, Plenary
Member Debate under Standing Order 11.21(iv)—Full devolution of water
Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I fully support the devolution of water to the Welsh Government. Further devolution of powers over water would enable Welsh Ministers to more effectively address the problem of sewage discharge into Wales's rivers and…
, Plenary
Business Statement and Announcement
I would like to ask for two Welsh Government statements, and a clarification from the Minister on her last answer. She talked about the north Wales metro and the south Wales metro. I'm sure it was a slip of the tongue when she didn't mention the west Wales…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Can I first of all thank the First Minister for his response? This development has been a huge success, regenerating a former dockland and storage area. It is a mixed development—a commercial, manufacturing and design, housing, university, and leisure…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
2. What assessment has the First Minister made of the success of the SA1 development and the lessons that can be learnt for the future? OQ59948
, Finance Committee
Audit Wales—Scrutiny of the Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23 and the Annual Plan 2024-25: Evidence session
Okay. Thank you very much. That's me done. I bet you wish I worked for the Welsh Government. [Laughter.]
, Finance Committee
Audit Wales—Scrutiny of the Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23 and the Annual Plan 2024-25: Evidence session
And the final question from me: RSM identify three Welsh audit office board meetings where there were issues with quorum. Are you satisfied that those meetings were conducted within the requirements of the Public Audit (Wales) Act 2013? Kate.
, Finance Committee
Audit Wales—Scrutiny of the Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23 and the Annual Plan 2024-25: Evidence session
Spending associated with the national fraud initiative was lower than expected. Is that because less was done, or is it because of expenditure in different years?
, Finance Committee
Audit Wales—Scrutiny of the Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23 and the Annual Plan 2024-25: Evidence session
Most of these answers will be 'yes' or 'no', so don't feel you have to say a lot more apart from that. Your outturn report showed the return of national insurance funding. Can you confirm the baseline for future years has been altered accordingly?
, Finance Committee
Introductions, apologies, substitutions and declarations of interest
I chair the PCS group in the Senedd, for which I get no remuneration.
, Plenary
Statement by the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution: The Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill
I hope that the Conservatives can tell Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board where all these doctors are that they can go and employ, because they're having difficulty in finding them. On numbers, Scotland has 4.6 million voters for 129…
, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Economy: The Steel Industry
I worked as a research officer at what was the BSC research centre in Port Talbot, specialising in iron and steel making, including with the blast furnace computer model. I have heard the statement and read the press releases. Moving to electric arc furnaces…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Papers to note
Can I just ask a rhetorical question? If they can't afford it, how is it commercial?
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Papers to note
It would be much simpler, wouldn't it, if Green Man just bought it off the Welsh Government at the price the Welsh Government paid for it, then it would be nothing to do with the Welsh Government; it would just be a purely commercial transaction. I think that…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Introductions, apologies and substitutions
I'm not sure if it's on the record, but I have previously stated that I chair the Welsh programme monitoring committee, which deals with European funding, and as such, I will absent myself from that part of the meeting, but rejoin you after that is completed.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25—Pre-budget scrutiny
I think it is something that is incredibly important in terms of the amount of money you have to spend. The only other thing I was going to raise was we had a long discussion in a Plenary, when the committee came along and led a debate on the budget and…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25—Pre-budget scrutiny
I think we need to, because I was just talking about that: somebody paying 20 per cent tax, that 10p that is being collected in Wales and allocated to Wales is not collected and allocated to Wales during the year, and that that is then constrained or…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25—Pre-budget scrutiny
Sorry, this bit is fascinating me, because I thought the 20 per cent rate was a 20 per cent rate in Wales that we'd split at the Welsh rate of income tax: we set the Welsh rate of income tax and we had the income tax from that Welsh rate coming in into Wales…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25—Pre-budget scrutiny
So, the 20 per cent is a nominal 20 per cent, and it gets adjusted at the end of the year; it doesn't come in on a monthly or annual basis.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25—Pre-budget scrutiny
So—
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25—Pre-budget scrutiny
One of us is confused, and it may be me, but you've set an estimate of how much income tax you expect to take during the year. During the year, wages have increased; in some places, quite substantially. Therefore, the estimate of how much money you expect to…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25—Pre-budget scrutiny
Twenty per cent is on Welsh rates of income tax, isn't it? If I am earning £50,000 a year, and I then go up to £60,000 a year, then there's a £10,000 a year increase, and that means that the 20 per cent Welsh rate will go up. I'd pay £2,000 more into the…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25—Pre-budget scrutiny
I don’t think I need it; I think that you need it, because, if you're going to have more money coming in during the year, due to wage increases, then that would mean the amount of money you would have to take out of the system would reduce, wouldn't it?
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25—Pre-budget scrutiny
I just want to come back to the increased income to the Welsh Government following wage increases. Of course, the Westminster Government left the amount of money where you're going to go up different tax bands as it was, and that means people are moving up…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25—Pre-budget scrutiny
Just wages going up increases the income tax take—
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25—Pre-budget scrutiny
I think that you also have to look at this year's budget. There are things happening all over the place, aren't there? The increase in wages helps income tax income; the unexpected problem with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, that will obviously…
