, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Final Budget 2026-27: Evidence session
Yes, and it's a very important part, isn't it, because the vote on WRIT comes before the vote on the final budget.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Final Budget 2026-27: Evidence session
You might have one vote because you're leaving—. Say you were leaving everything the same. But if you wanted to do something different on WRIT and property income, then, yes, in future the Senedd will have two votes and two decisions to make.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Final Budget 2026-27: Evidence session
That's certainly how I would assume it would be, Chair. I suppose if you were doing the identical thing—
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Final Budget 2026-27: Evidence session
HMRC will administer it. That is clear from the way the finance Bill approaches it, and we have an assurance from the UK Government that no cost will fall to the Welsh Government in setting up that system. If in the future we were to exercise the power to…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Final Budget 2026-27: Evidence session
Thank you. Maybe, just to make sure we get it completely right, we can write a note to the Member on that. I think I know the answer, but I'd rather get it accurately for you.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Final Budget 2026-27: Evidence session
Nor by me in that meeting, I'd have to say.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Final Budget 2026-27: Evidence session
I've had a meeting with the Exchequer Secretary since property income was proposed for devolution, and dividend income was not mentioned by him in that meeting.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Final Budget 2026-27: Evidence session
Thank you, Sam. I might ask Andrew to explain some of the technicalities here, which are pretty ferocious, if you've read the LCM; it's quite a hard read in many ways. But the timetable one is easier to explain. There's a difference between acquiring the…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Final Budget 2026-27: Evidence session
I suppose my reflection is that a lot of the last five years, to an extent that we would not have anticipated five years before that, has been about recovery. I believe we are in recovery from two or three major events. Sam and I would have a different view…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Final Budget 2026-27: Evidence session
I would describe the final budget as a budget that completes the mandate of this Senedd term. This is the final year of this Senedd term, it's the final budget that this Senedd will be asked to pass, and I would characterise it as a budget that discharges the…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Final Budget 2026-27: Evidence session
Well, I hope we have, Chair. And as I say, in the strategic integrated impact assessment, that question is asked against every one of the case studies that the document explores, asking the question each time: how is this moving investment to have a more…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Final Budget 2026-27: Evidence session
Well, productivity, Chair, is a shared responsibility across the Welsh Government. It isn't the budget alone that drives a focus on productivity. But in my discussions with my Cabinet colleagues, I was clear, I hope, in saying to them that I would put some…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Final Budget 2026-27: Evidence session
Well, Chair, I've tried this morning not to offer you too many self-congratulatory answers, but one of the things that I think I would say is that I think the strategic integrated impact assessment document is a very good read, and does deal directly with the…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Final Budget 2026-27: Evidence session
Yes. Look, I think both levers are useful for Government to have, and then you have to make a decision in the context of the year as to which one you think is going to be the most useful. Overprogramming I think has helped us to make maximum use of the…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Final Budget 2026-27: Evidence session
Well, I think both—
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Final Budget 2026-27: Evidence session
The pipeline is a dynamic document, Chair. That's why it's published every year alongside the budget. So, to give a couple of examples, maybe, if you'd looked at the pipeline in any year almost for the last 20 years, you would have seen a phase of the Heads…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Final Budget 2026-27: Evidence session
And as Andrew reminded me, we're yet to have the February supplementary estimates from the UK Government, which will also make an impact on that. But on any previous experience and from what I think I'm seeing already, even in November, I think that there…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Final Budget 2026-27: Evidence session
I don't have a reliable sense of it at this point, because the monitoring is always at least a month behind. So, the monitoring information I have is probably for November-ish.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Final Budget 2026-27: Evidence session
I thank Rhianon for that, Chair. So, to answer the last part of the question first, as I said, as part of the agreement with Plaid Cymru, there is £120 million in unallocated capital that appears on the face of the final budget for an incoming Government next…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Final Budget 2026-27: Evidence session
Well, look, it's a phenomenon that I think is well known, and we rehearsed it on the floor of the Senedd only last week in relation to land transaction tax. Who is the beneficiary of greater relief in land transaction tax—is it the seller or is it the buyer?…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Final Budget 2026-27: Evidence session
Yes. Well, look, Chair, I think there are two slightly separate questions in what I just heard. There is: how did we decide on our transitional relief scheme following revaluation? Essentially, what we've done there is replicate the scheme we used last time…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Final Budget 2026-27: Evidence session
Well, thanks to Mike Hedges for that observation, Chair. The way that I've tried to handle the budget in the years that I've been a finance Minister has always been to hold some money back for the final stage of the budget, because there always will be…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Final Budget 2026-27: Evidence session
Andrew.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Final Budget 2026-27: Evidence session
I think Andrew can probably explain the technicalities of it.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Final Budget 2026-27: Evidence session
Yes, yes.
