, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
Because I've heard talk of being on a hamster wheel—that you're constantly having to reapply and then you're not getting the work done, and, at the end of the day, the service users struggle at the end of it. Anyway, sorry, Rhianon. I'll come across.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
Rhianon, could I just come in before you come in on that? With regard to social care, and in particular the services that are provided through the sector organisations and their budgets being funded through tendering processes through local authorities and…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
We heard some matters this morning, didn't we, about that in particular? So, we'd be very interested in finding out how that discussion goes.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
Thank you, yes, that would be great. I'll go to Mike now.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
I think, with the education Bill that came before us, it had a very wide range, and when we drilled into it, there were different aspects to that that made sense. But it's encouraging Ministers to come with that forearmed, or to make us aware of it…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
I think it just helps, from a scrutiny point of view, and from your own budget-setting aspect, if the numbers converge, then you've got a better chance of knowing how much you need to spend to make that Bill or that Act work. It would help with scrutiny, it…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
There's a table in the draft budget, in the narrative, which shows the implementation costs of Acts, and it's significantly higher in a lot of cases than the original budget. I know we've had inflationary costs and that sort of thing, but one of the…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
Thank you. Part of what we do here in this committee is looking at regulatory impact assessments for Bills. What oversight do you have as finance Minister regarding costs included in RIAs and how do these compare to implementation costs?
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
And obviously, the minute you start talking about systems and technology, then there are big prices being bandied around, and that's where, in a constrained budget, we struggle then to marry the two, the investment and where you spend your money when we're…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
Were there any discussions with possibly the Counsel General or the Minister for Social Justice around the general data protection regulation and data sharing across different organisations? Because I think, for me, it's probably one of the key things that…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
Thank you very much. Rhianon.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
Or protected, or whichever way you want to look at it. [Laughter.]
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
Flat. So, a real-terms cut—
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
Has there been a reduction in the budget for Natural Resources Wales? Because that would have an impact on biodiversity.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
So, effectively it's not a cut, as such, it's just more of a real-terms cut because of the inflationary pressure on it and what impact that has, then, on work that's carried out.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
I think it was more to do with it being a real-terms cut, because it's not keeping—
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
Rhianon, did you want to come in?
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
Mike, I think, wants to come in.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
Rhianon.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
And we've all heard of, and had sessions about, gender budgeting, about all that sort of thing. So, it all feeds into it, so it all helps. But, sorry, Emma.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
Because that's the point—it's the implications for health, but it might have an implication, then, on social services, on transport, and it's that overarching—. It's the theme then, and then it's from that that you work out what the implication is to our…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
Okay. Sorry, Peter.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
And was that one thing in particular?
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
And in financial cost, the actual quantum?
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
Sorry, Peter, just on that point, which one was the largest-sized reprioritisation that you had? You talked about that one. Was it that one from Lesley Griffiths, or was it—?
