, Plenary
Voting Time
Yes, please.
, Plenary
Voting Time
[Inaudible.]
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Voting Time
My voting's not working.
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
Well, of course, the decision whether or not to introduce a tourism levy will be taken by the local authority and they will be best placed to know what's best for their local area. But the purpose of a tourism levy would be to enable and support that local…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
We're proceeding with the legislative proposals for the visitor levy. The process to develop legislation and the impact assessments are ongoing. We continue to engage extensively with the tourism sector, local authorities and others as this work progresses.
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
I'm very grateful for the question. I know the next steps will be in relation to planning, so the necessary planning will be required. I know Gwynedd aims to tender and start on site as soon as possible, to reduce the numbers in temporary accommodation, and…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
The Welsh Government office in Caernarfon is at Doc Fictoria, where we have a leased occupation until 2028. The sale of our vacant site at North Penrallt to Cyngor Gwynedd was completed on 28 March 2024. The Welsh Government remains committed to a presence in…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
Well, again, these would be questions that would be better directed to my colleagues, because as we set out in our budget preparations, we are not holding huge amounts of funding back to be able to respond to questions from colleagues for areas where they…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
I think the overall question in relation to funding of primary care might be better directed to my colleague the Cabinet Secretary for health, who is responsible for these areas. But just to remind colleagues that we have prioritised the NHS throughout our…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
I regularly engage in bilateral meetings with the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care. We face the most severe financial situation in the devolution era, which makes our task far harder. Despite this, we have identified a way forward that we hope…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
Well, the Member there is almost making the case for a visitor levy, you could argue, in terms of recognising the impact that visitors have on a local area and the way in which we rely on those local residents to pay for that. We do have examples of places in…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
Thank you, and I'd absolutely like to join Jane Dodds in recognising the importance of public toilet availability, particularly for disabled people, for older people, but then also those people who are travelling through our rural areas in Wales as well. And…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
I have had no discussions with the Cabinet Secretary since her appointment about funding for public toilets. Local authorities' 2024-25 average funding increase is 3.3 per cent, and each will need to balance service delivery against available funding. Despite…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
Well, that is an operational matter that you describe, really, for the UK Government, and we're not generally in the position of commenting on operational matters for UK Government departments. But with a view to trying to be helpful, we do have a service…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
I'm very grateful for the question, and I was pleased to see that very rapid u-turn from HMRC in relation to the decision to close the self-assessment helpline. I thought the public outcry spoke very loudly, and I do welcome that particular u-turn. From a…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
While the provision of UK-wide tax helplines is an operational matter for His Majesty's Revenue and Customs, my officials and I regularly raise, with HM Treasury and HMRC, the importance of taxpayers in Wales having support to navigate complex tax matters and…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
Thank you for the question. In relation to non-domestic rates and council tax, the intention is for revaluations on the non-most domestic rates side to be every three years, and then five years on the council tax side. There's no real reason why they should…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
I'm grateful for the question and also for the interest that Members of the Senedd and members of the public are showing in the issue of council tax reform. It does affect every household across Wales, so it's right that every household should take an…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
The Bill seeks to improve the overall design of the council tax system to include regular revaluations, and to ensure the legal framework for discounts and reductions remains fit for purpose. A detailed impact assessment has been published alongside the Bill.
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
Just to be very clear, there's been no material change to the Welsh Government's financial position since the supplementary estimates. I do have to object to any suggestion that we were holding back any funding so that the First Minister could have those…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
I'm grateful for those questions, and also for the kind comments at the start. Again, I look very much forward to continuing to work with you. We do have a very constructive working relationship, with the appropriate level of challenge, but also a keenness to…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
I'm not sure I would agree with the characterisation that we are not a Government that supports the tourism sector. The Welsh Government has ploughed significant millions of pounds of funding into the tourism sector in a whole range of ways and schemes, often…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
I think there are a range of things to say there, not least to say that everybody who is involved in the public sector has that responsibility to manage Welsh public money effectively, whether that's individual Ministers managing the funding within their own…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
I suppose the first thing to say there is to thank you for your warm comments, and I very much hope that we continue in our respective roles, because I enjoy the constructive relationship that we do have. In terms of consequential funding that comes to Wales…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
Just to be clear, the visitor levy is not going to have any immediate impact on visitors who come to Wales or on the visitor sector. The earliest any local authority could decide to implement a visitor levy within their area would be 2027. So, there's…
