, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Second Supplementary Budget 2023-24
But we'll perhaps discuss with the health Minister how best to provide a useful update for committee as to where things get to.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Second Supplementary Budget 2023-24
We were just discussing how best to provide the committee with an update on the figures from the health boards. The outturn won't be available until the summer, officially.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Second Supplementary Budget 2023-24
In allocating the additional funding earlier in the year, the health Minister did make it clear that elements of that allocation would only become recurrent dependent on the progress in achieving the target control totals. The funds are included within the…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Second Supplementary Budget 2023-24
Is it worth, just for transparency as well, noting that the three organisations currently forecasting that they won't meet their target control totals are Aneurin Bevan, Hywel Dda and Betsi Cadwaladr university health boards?
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Second Supplementary Budget 2023-24
The £59 million allocation, as I said, doesn't provide additional funding to NHS organisations; it does reflect that forecast spending of the service at this point in the financial year. Those funds will be held by the Minister for Health and Social Services…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Second Supplementary Budget 2023-24
There are no current plans to make any further allocations this year. Any unused funds will be carried forward into the Wales reserve to draw down in future years and to support future years' spending. In drawing down everything from the reserve, it really…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Second Supplementary Budget 2023-24
I think things that could assist would be—. For example, we had the Barnett guarantee during the COVID pandemic; that was very useful in at least giving us an understanding, when there was significant additional funding coming forward, that whatever we were…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Second Supplementary Budget 2023-24
I think it was less late allocations in Westminster than refining their understanding of the figures, shall we say.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Second Supplementary Budget 2023-24
This year's supplementary estimate process has been particularly volatile. We were given a set of figures upon which to plan, which of course is useful—it's quite late in the year, but to have at least something to plan is important. But then it was made…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Second Supplementary Budget 2023-24
Nonetheless, I probably wouldn't want to go into too much detail, because we need to, I suppose, respect the integrity of the negotiations that do take place and that have taken place. I would probably say that there was some difference in terms of the…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Second Supplementary Budget 2023-24
What I wouldn't want to do is to talk about the assumptions that we make on pay, for obvious reasons—
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Second Supplementary Budget 2023-24
One of the key elements is that we were able to carry forward some funding over and above, or outside of, the Wales reserve into next year, so, that does mean that we are able to have a modest reserve available to us in the next financial year. So, that's…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Second Supplementary Budget 2023-24
And if I can just add as well, sometimes we drive those underspends. So, if there are pressures that we need to manage, driving underspends and underspending deliberately is part of the strategy that we can deploy as well.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Second Supplementary Budget 2023-24
The health Minister and her team would probably be best placed to describe the scrutiny that she puts into the health service in terms of how that money is spent. But I'm going to ask Emma just to say a bit more about our overall approach to delivering value…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Second Supplementary Budget 2023-24
So, it's something relatively new in my time in this role, but we felt it was important, especially when budgets are really stretched, that everybody has that kind of transparent view of where the pressures are across Government. And it's important for…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Second Supplementary Budget 2023-24
I was just going to say that it's worth adding as well that I report monthly to Cabinet. It's usually in the form of a paper to note, but I might speak to it if I feel that it needs a bit more explanation. And that then offers Cabinet the opportunity to see…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Second Supplementary Budget 2023-24
I'll bring Sharon in on this point in terms of the discussions that our Welsh Treasury team have with officials managing finances in health as well. But, yes, I do think that the NHS has worked really hard to bring down the deficit. It's probably not quite…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Second Supplementary Budget 2023-24
Yes, there was quite a bit of debate at that point in the summer as to whether or not that was the point at which to tell people, 'We've got this £900 million pressure, we're going to be taking action to address it, and it will involve some difficult choices…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Second Supplementary Budget 2023-24
I think it was definitely the right course of action at the time, knowing what we did about the size of the pressure that had emerged across Government. I think, potentially, had we known that the size of the consequential funding, coming very late at…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Second Supplementary Budget 2023-24
Yes, of course. Thank you for the opportunity to come before committee today. At the time of the update that I provided in October, we were obviously trying to deal with some significant pressures that were being felt in year, and making those difficult…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Second Supplementary Budget 2023-24
Yes. I'm Rebecca Evans, Minister for Finance and Local Government, and I'll ask officials to introduce themselves.
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Yes, I would certainly support that call, and also, to echo an important point that Mike Hedges made yesterday, that there should be independent arbitration of that, and a clearly set out appeals process, to ensure that fairness that we want to see embedded…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
I recently wrote to the Chancellor, reiterating the need for a principles-based approach to the UK fiscal framework, as set out in 'Reforming our Union', which includes replacing the Barnett formula. I continue to raise the immediate challenges of the…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
I think one of the challenges that local authorities face is when you have had extended periods of very low council tax increases. Eventually something does have to give. I think that we potentially are seeing that in some areas. But, of course, this is a…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Each local authority has the freedom to set its own council tax and is accountable to the local electorate for the decision it makes.
