Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much. You'll be aware that the Minister has made that written statement to which you refer today. The report does make 24 recommendations, three of which fall to Welsh Government to implement on an all-Wales basis and the Minister has accepted all three of those recommendations for Welsh Government in their entirety. He also expects all health boards to take full account of the...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for raising these issues. On the last issue you raised regarding the designation of SSSIs and other special areas, I'll certainly ask the Minister to write to you with the clarity that you're asking for in terms of the explanation on the policy and the approach to designated areas.FootnoteLink Again, on the issue of bus services, I had a conversation with the Minister for transport...
Rebecca Evans: Formally moved.
Rebecca Evans: In 2018-19, the Welsh Government is providing a grant which gives 100 per cent non-domestic rates relief to all community hydropower projects with a rateable value of £50,000 or below.
Rebecca Evans: In 2018-19, the Welsh Government is providing around £210 million of rates relief to support businesses in Wales, including those in Mid and West Wales. For 2019-20, we are providing an extra £23.6 million of support through our enhanced high street and retail rates relief scheme.
Rebecca Evans: Our council tax reduction scheme for 2019-20 maintains entitlement to support for vulnerable and low‑income households in Wales.
Rebecca Evans: It remains too early to draw any conclusions about the potential effects of land transaction tax on commercial property transactions and revenue. We will continue to monitor the situation.
Rebecca Evans: The setting of budgets and council tax is a matter for democratically elected local authorities. They are answerable to their residents for the decisions they make. The Welsh Government has set out how it is reviewing council tax more broadly to improve fairness.
Rebecca Evans: In November, over 2 million people received a letter from HMRC and a Welsh Government leaflet setting out how Welsh rates of income tax will work. Social media campaign activity is ongoing, and we are working with HMRC and external stakeholders to cascade key information and increase awareness.
Rebecca Evans: Following the conclusion of a review of the National Procurement Service and Value Wales, we are engaging stakeholders to develop a new approach to procurement, which will seek to further drive up well-being through public spending across all parts of Wales.
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for raising what is a very important issue, in terms of ensuring that our Wales-based suppliers and our entire Welsh supply chain is able to benefit from in excess of £6 billion every year that we do spend on procurement. It isn't fair to say that this agenda hasn't moved forward, because we now win in Wales 52 per cent of the annual procurement expenditure, and that is up from a...
Rebecca Evans: Absolutely, and this is one of the reasons why the previous Minister introduced the review in the first place, to ensure that small businesses, of which we have so many in Wales, are able to benefit from the huge investment that we make in the public sector every year in Wales.
Rebecca Evans: Again, this is another area where I will be exploring to determine how we can best take forward this agenda to benefit those SMEs we have right across Wales, to ensure, as I said in response to previous questions, that they are able to maximise their take from that important spend that we make and the investment that we make.
Rebecca Evans: The Welsh rates of income tax were agreed by the National Assembly for Wales on 15 January. Welsh Treasury officials are working with Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs to prepare for their introduction on 6 April 2019. The recent Wales Audit Office and National Audit Office reviews concluded that implementation is on track.
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much for raising this issue, and, of course, the importance of forecasting is to ensure that we're able to take well-informed decisions. And this is one of the reasons why the arrangements with regard to the provisions of data will be one of the items that we do set out in that service level agreement, which is currently being finalised between Welsh Government and HMRC. HMRC...
Rebecca Evans: This really is becoming groundhog day now, because, of course, I reconfirmed that commitment in our debate and the way in which we supported the motion that the Conservatives brought forward last week, I believe on the same day the First Minister had also reconfirmed that commitment. We have no plans to increase income tax during this Assembly term. We've made that very clear. It was a...
Rebecca Evans: Businesses and the public I think deserve better than to have unreal fears raised through a series of hypothetical questions and hypothetical scenarios, which have been raised by you on the Conservative benches. I'll just be very clear again: we have a manifesto commitment not to raise income taxes during this Assembly—we have no plans to do so.
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much for the question. Of course, it's HMRC rather than the Welsh Revenue Authority administering this particular tax. They have had a number of queries from people in Wales. The leaflet and the letter that were sent out offered people the opportunity to have Welsh-language services. So, they had 126 requests to have their service given to them in the Welsh language. We've...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much for raising this. I'm afraid I don't have a further update beyond the fact that discussions are currently ongoing between HM Treasury officials and Welsh Government officials with regard to that Crossrail investment and what potential consequentials could be in Wales. We are awaiting further detail from the Treasury. I have to say that it is very difficult to get timely...
Rebecca Evans: As I say, those discussions are ongoing in terms of how any potential consequentials could be used in Wales and over what time period—whether it would require any reprofiling of our existing capital spend. But I will endeavour to update members on this as soon as I possibly can.
