, Finance Committee
Motion under Standing Order 17.42(ix) to resolve to exclude the public from the remainder of this meeting and the start of the meeting on 22 May
I'll move on now. I propose, in accordance with Standing Order 17.42, that the committee resolves to exclude the public from the remainder of this meeting and the start of the meeting on 22 May. Is everybody in agreement? Lovely. Thank you very much. We'll go…
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 5
Thank you. No problem. There will be a transcript available for you to check for accuracy in the normal way as well. But thank you very much for your time this morning.
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 5
On that note, thank you very much for this morning—a wide-ranging conversation and really helpful for our inquiry. There might be one or two questions that we've missed or that might occur to us later. Are we able to write to you with those to get your…
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 5
I'd like to bring in Alun Davies on the last few questions, if I may.
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 5
I'm conscious we're out of time, but we've got a few more questions, so I hope you're okay for a few more minutes.
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 5
So, how would you do it? At the moment, the Treasury is judge, jury and executioner when it comes to this. Have you given any thought to what it would look like? Does it need an Act? Does it need an independent arbitrator? What actually could you do?
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 5
Okay. At that point, I'll bring Altaf Hussain in. Thank you, Altaf.
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 5
Thanks. Mike.
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 5
And do you have confidence that that could work? I know you haven't tested it yet, but—
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 5
You mentioned earlier in your contribution that there were mechanisms to be able to challenge and that your officials look at that. How do you avail yourselves of those ways of saying, 'Well, we don't agree with you, Treasury'? Would putting those on a…
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 5
Okay. Thank you. I'll go over to Mike Hedges. Diolch.
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 5
And going on from what Alun was saying, is there any joint working going on on policy development in that area? Do you work in your silos or do you try and collaborate on some of that policy development?
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 5
Alun, if you want to come on this, then I'll go over to Mike, and then we'll carry on. Alun.
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 5
Okay. Does rotating the chair help, do you think, in trying to combat some of that—making sure that a different voice is heard from the chair every time that you meet? Does that help or is it a hindrance?
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 5
So, helping with communications and getting that message across to the Treasury, is that one of the strengths of the FISC arrangement? Or maybe you'd talk about what some of those strengths and some of the weaknesses are, and is that communication, or is that…
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 5
Some of the principles that were established as a result of the inter-governmental relations review underlined that mutual respect for the separate and shared roles and responsibilities of the Government. It’s built on trust as well. Thinking about what…
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 5
On that bit, is it then an attitude towards devolution that's based within the Treasury that it doesn't matter as much? Because it's a respect thing, in a way, if it's last-minute. Do you get a sense that it's that, or is it just a, 'Well, it's just something…
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 5
So, you talked a lot about personal and interpersonal relationship building there, but there is a power imbalance between the Scottish Government and Treasury. Relationships, as you say, can only go that far. What's been your impression of that power…
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 5
Thank you, and I think we'll touch on quite a few of those aspects that you've talked about. I'd like to start by looking at the Scottish Government's relationship with the Treasury, and then some of the principles around the inter-governmental relations…
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 5
Well, you're very welcome. Thank you very much for coming this morning. It's great to see you and great that you've made the time to help us with this important inquiry that we're doing. We've allocated questions and we'll have some questions as we go along…
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 5
So, we'll move on to item 2 this morning, which is our substantive piece of work that we want to do this morning, and it's the fifth evidence session in our fiscal inter-governmental relations inquiry. We're very glad to have our witness with us this morning…
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 5
We'll move on, therefore, to item 2.
, Finance Committee
Introductions, apologies, substitutions and declarations of interest
A warm welcome to this meeting of the Finance Committee. It's good to see you all this morning. This meeting is being broadcast live on Senedd.tv, and the Record of Proceedings will be published as usual. This meeting is bilingual, and interpretation is…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
Thank you for that answer. It would be very useful to see that tracked through in terms of where it's moved to and from. I'm hoping that level of detail will be available in that. As you've said, as June approaches, we do anticipate the imminent publication…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
Diolch, Llywydd. Cabinet Secretary, since your reappointment to the Welsh Government, we've heard a number of commitments from your colleagues relating to their portfolios. These announcements have a bearing on budgets and on the bottom lines of each…
