, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023 - 24 - evidence session 2: Minister for Finance and Local Government
Thank you very much, then, Minister, and to your officials, for coming along to give evidence to the committee this morning. You will be sent a transcript in the usual way to check for factual accuracy. Diolch yn fawr.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023 - 24 - evidence session 2: Minister for Finance and Local Government
Thank you for that, Minister. If there is any further information you could send us in terms of looking at alternative models and whatever else might help meet those pressures in terms of the non-statutory services, that would be very useful. Thank you.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023 - 24 - evidence session 2: Minister for Finance and Local Government
I think what they told us as well, Minister, was that their difficulty is that they're constantly told by the communities they serve that the 20 per cent of services that are non-statutory are very much valued, and perhaps valued most by local communities…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023 - 24 - evidence session 2: Minister for Finance and Local Government
Okay, Joel. Minister, just a final question from me, returning to the preventative theme, really. We heard from local authorities earlier that they would like to do more on the preventative front, and they're concerned in terms of the financial strains of…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023 - 24 - evidence session 2: Minister for Finance and Local Government
Yes. Please carry on, Joel—that's fine.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023 - 24 - evidence session 2: Minister for Finance and Local Government
No, please.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023 - 24 - evidence session 2: Minister for Finance and Local Government
Okay, thank you, Carolyn. Thank you. Oh, sorry—Joel.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023 - 24 - evidence session 2: Minister for Finance and Local Government
Yes, certainly, Carolyn.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023 - 24 - evidence session 2: Minister for Finance and Local Government
Okay, Mabon. Thank you very much. Jayne Bryant.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023 - 24 - evidence session 2: Minister for Finance and Local Government
Okay, Joel? Thank you very much. Mabon.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023 - 24 - evidence session 2: Minister for Finance and Local Government
Thank you, Minister. Joel.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023 - 24 - evidence session 2: Minister for Finance and Local Government
Okay, Minister. Thank you for that. Joel James.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023 - 24 - evidence session 2: Minister for Finance and Local Government
Minister, could you say anything, perhaps, about the funds that would enable Welsh Government to meet its commitment to prioritise the most vulnerable and public services, while continuing to create a stronger, fairer and greener Wales? Do you believe the…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023 - 24 - evidence session 2: Minister for Finance and Local Government
Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you, Sam. Carolyn Thomas.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023 - 24 - evidence session 2: Minister for Finance and Local Government
Thank you very much, Minister. Sam Rowlands.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023 - 24 - evidence session 2: Minister for Finance and Local Government
Thanks for that. One further question from me before we move on to other committee members, and that is on the situation regarding people fleeing the war in Ukraine, Minister, and coming here to Wales. There's an allocation of £40 million, isn't there, for…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023 - 24 - evidence session 2: Minister for Finance and Local Government
I see. And as with all other grants, Minister, I'm sure you'll be keeping a weather eye on what happens from here on in terms of the Welsh Government's response to the committee's report and the need for adequate resource to fulfil the response that's been…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023 - 24 - evidence session 2: Minister for Finance and Local Government
Thank you, Minister. Moving on to a particular grant, then, the Gypsy and Traveller sites capital grant. As you know, Minister, the committee has recently concluded a report on the situation with Gypsy, Traveller and Roma communities in Wales. Sites are an…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023 - 24 - evidence session 2: Minister for Finance and Local Government
Ok, thank you for that, Minister. In terms of inequalities and the context of the cost-of-living crisis, could you tell the committee how budget allocations for local government have been determined in terms of the potential impact on inequalities in that…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023 - 24 - evidence session 2: Minister for Finance and Local Government
Yes, okay. In terms of the budget process from year to year, Minister, which you mentioned, we heard earlier from local government in Wales that a three-year indicative budget process would be very valuable in terms of the ability to plan and so on, but…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023 - 24 - evidence session 2: Minister for Finance and Local Government
No. But would the way that you're meeting now that we're in, as you say, less crisis-driven relations at the moment, would, nonetheless, the pattern of meetings be more regular than pre pandemic?
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023 - 24 - evidence session 2: Minister for Finance and Local Government
Yes, in terms of that partnership working, Minister, I think we're all familiar with the progress, really, made during the pandemic, when there were very regular meetings between Welsh Government Ministers and lots of key partner organisations, and…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023 - 24 - evidence session 2: Minister for Finance and Local Government
Okay. Item 5 on our agenda, then, is scrutiny of the Welsh Government's draft budget 2023-24, and our second evidence session with the Minister for Finance and Local Government, Rebecca Evans, who is accompanied by Emma Smith, head of local government finance…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Motion under Standing Order 17.42(ix) to resolve to exclude the public from items 4, 7 and 8 of the meeting
Okay, the next item then on the committee's agenda today is item 3, which is a motion under Standing Order 17.42 to resolve to exclude the public from items 4, 7 and 8 of this meeting. Is committee content to do so? I see that you are. Thank you very much. We…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24 - evidence session 1: local government
Okay, thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, Carolyn. Okay. Well, let me just thank all our witnesses for this first evidence session today for joining us to answer our questions and state views and concerns. Thank you very much, Andrew, who's had to…
