, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session 6
Okay, great. Thank you very much. Just moving on to some other specifics, then, in terms of the Welsh Government's budget, the draft budget does look to invest around £1 billion of capital funding into low-carbon social homes. I'm just wondering whether you…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session 6
Thanks. And just one more thing on free school meals before I move on to my other points, in terms of value for money as well, obviously pointing to a few points that Mike Hedges questioned there, about future costs and that sort of thing. Free school meals…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session 6
And just to—
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session 6
Do you think, with parents having to do less and less for their children and therefore taking less and less responsibility for their children, are there any long-term risks of that just becoming the norm—more and more parents taking less responsibility for…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session 6
Yes, thanks, Chair, and good morning, Dr Winckler. Thanks for your time this morning—I appreciate it. I've got a few specific items to just gather your thoughts on, first around free school meals. I believe the Bevan Foundation described the free-school-meal…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session 5
Chair, I'm conscious of time. Thanks, appreciate it.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session 5
I'm just reminded, Chair, that time is running quickly; I'm just trying to be as fast as I can here. I think it would be interesting to consider that. Yes, there's Government investment, but Government investment can only go so far, and regulation's okay, but…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session 5
Yes. I suppose the old phrase, 'Put your money where your mouth is'—. There's a lot of talk; I'm not entirely sure the budget follows a bunch of that talk, as the correlation perhaps isn't as straight as people want it to be. Just going back also to talk…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session 5
All right. Thanks, Chair, and thanks, Alex and Sophie, for joining us this morning; I really appreciate your time. And thanks also for sending through your evidence paperwork as well. I was drawn, actually, to—. I love a good table, and I was drawn to the…
, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Economy: Stronger Regional Economies
Thank you, Minister, for your statement today. You did mention 11 years of marriage. I am at 13, and I'm sure that the significance of that number is not as unlucky as some might suggest. But, just going back to your statement, I was really pleased to hear…
, Plenary
Plaid Cymru Debate: Health inequalities
You've got the wrong Sam, sorry.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session 2—Minister for Finance and Local Government
Thanks, Chair. Just two quick questions. The first is in relation to a point I raised yesterday, or—the days all merge into one—in a Plenary session, anyway, about the ability of the funding formula for local authorities to take into account our ageing…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session 2—Minister for Finance and Local Government
It's a fair point, but I think the challenge that I'm trying to paint is that local authority leaders, councillors, they're every year facing a taxation decision, and Welsh Government Ministers don't seem to want to face that same decision. They set a level…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session 2—Minister for Finance and Local Government
Did you have your hand up then, Rebecca? Sorry.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session 2—Minister for Finance and Local Government
Just one more quick question, sorry, Chair—unless Rebecca wants to come back in, and then I'll ask my question.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session 2—Minister for Finance and Local Government
Thanks for those additional points, and I will agree to a certain extent. In the evidence provided by the WLGA, they do point to cuts to some services of around 40 per cent over this time. So, whilst you're right in that they've had to be creative, and that's…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session 2—Minister for Finance and Local Government
I'm just doing the maths, sorry—the £250 million gap and what that effect is on council tax to try and plug that gap. Granted, another way of dealing with that is just stopping doing some stuff—cutting some services—and that might be something that councils…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session 2—Minister for Finance and Local Government
Sorry, so then in terms of the potential of having to increase council tax by 20 per cent, whilst there may be some jiggling around with some numbers—. Well, as you may want to see some of those reduce, I guess local government might come back and say…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session 2—Minister for Finance and Local Government
So, on that point around future council tax implications, to look at the draft budget, which you've obviously published, in the three-year funding to local government generally, compared to what local government say they need, there is a £250 million gap…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session 2—Minister for Finance and Local Government
Not today, Minister, but good try. But in terms of that accountability, it's a really important point, because you probably heard in discussions earlier I raised the point with the council leaders about it being them every single year having to stand up and…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session 2—Minister for Finance and Local Government
Thanks, Chairman, and morning, Minister. I know you don't want to talk about council tax so much, but, I'm sorry, I'll be asking a couple of questions around that. First of all, more of a general question, and then perhaps I'll move on to more specific ones…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session 1—Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA)
I'm really sorry. A quick one on the council tax collection rates. There's quite a range of percentages there, from 97.5 per cent in Neath Port Talbot down to 91 per cent in Blaenau Gwent. I wouldn't have thought demographically that they're vastly different…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session 1—Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA)
Thank you, Rich. Can I ask one more quick question, Chair? Is that okay?
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session 1—Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA)
Yes, and that's the point I'm trying to make as well. So, Richard, do you want to say something?
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session 1—Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA)
Do you want to come back, Anthony, before Rich comes in? Yes.
