, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 5
Thank you, Chair. And the point that Nia’s raised, of course, that £1 million you described in Gwynedd is then a 2 per cent hit on council tax, probably—the equivalent of—which then you have to stand up in the chamber and try and justify, which I think is the…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 5
Okay, thanks. Can I just get a comment on perhaps the average expectation of council tax rises?
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 5
Can I just quickly comment on that point? It's a really important point, because one of the risks, obviously, is when new policy comes in, there's a level of ring-fenced funding for a moment to help deliver that over a phased period, for example, and then…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 5
Thank you, Chair. Good morning, everybody. We really appreciate you having time with us today, especially as this is a really busy time of year for you all. I just want to quickly touch on the point Nia raised earlier about the potential rise in council tax—I…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 4
Yes. Thank you. I'm not sure if anybody else wants to contribute, Chair.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 4
Thank you. Okay, we'll move away from the national insurance impact for a moment and I just want to touch on the housing support grant. I think, Simon, earlier on you mentioned that, from a Citizens Advice perspective, homelessness is one of the biggest areas…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 4
Anything you want to add, Natalie, at all?
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 4
Okay. Anybody else want to say anything?
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 4
Thanks, Chair. So, you just started to touch on it there, Simon, I think. So, I think you've really well described the organisational impact of this national insurance pressure. So, you talked about possible redundancies, possible pay cuts, possibly dipping…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 4
Can I just pick up on that?
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 4
That's very helpful. Does anybody else want to respond to my initial question? Perhaps Victoria.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 4
Perhaps before others respond as well, just on the important point you raised there, that the sector broadly, generally, can’t necessarily increase the cost of its services to people, it would be more difficult, perhaps, for them to do that, I guess lots of…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 4
Thanks, Chair. Good morning, everybody—I appreciate you being here with us today. I just want to come on to the points you started to mention on the employer national insurance contribution pressures. Natalie, from the WCVA side, in your response, you said…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 3
Before David comes in, and perhaps he wants to expand on my next point as well, because there is real concern, isn't there—? We call them public service delivery bodies, whether that's the third sector, the private sector or public sector, they still provide…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 3
Yes, that's fair, David, thank you. Moving on to the national insurance impact, then, from this budget, I wonder if you have a view of the impact of the increase in national insurance employers contribution, in particular taking into account the larger…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 3
Thanks, David. So, just moving on a bit further on the local government settlement, I wonder if there's been any analysis or understanding of the impact of the budget for statutory and non-statutory services. We've heard a lot about the impact on preventative…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 3
Thanks, Chair, and thanks, David, for that further comment, and it's a fair point. I guess the further point, though, is that the individual circumstances of local authorities can give an indication as to the quality of the settlement formula and the way in…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 3
Yes, and the letter goes on to outline from Flintshire council, for example, that they have the third-lowest level of usable reserves, which I guess is one of the mitigating factors that local authorities can rely on. So, do you therefore then think that the…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 3
Just to pick up on that point, Chair, you say that the risk of council bankruptcies is off the agenda. Do you think that's real? I'm just looking at a letter that we've received at committee today from Flintshire County Council, and they’ve responded to…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 3
Thank you, Chair. That's a lovely segue to talking about local government. I'm going to ask you a couple of questions around local government finance, and then I want to ask a couple of questions on national insurance contributions as well. So, just, perhaps…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 2
Thank you, Chair.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 2
The question was about Welsh Government are investing in improved measures to improve compliance, so has that assumption been put into the forecast for—
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 2
Landfill disposals tax is much more interesting, isn't it? [Laughter.] So, just finally, perhaps, a couple of points on this just to close this point off. Non-compliance has been raised as an issue over recent years. I wonder if you're expecting to see…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 2
All right. That's for Government to do, I suppose. All right. Thank you. And then moving on to the landfill disposals tax, we've, of course, had our first divergence of policy from England and Wales on the landfill disposals tax, so I'm wondering what's been…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 2
Thanks, Chair. Just one more point on the LTT: one of the significant differences in policy between England and Wales is relief for first-time buyers; in England, available on land transaction tax. Have you done any work to understand the impact of a policy…
