, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I'm glad that you've reminded us that a priority area of this Government is to look at local services and local government. As I’ve mentioned many times in this Chamber, local government finances in Wales are currently on an…
, Plenary
Statement by the Deputy Minister for Social Partnership: Implementation of the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Act 2023
Like you, Minister, we got very interested in public procurement about a year ago, but, obviously, the Act came into force. As you remember, we had a lively discussion around public procurement targets. Could you give us an update as to where you're at with…
, Finance Committee
Motion under Standing Order 17.42(ix) to resolve to exclude the public from the remainder of this meeting and the meeting on 31 January 2024
I'd like now to go into private, so 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 meeting on 31 January. Are all content? Yes. Thank you. We'll go into private…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 8
Certainly, yes, no problem. Thank you very much for your time this afternoon. And, as I said previously, you will get the transcript to check through for accuracy.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 8
Okay.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 8
Right. Okay. And I think that probably brings us to time, unless anybody's got a question.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 8
Okay. Thank you. One element that we haven't talked about so much—we've talked about health, we've talked about social services—is mental health, which is another big element, especially with young people. There are concerns about that funding, and…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 8
Okay. Thank you very much. And obviously that's one of the ways that councils and local government can raise funding. Another element that's outside the revenue support grant is grants in particular. We were talking to local government again about the…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 8
And you mentioned council tax there. Obviously, we've had local government in earlier today, and the pressure of council tax increases is going to be felt and is the least progressive of the taxes; it's regressive and it affects the poorest hardest. Where are…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 8
But from a Senedd point of view, and from this committee's point of view, commenting on an RIA when you don't have that level of detail, because it's going to come down the line, and to see if it is good value for money, makes your job harder as a Minister to…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 8
And I suppose that leads into something that Huw will be particularly interested in, in framework Bills. Then, how do you produce a regulatory impact assessment on a framework Bill, where you don't know what it's going to necessarily look like once you've got…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 8
Yes. Is that error 100 per cent, or is that 10 per cent, or whatever? How far off are you?
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 8
—and being able to say, 'Well, that's the model, that's the actual, that's the difference, and why is there a difference and what analysis goes into that sort of working out?'
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 8
I just used them as new things that came through—
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 8
Yes. On that point, I suppose, it's when we're developing the budget, when we're developing and scrutinising Bills when they come through—and I've sat on Huw's committee, the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee, and looking at the nitty-gritty of…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 8
And those elements work together, then.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 8
And on that point, it's very similar to the social partnership—
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 8
Before you answer, shall I bring Mike in as well on that? There we are, Mike.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 8
Okay.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 8
And we heard a little bit about that earlier today. They were saying that that, in particular, wouldn't necessarily affect the poorest, it would affect the slightly more well-off.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 8
And you've got that data, but we haven't—no. [Laughter.] Over to Huw.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 8
And that longer term thinking, I suppose.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 8
Whilst we’re still talking about the future generations commissioner and the Act, what impact has the Act had on this budget? If we didn’t have the Act, would you have set the budget differently? Has it had any impact on thinking, ‘Well, we’d better put money…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 8
Yes.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Evidence session 8
Yes. That was the message that we were receiving.
