…
15 Ionawr 2025 , Finance Committee
Cyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru 2025-26: Sesiwn tystiolaeth 6
I know we're struggling for time; I'll only ask one question.
15 Ionawr 2025 , Finance Committee
Cyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru 2025-26: Sesiwn tystiolaeth 6
Oh, I didn't know you were speaking about national insurance as part of the workforce. Yes, certainly. On the national insurance increase, you're going to get that covered by the Welsh Government, do you expect? Some of the people who contract to you won't…
15 Ionawr 2025 , Finance Committee
Cyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru 2025-26: Sesiwn tystiolaeth 6
No, I've finished my workforce things, so—.
15 Ionawr 2025 , Finance Committee
Cyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru 2025-26: Sesiwn tystiolaeth 6
Thank you. I think Darren—
15 Ionawr 2025 , Finance Committee
Cyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru 2025-26: Sesiwn tystiolaeth 6
Yes. Yes. I'm waiting for social services to respond.
15 Ionawr 2025 , Finance Committee
Cyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru 2025-26: Sesiwn tystiolaeth 6
Please.
15 Ionawr 2025 , Finance Committee
Cyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru 2025-26: Sesiwn tystiolaeth 6
Yes. I want to talk about the position of recruitment and retention, which are incredibly important to both health and social services. I'm also aware, if only from Swansea, that there's movement from social services into health as well, because health pays…
15 Ionawr 2025 , Finance Committee
Cyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru 2025-26: Sesiwn tystiolaeth 6
Despite increasing costs. I won't take it any further.
15 Ionawr 2025 , Finance Committee
Cyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru 2025-26: Sesiwn tystiolaeth 6
What you're saying is it went down by 1 or 2 per cent. Is it 1 or 2 per cent of the total health budget or 1 or 2 per cent of the primary care budget, and how does that compare with the increase in secondary care?
15 Ionawr 2025 , Finance Committee
Cyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru 2025-26: Sesiwn tystiolaeth 6
Yes. Health is a big budget, et cetera, and it's all centralised, but you've got the split between primary and secondary care, and it's a matter of fact that primary care has had a smaller and smaller percentage of the health budget over the last five years…
15 Ionawr 2025 , Finance Committee
Cyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru 2025-26: Sesiwn tystiolaeth 5
Can we write on the shared prosperity fund?
15 Ionawr 2025 , Finance Committee
Cyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru 2025-26: Sesiwn tystiolaeth 5
The point I was making is that, if it was 10 to each school then you could sort your budget out, but it won't be 10 to each school, will it? The very popular schools will just increase in numbers to their standard number, and the less popular schools will end…
15 Ionawr 2025 , Finance Committee
Cyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru 2025-26: Sesiwn tystiolaeth 5
Or, in seven years, they won't be.
15 Ionawr 2025 , Finance Committee
Cyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru 2025-26: Sesiwn tystiolaeth 5
But in five years, they won't be.
15 Ionawr 2025 , Finance Committee
Cyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru 2025-26: Sesiwn tystiolaeth 5
Two questions, really, as we're running very short on time. The first one is on education. What are your expectations of pupil numbers for the next 12 months and the next five years, because I've seen figures that show them reducing? Now, that creates two…
15 Ionawr 2025 , Finance Committee
Cyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru 2025-26: Sesiwn tystiolaeth 5
So patiently. [Laughter.]
