, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 2
If I may, Peter—. I'm just interested in that—you mentioned there a process to raise concerns. That would be a Minister-to-Minister type of conversation, I suppose; there's no formal mechanism to follow that from—. An auditor would go in and check that the…
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 2
Maybe one for Gareth, I suppose.
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 2
I'll bring Peter Fox in.
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 2
Mike.
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 2
It might be a question that we might ask the Scottish Minister when she comes—
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 2
That's very much food for thought for us as well, and obviously when we scrutinise the auditor general here in Wales, then it's certainly something that we can raise with him, and maybe a joint piece of work across the UK might be something. But food for…
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 2
Is that detailed work something that your office could undertake and would somebody instruct you to do that, or would it be something that you'd be able to actually do as a piece of work in your capacity?
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 2
Thank you for that, Gareth. My final question before moving on, and I'll bring Rhianon, then, in, is: from your observations of how Barnett works and the funding models by the UK Government to devolved nations, and from your audit work and looking at how…
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 2
Peter.
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 2
I'll bring Mike in.
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 2
And any comments on that, Gareth? Mike would like to—. [Interruption.] Yes, over to you, Gareth, yes.
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 2
Okay. Thanks for that insight, and a couple of examples there of things for us to maybe review as we're going through in this inquiry. I'd like to move on to one of the key findings from the report, and maybe Lee can look at how you came to that finding, and…
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 2
Thank you. Maybe going over to Gareth, the committee heard that a key principle of effective inter-governmental relations is parity of esteem between all parties. From your experience now since coming into your role in 2019, do you feel that the relationships…
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 2
Lovely. So, when you were having those interactions, obviously, you'd interact with the Treasury on a regular basis, because of the nature of what you do, and then with the interaction and some of the facts that you gleaned about the relationships between the…
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 2
Great. How did you then engage with the devolved Governments and HM Treasury during that investigation? Talk to me about how you went about it and what that engagement looked like.
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 2
That's fine. No problem.
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 2
Wonderful. Well, thank you very much for coming and being part of this session today. We're aiming to explore why the National Audit Office undertook the investigation and some of the views on Government relationships and funding to devolved Governments. I'll…
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 2
Very much so. Thank you very much. And Lee, would you introduce yourself, as well, please?
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 2
We'll move on, then, to our first substantive item this morning, which is the second evidence session on our fiscal inter-governmental relations. This morning, we've got colleagues from the National Audit Office with us—croeso, welcome. Welcome to this…
, Finance Committee
Papers to note
Thank you very much. Okay. Great.
, Finance Committee
Papers to note
We'll move on to item 2, the papers to note. There are 11 papers to note and the minutes of previous meetings. Are we happy to note those for the record?
, 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 back after the Easter period. I wish Members a warm welcome. Everyone is here, so it's good to see you. This meeting is being broadcast live on Senedd.tv and the Record of…
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General
Thank you for that answer. I'm going on a slightly different aspect, and you might not be surprised to hear that this question is framed within the lens of Ffos-y-fran opencast mine in Merthyr, in my region. It's outrageous that the mine owner is attempting…
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General
7. What legal advice has the Counsel General provided to the Welsh Government about ensuring that developers of major projects fulfil their contractual obligations? OQ60951
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Last week at a Senedd event, we heard from Mr and Mrs Brisley from Bridgend, whose daughter and granddaughters were killed by Hamas on 7 October. They said that they hadn't heard from anyone from the Welsh Government since the loss of their loved ones. I'd…
