, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget - Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Thank you, Luke. I will now bring back Sam Kurtz. Sam.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget - Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
I understand. Yes. Okay. Thank you for that clarification. I'll now bring in Luke Fletcher. Luke.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget - Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
It's not transferred, but you'd offset it in that sense, from your perspectives. So, really, you'd only have £2.4 million shortfall, as far as you're concerned. I know that's semantics, but that's the way it works.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget - Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Would it be offset then, as far as your department is concerned? Is that how it works?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget - Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Yes. Thank you very much, indeed. Before I bring in Luke Fletcher, can I just take you back to the £8.9 million reprioritisation from the rural economic and sustainability programme budget expenditure line? Did I understand it correctly that you mentioned…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget - Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Thank you, Sam.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget - Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
If you don't have that figure, perhaps you can provide us with it.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget - Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
And how much is it overcommitted by, by the way?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget - Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Okay, thank you, Vikki. I'll now bring in Sam Kurtz. Sam.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget - Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Okay.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget - Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Yes, by all means.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget - Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Right, okay. Okay. I'll now bring Vikki Howells in. Vikki.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget - Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Right.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget - Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Thank you, Sarah. Before I bring in Vikki Howells, can I just come back to this £21 million shortfall? You've obviously recognised there's a shortfall, but you're telling us as a committee that there is no funding gap at the moment because you're actually…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget - Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Thank you, Jack. I'll now bring in Sarah Murphy. Sarah.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget - Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Okay. Thank you very much. I'll now bring in Jack Sargeant. Jack.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget - Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
So, your monthly meetings will act to make sure that you're actually on track for some of these commitments.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget - Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Yes. You mentioned earlier as well that you've got statutory commitments, obviously, as a Minister. Will you be setting financial targets alongside, then, your priorities going forward, to ensure that you're actually on track to achieve what you actually want…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget - Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
And how far do you think this budget has impacted your long-term objectives as a Minister and as a department?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget - Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
And can you give us, perhaps, examples of where your department has had to reprioritise your budget in light of this draft budget? Can you give us specific examples of where you've had to do that because of some of the financial challenges that your…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget - Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Yes. You mentioned earlier that your department can be flexible, of course, when it comes to some of these budgetary pressures. But, if you do need to scale back within certain budgets, how will that actually impact on outcomes for you as a department? And…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget - Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
And how are you actually planning for inflation and higher prices going forward? Are there any particular areas susceptible to price increases within your department, and how will your department actually deal with those challenges?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget - Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Thank you for those introductions. Perhaps I can just kick off this session first of all with a general question: how confident are you that the money allocated to your portfolio in this draft budget is sufficient to meet your priorities going forward…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget - Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
We will move on, therefore, to item 3, and today the committee will be holding two scrutiny sessions on the Welsh Government's draft budget for 2023-24, and this is a session with the Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd. So, a warm…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Papers to note
We will move on, therefore, to item 2, which is papers to note. There are a number of papers to note, but you'll be pleased to hear that I won't be going through each and every one of them, but are there any issues that Members would like to raise from the…
