18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 8
I've got two more threads to the next questions, but I'll just make a comment that, of course, part of the cost of Network Rail is the number of people that they move at the end of the day by taxi because the Heart of Wales line isn't running and people are…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 8
I agree with you, and I hold different views to the vast majority of people in the Senedd. I've already incurred the wrath of the farming unions. I'm sure I'm going to incur the wrath of rail supporters by saying: is £15 subsidy on average per journey per…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 8
Okay. Thank you very much for explaining that. You've assessed that your budget is worth £1.3 billion less in real terms. Nobody has disagreed with you—no-one in Westminster, no-one in the Senedd has disagreed with that—so I think we can assume that those…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 8
Diolch, Cadeirydd. Also, of course, those people paying the top rate will often, or mostly, have more than one property and therefore they'd be able to choose which one of those properties they were going to spend most of the year in. But going on to the…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
When I was sat where you are sat now, I was arguing that the grants needed to be consolidated, but the absolute amount of money that was there had to be put into the system. It couldn't be, 'We'll give you 90 per cent of it'—the whole amount had to be put in…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
Moving on, on grants, the Welsh Government and the Minister have said that in order to help local authorities, making sure that they're not hampered by unnecessary bureaucracy, there will be a consolidation of certain grants into aggregate external finance…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
I certainly want to move on to capital. Capital funding is the same in 2024-25 as it was in 2023-24, and, before you say it, I know it was inadequate in 2023-24 as well. Two questions: are you using slippage and rescheduling in order to carry out capital…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
Now, other services, which are key, that I want to mention are environmental health and trading standards—both carry out their really important roles from which we all benefit. What concerns do you have about key services like that and building control, which…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
Yes. I didn't declare it as an interest, but my daughter is a teacher on Ynys Môn, in Amlwch, so I'm just bringing that to your attention.
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
Yes. Moving off social services to the other big expenditure level: education. You've said: 'Even the councils that have protected schools in recent years say that they cannot be given the same support in the future given the scale of funding gap.' If schools…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
Carrying on with social services, you say the social care market remains fragile. What are the risks facing local authorities in this area going into 2024-25, and how are you going to try and resolve them?
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
Diolch, Cadeirydd. In your consultation response, you say there is a very real concern that the level of protection that has been afforded to social services in the past will not be possible for much longer. If you aren't able to protect social services, what…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
My question is to Mark Pritchard. You said you were going to do away with all non-statutory services. Does that mean you're going to close every park? Does that mean you're going to close every community centre? Does that mean you're going to close every…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 6
Thank you very much.
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 6
Okay. Can I, just finally, say on this last point, on social services, the more people who can get early interventions so that they don't end up ill, using both primary care, getting to see a GP early, which can be incredibly difficult in some practices…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 6
Finally from me, does the Welsh Government—this is to ADSS—allocate sufficient resources in the draft budget to deliver actions set out in the initial implementation plan, which runs to 2025, for the creation of a national care service?
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 6
Yes, the point is it's not just about getting out of hospital, is it? It's about not going into hospital. If you have sufficient social care provision, then people are getting their adaptations, they're getting care early on rather than waiting for them to be…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 6
But does funding the real living wage stop people leaving?
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 6
And you agree. [Laughter.] Okay, moving on, what's your understanding of the funding position for 2024-25 for the additional costs of paying the real living wage for care workers? And is paying the real living wage to care workers actually stopping care…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 6
Can I say I agree with you entirely? If you've ever listened to my speeches, which you probably haven't, I talk about, 'Is it any surprise that people who live in cold, damp houses, who have poor nutrition, tend to have a poorer health outcome than those who…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 6
There's a tension in Government spend, and I would assume in health board and social services spend, on the ground, between doing things that are described as 'preventative spend' and doing things that you believe have to be done now. Have the Welsh…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 6
I'll prioritise the questions, in my view, anyway. How are the allocations in the draft budget driving digitalisation, and the use of IT transforming the way in which health and social care are delivered to aid sustainability? And what savings and…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 6
Yes. We’ve talked about social care, and we've talked about hospitals. We've missed out what I think is the most important part—primary care. If we can get primary care right, then fewer people will be going to accident and emergency departments and fewer…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 5
Thank you.
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 5
Sorry, I didn't express myself particularly well in the last question. What I meant was not in this committee here—although probably millions of people are listening to it—but going outside in public and saying we need to do more on preventative spend to…
