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: 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.
Rebecca Evans: I would suggest that comparing spending in Wales to London and the south-east isn't necessarily a particularly accurate comparison to make. Normally, when you make comparisons, they are with other parts of the UK that are relatively similar in terms of population and income per head and those kinds of issues. We're making really significant investment across Wales in terms of capital...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for that question. I'm afraid I'm going to disappoint you now and let you know that it is actually Julie James who had this given to her in her portfolio. However, clearly, I have a strong interest in ensuring that we do fund local government properly here in Wales, which is why I attended, alongside Julie James, the finance sub-group very recently. The finance sub-group brings...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for that question. I was clear with the finance sub-group that I do take a very strong and direct interest in this agenda. So, whereas a finance Minister would normally have a slot on their agenda, I've been clear that I'd like to actually come along for all of it, to hear for myself, really, the kind of pressures that local authorities are under, and the kind of ideas that they...
Rebecca Evans: Well, clearly, council leaders will have to manage their budgets effectively, but within those reserves, what perhaps isn't always completely obvious from the top-line figures, certainly, is that much of it, or a certain percentage of it, will already be committed to a number of projects—school building projects and so on. So, I think it's important to delve down into the figures to have a...
Rebecca Evans: We recognise the importance of local post offices in serving our communities. While responsibility for the post office network is non-devolved, we continue to make representations to the UK Government regarding our concerns over the closure of post offices.
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for raising that. I'm afraid that in the current climate we just don't have the funds available to us to be undertaking work that is rightly the work of the UK Government. The UK Government does have a £2 billion post office network transformation programme to modernise those post offices. It's very much in the way that we did previously through the diversification fund. Welsh post...
