, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 3
You've previously outlined the importance of investing in skills and training—I very much welcome that—and you've welcomed some specific commitments in the budget. What about high-level skills? That's one of the areas that Wales is very weak in, and, if you…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 2
Very briefly, can you send us a link for the Nuffield report? The second point is that the danger of telling the Welsh Government to make something more efficient is that they'll just create bigger and bigger organisations that eventually perform worse and…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 2
Moving on, the funding outlook doesn't look good, though, as we also know there's going to be a general election next year, I think that the likelihood is that all those numbers we've had for our five-year programme will disappear next year. They might come…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 2
A couple more questions: do you think the budget shows sufficient evidence of how policy is evidence driven and how outcomes will be evaluated, or is it what I seem to see it as, which is just a continuation of what we had last year with a little bit more…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 2
Funny you should say that—I couldn't either. [Laughter.]
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 2
Thank you. Moving on to the budget, you've seen the budget documentation. Are you able to easily identify areas that are being deprioritised or delayed?
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 2
I'll carry on talking about capital for the next few moments and the effect of inflation and increased costs on social housing plans in housing associations, in councils, which are starting to build houses again. How do you see that being affected? Of course…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 2
David, just on what you said there, would an increase in unemployment actually affect the amount of income tax that the Welsh Government take? Also, is it possible it would have a knock-on effect on house prices, which has an effect on the money we get from…
, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Climate Change: Biodiversity
I'm very pleased we received this statement today. The biodiversity crisis is at long last getting the same attention as environmental change and global warming, both of which are obviously affecting the biodiversity. Along with the Minister, I'm very pleased…
, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Economy: Developing Technological Clusters in Wales—Medical radioisotope production and nuclear medicine expertise
I very warmly welcome the statement. This is what levelling up looks like. This is what technological clusters and what successful economies have. It will also help stimulate the economy by attracting highly skilled jobs and create a surrounding…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
I thank the First Minister for that response. The published rail timetable for December 2022 didn't have the 15:12 service from Llansamlet— this was added after I raised concerns under business questions. An issue I've raised previously is that First Cymru…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
7. Will the First Minister provide an update on Welsh Government action to improve public transport connectivity from Swansea? OQ58897
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Economy
Can I thank the Minister for that response? As I mentioned yesterday in a question to the First Minister, there have been a number of high-tech successes in SA1. Also, SA1 is a further development in Swansea that combines residential, high-skilled employment…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Economy
3. Will the Minister provide an update on the SA1 development in Swansea? OQ58856
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 1
Can I just say—and Rebecca will understand it—I would call it a 'Mr X budget'?
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 1
I'll miss it at this stage, I'll raise it somewhere else; it's about school reserves.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 1
I was.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 1
I used the word 'expectation'.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 1
Can I ask the Minister about primary care? Primary care has done very badly since the merger of primary and secondary care. And this is a matter of fact, not of opinion—the percentage of money spent on primary care has gone down since they were merged, and…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 1
Okay. Thank you.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 1
Or the amounts attached to them?
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 1
Finally from me, the co-operation agreement between the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru has been in place for a year. Where can we see in the budget the effect of that?
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 1
And something that this committee—well, mainly myself and the Chair—have been very keen on is outputs. We've talked a lot about that over the last 15 months and I've certainly talked about it over the last 11 years. It's outputs that matter, not inputs. But…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 1
As most mortgage owners know, eventually, debt disappears and the councils will be, this year, paying off their 1962 council house building—the final parts of that—that they borrowed over 60 years. We've also got a small number of private finance initiative…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 1
Can I ask for a note on this, because, if you answer it fully, it'll probably take a large chunk of the time we've got available? Can you give us a note on progress made to secure the required powers to implement a vacant land tax and what discussions you've…
