, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 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…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 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…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 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…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 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…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 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…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 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…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 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…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 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…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 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.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 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…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 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?
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 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…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 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…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 6
Thank you very much.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 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…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 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?
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 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…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 6
But does funding the real living wage stop people leaving?
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 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…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 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…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 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…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 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…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 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…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 5
Thank you.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 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…
