, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Well, we've always said that we will look to devolve powers to the correct level of governance, and there are certainly areas where we could look to devolve further powers from Welsh Government to local authorities. But, again, if this is a particular area…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Well, I think that the current relationship that councils have with Natural Resources Wales is very useful because they both have shared concerns in terms of ensuring that our environment and our approach to climate change is very much at the heart of both…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
I thank the Member for those points, and I do think that they are well made in terms of the importance of giving local authorities adequate notice of funding that will be available to support various programmes. I share his enthusiasm, though, for what he saw…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Thank you very much for raising this important issue, and it was an issue that was actually raised with me on my grand summer tour of local authorities and it's certainly something that is of significant concern to some of those authorities. And our programme…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Support for the provision of children’s services is a priority in our budget preparations. Most recently, the 2021-22 supplementary budget allocated £98.7 million to the health and social services portfolio to support children.
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Thank you for the question. The Member is absolutely right that there are some FPNs that don't have the requirement to reinvest the money in terms of the cost of the service. But traffic and parking offences sit outside that, of course, being exceptions to…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
It is for each authority to determine its policy and approach to the use of fixed-penalty notices locally. Fixed-penalty notices are a key tool in tackling a number of offences and we support their use as a response to low-level environmental and other…
, Plenary
Debate: Priorities for 2022-23 Budget Preparations
Diolch, Llywydd. I'd like to thank all colleagues for what's been a really wide-ranging debate and thank you for the representations that you've been putting forward today. I do agree that, in future years, it would be excellent for this debate to be held by…
, Plenary
Debate: Priorities for 2022-23 Budget Preparations
It's working okay for me.
, Plenary
Debate: Priorities for 2022-23 Budget Preparations
Diolch, Llywydd. Continuing the tradition of the previous administration, I am pleased to outline the preparations for the Welsh Government's budget for 2022-23. This annual debate has become an important fixture in the Senedd calendar, providing an early…
, Plenary
Debate: The First Supplementary Budget 2021-22
Diolch. I'd like to thank all Members today for their thoughtful contributions. This first supplementary budget is an important part of the budget process, allowing changes to be reported to and scrutinised by the Senedd, and I do welcome the constructive…
, Plenary
Debate: The First Supplementary Budget 2021-22
Diolch, Llywydd. This first supplementary budget of 2021-22 once more focuses squarely on the Welsh Government's response to the pandemic. It regularises the important allocations that the previous Welsh Government made to help us and our partners respond…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2021-22: Evidence session
Colleagues are expected to undertake that work fully within the context of the future generations Act, so it shouldn't be an add-on or a tick-box at the end when you decide, 'Oh yes, actually, this does give a globally responsible Wales, it does support the…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2021-22: Evidence session
I ask colleagues for their broad requests in terms of supporting the recovery and then we define that as ways in which to help Wales move forward out of the pandemic. But there will be specific things that I ask them to consider as well, because this isn't…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2021-22: Evidence session
In relation to the first question, which is about the local government hardship fund and what we expect to be delivered through that, there are two particular elements to it, the first providing local authorities with funding for the extra costs that they've…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2021-22: Evidence session
A few things have happened in the previous budget, and that was in support of the NHS and health in particular. You'll remember that there was an allocation of £800 million for health, and that figure was determined when health provided a very long list of…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2021-22: Evidence session
Yes, I definitely envisage making further allocations to health. This is part of the work I described earlier, where colleagues are looking at their portfolio in the round to determine what further funding is needed for recovery, but also for ongoing…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2021-22: Evidence session
The £100 million was specifically looking at supporting the recovery rather than the response, if you like. Local plans have been put in place by the NHS organisations in order to deliver on that, and to use that £100 million. Ways in which they are…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2021-22: Evidence session
In the final budget in March, I announced an additional £380 million to support the NHS's ongoing response to the COVID pandemic, and in addition to this, we confirmed an additional £60 million to support the contact tracing. As we move into this new phase of…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2021-22: Evidence session
This would be a matter for the economy Minister, but it's not something that he has discussed with me as being one of his key concerns at the moment, and the statement from Ken Skates showed that the write-off was the most cost-effective, if you like, way of…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2021-22: Evidence session
We don't have immediate concern about further funding being required at present, because the funding that was announced by Ken Skates back in March is, we believe, sufficient, certainly for this year. That said, there are big challenges for airports across…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2021-22: Evidence session
Thank you for raising this. Colleagues will have seen the statement by Lee Waters recently. The current situation is that officials are in the final stages of establishing the roads review panel, and then that will include some of the UK's leading experts on…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2021-22: Evidence session
I can ask the economy Minister to provide that detail when he provides you with more information, but I assume it's because they didn't meet the criteria of that particular grant. But he'll be able to confirm that to you.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2021-22: Evidence session
So, the original plan was to earmark up to £30 million, and £20 million of that has already been released. But it's clear that there is quite a significant degree of demand in that sector, so we've released the further up to £10 million to meet that demand…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2021-22: Evidence session
I'd be more than happy to ask the economy Minister to provide a more detailed breakdown and update on this.
