Mark Drakeford: Sixty organisations have formally signed up to the code so far. This comprises 20 public sector and 40 private and third sector organisations.
Mark Drakeford: A permanent small business rates relief scheme will be implemented from 1 April, 2018. Plans for the further development of non-domestic rates include reviewing the appeals system and tackling fraud and avoidance.
Mark Drakeford: In stark contrast to the United Kingdom Government, our draft budget protects the services that matter most, including those delivered by local government.
Mark Drakeford: I raised the matter of a plastics tax at my meeting with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 26 October. I look forward to discussing with the UK Government their intention to explore a tax on plastics.
Mark Drakeford: Car parks in Wales are already liable for non-domestic rates. They are assessed for rating purposes by the Valuation Office Agency using a consistent methodology that takes account of a wide range of relevant factors.
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, the Trade Bill includes a proposed agreement on Government procurement, known as a plurilateral agreement within the World Trade Organization framework. The Bill provides Welsh Ministers with regulation-making powers when implementing such an agreement in devolved areas.
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, the fundamental objection to the Trade Bill, from a constitutional perspective, is the one that Mick Antoniw has just outlined, which is that it continues to allow Ministers of the Crown an ability to reach over into devolved areas and to impose solutions without seeking the consent of Welsh Ministers. And, in that sense, the things that are wrong with the Trade Bill are the...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, I have announced a review of the national procurement service, partly to make sure that some of the things that were aimed for when it was established can be better delivered, but also to make sure that our approach to procurement is aligned with some opportunities that there may be the other side of the European Union. This is one of the few areas where there may be some new...
Mark Drakeford: What I can say, Llywydd, is that, under the withdrawal Bill, we have already stated that we can’t bring an LCM to the floor of the Assembly and ask Members to support that. What we can’t agree on in the withdrawal Bill is the same, in my view, as what we see in the Bill that currently in question.
Mark Drakeford: I don't want to over-anticipate the Welsh Government's position on it, Llywydd, because that needs to be properly thought through, but it does seem to me unlikely that, without some of the changes that have been suggested that the UK Government is open to considering, we would be in a position to propose a legislative consent motion that we could support on this Bill for the same reasons as...
Mark Drakeford: I thank Suzy Davies for that question. Work continues on the short list of potential tax proposals for Wales, as set out on 3 October. It remains my—
Mark Drakeford: Simply to say that it remains my intention to test the new Wales Act 2014 powers during 2018.
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, I'm very glad to see individuals around Wales taking an interest in this debate, and it's interesting to see that there are a variety of views out there, and that is exactly what we had hoped would happen by bringing forward the debate in the way that we have. It would have been very easy for the Welsh Government to have acted as the UK Government does in fiscal matters by keeping...
Mark Drakeford: Thank you to Simon Thomas. I can confirm that we are still working on the timetable. I want to move forward early in the new year, but I’m not willing to move forward without having undertaken the work. One of the things that has changed over the past few months is what the Chancellor said back in the budget in November, because the UK Government is now showing an interest in the area of...
Mark Drakeford: It is, of course, as Simon Thomas says, a very important area and the one, as I said to Suzy Davies, that has had the greatest interest from members of the public, and Simon Thomas is quite right to point out that different taxes have different policy objectives behind them. A plastics Act is about influencing people's behaviour, other taxes are more interested in raising revenue. Not all...
Mark Drakeford: Well, I thank Vikki Howells for that really interesting and important question. That now means, Llywydd, we've mentioned all four taxes that were on the shortlist this afternoon. I was fortunate enough to have a very useful meeting in Dublin just over a week ago as a result of co-operation with the Government in the Republic, where they made available a series of very senior officials in...
Mark Drakeford: I thank Nick Ramsay for that. Well, Llywydd, I believe that the budget we discussed yesterday is aligned with the needs of Welsh businesses in very many ways. It has in it the finance that will be necessary to instigate our new permanent small business rate relief scheme, which provides over £100 million every year directly to support businesses in Wales. Businesses in Wales...
Mark Drakeford: Thank you, Llywydd. Yes, I have asked for that review. I expect it to report in 2018. It will use the report of the Auditor General for Wales as one of the core documents that it will apply in the work that it will do. Nick Ramsay is quite right to say that NPS has not delivered everything that we had hoped for it. Part of that is because it is a member organisation and some of its...
Mark Drakeford: Well, I thank Nick Ramsay for that. He is right to say that the proposals we have brought forward in non-domestic LTT mean that businesses with premises below £1 million will have less to pay in Wales than anywhere else in the United Kingdom, and that is paid for by businesses at the very top end of the market having to pay a little more. Ninety per cent of businesses in Wales will pay less...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, the Welsh Government's position is clear, that we believe we should remain a subscribing partner of the European Investment Bank. The UK was one of the founding members of the bank, and supplies a significant part of the bank's capital. Wales has been an enormous beneficiary of the European Investment Bank and we want to find a way of that continuing. When I raised this directly with...
