, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Well, it's clear to me that roads don't end in Wales and begin again in England, and that those roads move across the border. And I think it is important that people both sides of those borders understand what the speed limit is so that they're able to stay…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
I'm very happy to write to Janet Finch-Saunders with some more detail in regard to that specific procurement question that she asked, because it should absolutely be the case that organisations are able to procure locally, procure food from Wales. And…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
I'm grateful for the question. I'd be keen, perhaps, to have a meeting outside of the Chamber this afternoon to understand a bit more what lies beneath the concerns. But I completely agree that public services boards are critical partners in this agenda…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
We work collaboratively with Wales’s public services boards when procuring goods and services, looking at more than just financial cost. This is resulting in investment in our communities, delivery of well-being impacts, and creating a multiplier effect, with…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
I can give your constituents every reassurance in that regard, because the revenue support grant, and the formula that underpins it, is demonstrably one that is fair and one that doesn't favour certain parts of Wales over other parts of Wales. In 2023-24—in…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Local government and public services across Wales are a priority in our budget considerations. Once the revenue support grant budget for 2024-25 has been determined as part of the draft budget process, it will be allocated based on relative need, using the…
, Plenary
The Local Elections (Principal Areas) (Single Transferable Vote) (Wales) Rules 2023
Thank you to colleagues who have participated in the debate today, and particularly to the Chair of the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee for the very thorough consideration of the legislation. I did confirm a response to the committee earlier…
, Plenary
The Local Elections (Principal Areas) (Single Transferable Vote) (Wales) Rules 2023
Thank you. Elections are essential to our democracy, and in our programme for government we have committed to reform local government elections to reduce the democratic deficit. Earlier, my colleague the Counsel General outlined a Bill to improve how…
, Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: The health budget
Yes, and that's actually a correct statement, because I know there is a fact that more people from England come to Wales to use GPs here in Wales than go in the other direction, and I do think it is important to have constructive discussions across…
, Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: The health budget
Diolch, Llywydd. In responding to today's debate, I welcome the opportunity to again put on record the role that the UK Conservative Government has played in mismanaging the public finances of our country, which has directly led to the budget challenges that…
, Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: The health budget
Formally.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25—Pre-budget scrutiny
Thank you.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25—Pre-budget scrutiny
I think it just shows the difficult decisions that are going to have to be made. So, if we were to provide additional funding to some organisations for this, there's no additional funding, so it comes from—. We have to cut these jobs here to pay the uplift…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25—Pre-budget scrutiny
I think that will just demonstrate how difficult those choices are, because I think inevitably there will be areas where there are fewer jobs. Now, whether that can be accommodated by recruitment freezes in some areas is one thing, but then I think that is…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25—Pre-budget scrutiny
I did consider it, but there are so many moving parts at the moment that will keep moving between now and the time when we have to balance the budget at the end of the year. And I didn't think it would be the most useful activity that we could do, but that's…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25—Pre-budget scrutiny
So, the cost-of-living pay award for our Welsh Government civil servants is £9.8 million, including employers' costs, and that is part of the overall pressure that we're talking about in terms of the exercise that we're doing to identify funding that can meet…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25—Pre-budget scrutiny
Thank you. Just to reflect on the first part of your comments there, I think it really highlights the importance of our strategic integrated impact assessment, which we publish alongside the draft budget, showing the cumulative impact on people with protected…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25—Pre-budget scrutiny
There are various considerations, one of which is the indication that we should have some additional funding in respect of the NHS pay awards in England, so we have to make an assumption there. I'm hoping to get more detail from the Chief Secretary at the…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25—Pre-budget scrutiny
There's not much more I can add in terms of the exercise with regard to the £900 million at this point, but I am keen to share with colleagues, so that colleagues have an understanding of the work that's gone on. I'll perhaps ask Emma to say a bit more about…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25—Pre-budget scrutiny
Every single portfolio will be making a contribution towards the challenge of meeting the pressures in the budget. So, there won't be a single area of Government that isn't making a contribution. I have protected the revenue support grant, so there's no…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25—Pre-budget scrutiny
I think it's interesting, looking at the UK Government's productivity review, and then also looking at what Scotland did last year in terms of an emergency budget and, of course, the fact that, in Northern Ireland, they breached the departmental expenditure…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25—Pre-budget scrutiny
Yes. I really enjoy those debates, because every year—. I think we've done them a couple of years now, or three years now, I think, and they are different. And I did notice the difference in this year's debate, because I did feel that everybody was really…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25—Pre-budget scrutiny
So, we only have power over 10p of each of the bands, and the decisions that we take in respect of that, within the context of the OBR forecasts, is what we have for that year, and the adjustments are for the next year. Now, if the UK Government overall is…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25—Pre-budget scrutiny
We base our budget on the forecasts provided by the OBR for the financial year of the budget that we're talking about. And then, if the actual figures then are higher than the forecasts, there's an adjustment, which means that we will have additional funding…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25—Pre-budget scrutiny
The reconciliation then takes place after the end of the financial year.
