, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2023-24: Evidence session
I'll leave it to Sharon.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2023-24: Evidence session
Only for England projects.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2023-24: Evidence session
Shall I ask Sharon to say a bit more about the engagement?
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2023-24: Evidence session
I do think that there is an acceptable level of transparency in terms of the changes that are made within and between UK Government departments. The issue I have is the timeliness of that transparency. So, it does mean it is often difficult for us to know if…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2023-24: Evidence session
No, within the first supplementary budget, the main substance of it relates to the international financial reporting standard 16 reclassification, so that's the big area that you'll see—in terms of numbers at least; it doesn't change our spending power…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2023-24: Evidence session
When we're clear as to what the causes are for the potential overspends or the pressures, and then the underspends, sometimes it's a case, depending on the overall Government position, that individual Ministers will just reprioritise underspends within their…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2023-24: Evidence session
Well, we have a monthly exercise right across Government where officials from each of the finance teams within each department will provide a return through the team that Sharon is involved with. So, I have meetings then with Sharon and the finance director…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2023-24: Evidence session
We are expecting there to be some underspends last year, but not to breach the reserve, so it's within the reserve.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2023-24: Evidence session
We are—
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2023-24: Evidence session
We are still awaiting the final outturn position, so as soon as we have that we'll be able to fully update committee. I'm not sure, Sharon, if there's anything more we can say at this minute.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2023-24: Evidence session
Yes. We'd have to make a separate case next year, then. But, of course, as we talked about in a different meeting yesterday, every year seems to be exceptional at the moment.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2023-24: Evidence session
So, I always talk to the Chief Secretary about our need for more flexibility. We had our initial discussion on this particular issue in November 2022, and then I followed that up with a letter in January. And then, through February, the Chief Secretary said…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2023-24: Evidence session
Yes, that is one of the challenges, because, of course, when it's gone, it's gone, and we know that next year is actually going to be another very challenging year, because, when we had the three-year spending review, of course, the bulk of the change was…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2023-24: Evidence session
No, and not really enough to even recognise the impact of inflation since the rules were put in place. Even that, I think, would be a good move.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2023-24: Evidence session
Yes. So, we've always been really, really grateful to the committee, both in this Senedd and previous Senedds, because this isn't a political issue, it really is just a budget management issue, and I think that that's, to be fair, recognised across the…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2023-24: Evidence session
It could help us. I think our real concern this year is around revenue. Obviously, with capital, there's so much more we would like to do if we had more capital available. But I think that some of the big pressures that we're seeing relate to the NHS, for…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2023-24: Evidence session
So, it's exactly the kind of situation that Mike is describing that led us to over-programme the capital budget, because, every year actually, we see those kinds of situations that Mike was describing in terms of slippage of projects, in terms of issues with…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2023-24: Evidence session
We're still finalising our outturn position at the moment, and, obviously, we will write to committee in the normal way. But, to manage the capital position at the end of the last financial year, we did request that Treasury switch a further £7.6 million from…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2023-24: Evidence session
The pay deal has been agreed in respect of the NHS. At the moment, of course, we're waiting to see how the UK Government has funded its NHS pay deal. We know that—. Well, the latest we would find out about it would be in February of next year, so in the…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2023-24: Evidence session
That's right. This allocation is specifically in relation to the teachers' pay deal, but in terms of the funding that falls within this financial year, because, of course, teachers' pay moves over two financial years, just because it operates on the academic…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2023-24: Evidence session
Thank you, and good morning, Chair and committee. So, I think I'll just first reflect on how you can see the impact of inflation within the first supplementary budget. I suppose the key place where you would see that is in the £28 million that has been drawn…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government First Supplementary Budget 2023-24: Evidence session
Yes, I'm Rebecca Evans. I'm the Minister for Finance and Local Government, and I'll ask the officials to introduce themselves.
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Well, there are local protocols in place for dealing with issues when the council hasn't acted as it should when carrying out its duties. But, perhaps if the Member could could either have a conversation with me or write to me outside of this meeting, I'll…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
The Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021 requires principal councils to put in place a participation strategy. This must set out how the council intends to encourage and enable local people to participate in decision making and scrutiny processes.
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Well, Ministers and officials regularly engage with a wide range of local authority-led networks in relation to the breadth of the sector's functions. So, those will include Cabinet members, it will include spokespeople for the WLGA and also officers will…
