, Finance Committee
Fiscal Intergovernmental Relations: Evidence session 1
We come to our substantive item this morning, and it's our first evidence session in the fiscal inter-governmental relations inquiry that we're doing. We're joined this morning by Philip Rycroft. Welcome. Croeso cynnes. I'll ask him to introduce himself for…
, Finance Committee
Papers to note
We'll move on to item 2, which are the paper to note. I have four papers to note. Are there any comments on anything? No. Diolch yn fawr. We'll note those items.
, Finance Committee
Papers to note
We'll move on to item 2.
, Finance Committee
Introductions, apologies, substitutions and declarations of interest
Good morning and welcome to this meeting of the Finance Committee. All the Members are here this morning, so we have had no apologies. The meeting will be broadcast live on Senedd.tv, and the Record of Proceedings will be published as usual after the session…
, Plenary
Debate: The Local Government Settlement 2024-25
It's no exaggeration to say that this debate comes at a time when there's an existential crisis in our local authorities. Fourteen years of Tory-driven austerity has left local government finances in Wales in an utterly ruinous state, compromising the ability…
, Plenary
Debate: The Final Budget 2024-25
Dirprwy Lywydd, I would like to finish my contribution by looking ahead to the future. Scrutiny is fundamental to identify key areas in the Welsh Government’s budgetary plans that require improvement. I will shortly be writing to Senedd committees—as I have…
, Plenary
Debate: The Final Budget 2024-25
However, before I reflect on the Minister’s response to our report, I'd like to address some general points. Firstly, I want to express our sympathy with the Welsh Government’s position. As the Minister has mentioned, it's highly regrettable that we are…
, Plenary
Debate: The Final Budget 2024-25
Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I am pleased to contribute to this debate on the Welsh Government’s final budget. The committee’s report on the draft budget included 39 recommendations, and I am pleased that the Minister has been able to accept the majority of them…
, Plenary
Debate: Welsh Rates of Income Tax 2024-25
As we've mentioned many times before, the inability of the Senedd to set its own tax bands, in contrast to the powers enjoyed by the Scottish Government, means that, in practical terms, the Welsh rate of income tax is inherently limited as a fiscal lever…
, Petitions Committee
Updates to previous petitions
Just quickly as well, I'm not sure—. I haven't read it in the notes, but just something, maybe, that we'd want to add to the letter, which might have a bearing, is changing the law with regard to ID for voting. A blue badge is one of the ones that you can…
, Petitions Committee
Updates to previous petitions
Diolch, Cadeirydd. Yes, it's good to be able to discuss this petition again today. There are quite a few questions coming backward and forward with this one, and there are quite a few concerns raised. I know we've had some late correspondence in from Mark…
, Petitions Committee
Updates to previous petitions
Okay, item 3, updates to previous petitions. Item 3.1, P-06-1294, 'Don't leave metastatic breast cancer patients in Wales behind'. This was submitted by Tassia Haines, with a total of 14,106 signatures. Just to say to members of the committee that I was…
, Petitions Committee
New Petitions
Is it worth then that we leave this petition open if we want to get that clarification? Because I tend to agree with Altaf there on finding out if there is any data or any information as to what happened. Do we track that information through, and maybe we…
, Petitions Committee
New Petitions
Yes, it was very—. Thank you, Chair. It was very impressive to see the stack of signed petitions, because, you know, over 8,000 names on paper is impressive compared to ticking a box or going through the online process, but actually physically getting it…
, Petitions Committee
New Petitions
Yes. Is it possible, then, to—? I know this would possibly be the lead Plenary debate if we had one, but would we be able to take into account the other petitions as well, just so that they all—? I don't know what mechanism we've got to do that, but I think…
, Petitions Committee
New Petitions
I sit on the standards committee as well, and one of the things that we have been asked to do is do a bit of work around this, so I'm sure writing from this committee to the other committee about this, to highlight this, would be useful, and add into that…
, Petitions Committee
New Petitions
Diolch, Gadeirydd. Thanks to the petitioner for bringing this one forward, and it's had 779 signatures on there, so it's had some interest. I think the initial final monitoring reports for the pilots were published in March 2023 and February 2024. Transport…
, Finance Committee
Motion under Standing Order 17.42(ix) to resolve to exclude the public from the remainder of this meeting and the meeting on 6 March
Under Standing Order 17.42, can we resolve to exclude the public from the remainder of this meeting and the meeting on 6 March? Is everyone content? They are. Thank you very much.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Second Supplementary Budget 2023-24
Yes. It's something that we've been grappling with as a committee in understanding. Some of it is in legislation, some of it is in understandings between you and the directly funded bodies, and our role as a committee in that, so it's just understanding all…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Second Supplementary Budget 2023-24
I suppose it goes down to some of the things that we were talking about in the debate, around timing and the process that we go through, and, possibly, because of the way the directly funded bodies have to account and have to produce supplementary budgets at…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Second Supplementary Budget 2023-24
I believe that there is an increase in the Wales Audit Office of £94,000 but it's a non-cash international financial reporting standards thing. So, I don't know. That's an accounting element, so it's non-cash, but whether or not—. Our comments are on…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Second Supplementary Budget 2023-24
Rhianon. Hang on a sec. Just unmute. There we are. You're unmuted.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Second Supplementary Budget 2023-24
Thank you very much. And finally as we come to time, you've discussed previously proposed changes in the financial update with this committee. Can you summarise the key changes beyond that in this supplementary budget, and what do you intend to achieve with…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Second Supplementary Budget 2023-24
Okay. Thank you. You've talked about—. When you were setting the budget, I remember we were talking about reprioritising—. When we were talking about capital projects, you said last year, for the 2022-23 financial year, you didn't have to pause or reprogramme…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Second Supplementary Budget 2023-24
Okay. Thanks for that. Rhianon, did you have any more questions or are you okay?
