, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 4
Do either of you want to add a comment to that? Okay, we'll move on, then, Peter.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 4
Luke.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 4
Some of those types of elements, anyway. Thank you very much for that. Peter.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 4
So, nearly a graduated entry rather than a cut-off in certain circumstances—
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 4
And having spoken to the older people's commissioner and pension credit being another one of those—you're going to miss out by £2 or £3, but it doesn't open the door to anything else. So, we've got to get better at doing this, and I think that's come through…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 4
And there's the added—. My own personal experience of talking to people is that, if you get a 'no' from one, you think it's going to be 'no' everywhere—because there are so many applications, you lose heart. Mike.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 4
Yes. Natasha, yes.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 4
We've heard in the past in this committee and elsewhere about that 'no wrong door' approach, so that if—. Somebody, especially somebody who is in need, doesn't want to be repeating themselves over and over and over—I can see Luke wants to come in—and it's how…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 4
Do either of you have anything to add to that? No. That's fine. So, you said that you've got concerns about the reach and take-up of some of the schemes funded for the 2022-23 budget to offset the impact of the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis. Can you…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 4
Okay, thank you very much. I've got a couple of questions that probably focus more on some of the evidence that we've had from the Bevan Foundation, but if you've got any short things that you wanted to say on that, just indicate and we can add to that, but…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 4
Okay, thank you. Natasha.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 4
Okay. Lovely. Shall we go to Luke next and then to Natasha?
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 4
A warm welcome to you here. We've got a fair bit to get through, as you can imagine. But, it's being broadcast, and there will be a transcript available for you afterwards to check. I'd like to start with exploring whether the draft budget allocations reflect…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 4
Thank you very much. A warm welcome to you all.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 4
Lovely, diolch. And Luke.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 4
No problem, thank you very much. I think that's been a recurring theme for other people today. But, thank you for joining us—the wonders of modern technology and that. But, if we go to Natasha next.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 4
Thank you very much, Mike. That's fine, no problem at all. Now, we've got Victoria online, and we've got Natasha and Luke here, but would you be able to just introduce yourselves, and say in what capacity you're here today? Maybe we'll start with Victoria on…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 4
So, we're looking at another scrutiny session about the evidence on the draft budget. And, I think, Mike, you want to say something.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 4
Welcome back to this session, and in this session, we're going to look at the draft budget.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 3
Thank you so much for your time this morning, and also thank you very much for your service as the commissioner for the last few years. I know, as you said yourself, that it was tough for the first few years. It's a shame that you're just getting into your…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 3
Does that mean advocating for more civil servants?
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 3
That pre-empted a little bit of my final question. What piece of advice would you give your successor with regard to the budget? You've answered that one. Is there anything else that you, in the short term, with your successor coming in now, in the next 12…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 3
Thank you. Peter.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 3
And that has an impact on the long-term planning rather than the short-term dealing with crisis after crisis.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 3
Before I come to Peter, are you satisfied then that the Government's approach to addressing carbon impact is in this budget, or is it that you are having to do that work yourselves because it's not there, and you'd like to see the Government actually…
