18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 8
I think the Act is becoming embedded in the way that we do things. For example, in terms of the way in which we operate in such a collaborative way, the level of engagement we do, I think that the Act compels us to do that, but actually we see the benefit…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 8
I don’t share their concerns to the same degree, because in the sense of necessity being the mother of invention, perhaps when you do find yourselves in even more constrained times, it does lead you to innovation, and most importantly, also, to collaboration…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 8
We'd love to be in a position where we're able to give longer term certainty. Whenever we can, we do. We're now coming into the third year of our three-year spending review, so at that point we were able to give certainty, although the value of that…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 8
As I mentioned earlier, the actual change in our budget, as compared with our original plans, only represents a shift of 5 per cent of our £23 billion annual budget. So, just to make that clear, really, in terms of the suggestions of shifting focus. I just…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 8
Absolutely. That's where we have those meetings, particularly with the WLGA, who set out their list of pressures, and then our local government finance officials will test those pressures with local government, make sure that there isn't any double counting…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 8
It's important that we have evidence as part of that engagement work. Through the budget process, we ask local government, health and others to provide us with significant information that sets out the impact they believe that inflation will have on the…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 8
Yes. We undertake a great deal of engagement right throughout the year, actually, in terms of our budgets. So, almost as soon as we've all voted one way or the other in the Senedd and as soon as we're able to pass a budget through the Senedd, almost…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 8
I think that health or the NHS and social care, through the local government settlement, is an interesting one. So, in this financial year, local government saw a greater uplift than health saw, whereas in the next financial year, health will see a greater…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 8
I think that's something that I'll ask my officials who particularly deal with the budget improvement side of the work and, obviously, our budget improvement plan as well, perhaps to sit down further and discuss that with the future generations commissioner…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 8
Absolutely.
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 8
I'm grateful for that question. I did have the opportunity to watch the session this morning before I went into the local government committee, and I was pleased to see the future generations commissioner recognising the good relationship that he and his…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 8
So, the mapping relates to allocations against the infrastructure finance plan investment areas, and that sits under the Wales infrastructure investment strategy. All this will do really, in terms of impact, will be in relation to the financial transactions…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 8
I would say as well, though, that the position changes all the time—like, all day, every day, the position is changing. So, I have meetings, monthly meetings particularly, to look at returns that we get from colleagues across Government in terms of pressures…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 8
So, I think what you're describing is the kind of in-year financial management, rather than how we go about setting budgets.
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 8
Oh, was it? [Laughter.] It was a while ago, but—. So, no, since then, it generally doesn't happen. But I would just say in our defence, really, that the amount of detail that we publish is huge, and bearing in mind as well, when we receive our budget…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 8
So, I think the Welsh Conservatives put forward an alternative budget—and Peter will remind me if I'm wrong—I think it was around 2012.
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 8
I think there are particular challenges around rail in the sense that some of the costs are fixed costs and the choices that you have to reduce those costs are very, very limited, and also the impact of the pandemic, which is still being seen. So, the figures…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 8
Thank you for that question. It is good to see that we haven't had a great deal of challenge in terms of the work that we've done to demonstrate that £1.3 billion figure. I know we talked about that at our last Finance Committee session as well. So, that's…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 8
Yes. It would definitely be easier, but there are very good reasons why we've done things in this way in this year, and that's because the figures are linked to the statement that I made in October this year, when we talked about the work that Welsh…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 8
And that takes us back to the Chair's points, then, about looking at the Scottish model. So, if you do have a larger range of bands, then you can offer relative protection to people on the lower bands. So, there are more policy choices that you could make in…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 8
Yes. To do anything meaningful it would be the basic rate.
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 8
Yes, we do have a ready reckoner available, so that you can look at the impact of raising Welsh rates of income tax or lowering Welsh rates of income tax. We do have all of that available. But to make any real difference it has to be to the basic rate…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 8
Well, we do consider it genuinely afresh every single year as part of our budget-setting process. We are mindful of the commitment that we made in the manifesto not to raise Welsh rates of income tax for as long as the economic impacts of Brexit [correction…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 8
So, timescale wise, UK Government could do this almost instantly if it was inclined to do so, and that's one of the frustrating things, because what we're asking for, in terms of the borrowing powers and for the Wales reserve to be indexed, for example, these…
18 Ionawr 2024 , Finance Committee
Craffu ar Gyllideb Ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer 2024-25: Sesiwn dystiolaeth 8
So, when we are able to share more with the committee, we'd be very keen to do that.
