Rebecca Evans: I'll have to give you the reassurances that I will discuss with my colleague the Minister for Economy and Transport that that was spent, but, as we've discussed previously, I've been very clear with my colleagues that they need to be updating Plaid Cymru on the progress towards those items that we did jointly agree in our budget, and I will endeavour to provide that update to you.
Rebecca Evans: I would disagree with that, because I think that when we do make pledges, then we keep them. So, this budget that I have published now delivers on our major pledges that we made at the last election. So, it delivers on the 100,000 apprenticeships for all ages across the term of this Assembly; it delivers on doubling the amount that people can keep before paying for social care; it delivers on...
Rebecca Evans: Certainly. The budget sets out our commitments to supporting businesses, particularly small and medium enterprises, through our support for business rates. You'll know that, in Wales, around half of businesses pay no rates at all thanks to Welsh Government support, and that compares very favourably with across the border in England, where only around a third receive that level of support.
Rebecca Evans: We are currently looking at the future of local taxes, so looking at business rates and council tax, in partnership, to explore whether there is some local government finance reform that needs to be undertaken. We've undertaken a suite of research to help us with that, including what would the implications be if we were to move to a land value tax, for example; looking at the implications of...
Rebecca Evans: Well, we're not proposing major changes to either council tax or non-domestic rates in the next financial year. What we are proposing is to gather that research and that evidence base in order to inform our thinking for the years forward. But, I'm particularly interested in a discussion that I had with the cross-party group on small shops, which was chaired by your colleague Janet...
Rebecca Evans: I know this is something that the Finance Committee is currently gathering evidence on, and I look forward to speaking in detail at the committee's scrutiny session on that. I think some early thoughts are, really, about the timings and the way in which this year has been particularly chaotic, it's fair to say, not least to mention the negative reductions that we just received a week before...
Rebecca Evans: I think there is a case for earlier engagement earlier in the year, and I found the debate that the Finance Committee tabled after your listening session to be very instructive and very helpful. So, I think that's something that I would be keen to introduce on an annual basis, having the debate early on in the year. I think there's some discussion to be had with Finance Committee as to...
Rebecca Evans: The Welsh Government delivers its aims and objectives, in part, through a number of public bodies, including Welsh Government sponsored bodies. Financial support is provided via grant-in-aid for running costs and overheads. Welsh Government sponsored bodies may also apply for hypothecated grant funding.
Rebecca Evans: The funding for Natural Resources Wales is a matter for the environment Minister, but in this budget the core funding is £69 million revenue in 2020-21, and there is a capital budget of £1.2 million in 2020-21. The reduction in revenue that's been seen has been due to changes in the non-recurrent EU transition funding that was awarded during 2019-20, and a recurrent interim main expenditure...
Rebecca Evans: Well, the third sector, of course, generally, I would say, does not classify as Welsh Government sponsored bodies. When we're talking about Welsh Government sponsored bodies, they would be executive bodies such as Natural Resources Wales, the arts council, or advisory bodies such as the Welsh Medical Committee, the Welsh Optometric Committee, or tribunals such as the mental health review...
Rebecca Evans: Maintaining funding of £127 million in the housing support grant, alongside our continued investment of £18 million for tackling homelessness and other funding streams, highlights the importance we attach to providing services to the homeless, vulnerably-housed and people who need support to stay out of institutional settings.
Rebecca Evans: Well, I'm obviously very sorry to hear about your constituent, Paul. You're absolutely right that Paul's situation and those of many people like Paul is very much a result of the situation we find ourselves in, the difficulty in getting employment. Actually, bereavement is one of the most prevalent reasons that I've heard from people who I've spoken to who have been street homeless, and...
Rebecca Evans: Certainty of continuity of funding is something that we are very mindful of. It's unfortunate that the comprehensive spending review of last year didn't occur, but we do expect it to happen later on in this year, and then that should give us at least a three-year outlook for public spending, which will certainly give Government a degree of certainty, and we're always keen to provide local...
Rebecca Evans: Okay. Well, I'm afraid I'm not able to provide the detailed answer to how we are sifting and awaiting those responses, or able to give information on the timescale, but I know my colleague the Minister for local government will be able to do so, and I will ensure that you have a full response to that.FootnoteLink
Rebecca Evans: Innovative approaches to procurement are already being used to encourage creativity and deliver broad economic, social and cultural benefits to Welsh communities and citizens. We're also implementing a new procurement and commercial capability programme to build capacity and resilience across the procurement profession in Wales to encourage innovation.
Rebecca Evans: I'm grateful to Hefin David for raising this issue and for his particular interest in it. We believe that the focus of the foundational economy accords very well with public services boards' own well-being plans, which reflect their local priorities. Many of those PSBs have identified developing the foundational economy as one of their local priorities within those well-being plans, and we've...
Rebecca Evans: So, you'll have heard my answer to Hefin David in terms of the importance of public services boards. We're holding an engagement event tomorrow, to which all of the public services boards who have expressed an interest in this have been invited, and that will be part of the Valleys taskforce work. We expect that that will lead to a focused action plan for using procurement to deliver those...
Rebecca Evans: So, as a result of the terms of the withdrawal agreement that was negotiated by the EU and the UK, obviously, EU law continues to apply during the transition period. But we are looking ahead to demonstrate what our priorities will be in terms of future relationships, because, obviously, the UK will be able to enter into free trade agreements. Most of those will have procurement chapters...
Rebecca Evans: We're making progress with the UK Government to secure powers for a vacant land tax in Wales. The next step is a joint Exchequer committee meeting, and I will update the Assembly with further detail after that meeting has taken place.
Rebecca Evans: Yes, I do. I think a vacant land tax is potentially a really exciting tool that we can have in our armoury, if you like, when we're looking to improve our high streets and beyond. I'm really pleased, now, that we seem to be making some progress with the UK Government. It's been quite difficult up to this point, but I think that we are starting to turn a corner. Of course, this is the first...
