Rebecca Evans: We're investing in our high streets through a range of measures, including up to £100 million over three years through the targeted regeneration investment programme, £26 million next year to provide further business rates relief for businesses across Wales, and £31.5 million for a town-centre loans scheme.
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much for that question. It is really important that we work very hard to increase the footfall in our town centres across Wales, and there are various ways in which we can do that, including through the investment that we are making in active travel, but also making sure that we have better interconnectivity between our various towns and communities. So, I think that the answer...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much. I share your enthusiasm for business improvement districts as being a mechanism which brings local businesses and other stakeholders together with the aim of improving their trading environment and, again, making shopping a much more pleasant experience for the people who use those business areas and to attract more footfall to those areas. And that's one of the reasons...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for raising the issue of Swansea High Street. Certainly, it's an area I'm very familiar with, and I have seen the major improvements that have started to take place there over the past couple of years in particular, and I know that Swansea Council has particularly ambitious plans for the city as a whole. I'm quite excited by the housing-led regeneration that is taking place on...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much. This announcement came out of nowhere to us and we're still trying to work through with the UK Government to what extent the funding is new money. I understand that around £1 billion of that is potentially new money. So, I think we would be looking at consequentials of around the region of £50 million, if our understanding is confirmed to be true. The other £600...
Rebecca Evans: Yes, with regard to the ports funding, our understanding is that that funding isn't new money; it's just reannounced money. So, there'll be no consequentials coming to Welsh Government as a result of that. With regard to the £140 million that has been provided to the Northern Ireland budget in 2019-20, that is a matter of huge concern to Welsh Government because we have a quite clear...
Rebecca Evans: I would reject any suggestion that Welsh Government hasn't been working at pace and with real energy on this particular issue for a long time now. There are numerous meetings between the First Minister, the Prime Minister, the Brexit Minister and his counterparts, and between me and my counterparts, and all Ministers with a particular portfolio interest in this area. During the finance...
Rebecca Evans: Yes, certainly. You'll have heard the First Minister's statement when he was in the finance portfolio back in September, which outlined the fact that we're taking a new approach to procurement in Wales, and that we'll be operating a smaller unit that will be much more focused, reducing the number of large contracts from around 60 to around 30 in order to have a more focused approach, and an...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much. So, as we move to transitioning the NPS and Value Wales teams into new functions, we'll certainly be taking into consideration the recent Public Accounts Committee inquiry into procurement, which concluded in February. We'll be considering the observations that PAC has to make in terms of helping us shape our way forward. But we have engaged with the support of the Centre...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much for that, and I'm sure that the work that we're doing in terms of improving and increasing the community benefits as a result of our investment is one way in which we can ensure that local firms and local people do benefit. So, as of the end of December, 519 projects have created 2,465 job opportunities, with over 102,000 weeks of training also provided. So, there's...
Rebecca Evans: I would disagree with the characterisation of the way in which Welsh Government provides support for business, but this is an area that I've taken an interest in since coming into portfolio, and I'm exploring what more we might do in order to satisfy ourselves when grants are being made and, indeed, when business loans are being made, that we can be sure that we're investing in the right...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you. So, when Welsh Government does make an investment or offer a grant or a loan over a certain amount of money, then I oversee and I have a view to take on each and every one of those decisions that are made by my colleagues. And I provide challenge to my colleagues, asking about affordability, about payment profiles, about value for money and efficient spending, and exploring to what...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for raising that, and I'll certainly give further thought to what action might be able to be taken in terms of increasing transparency, but within the confines, obviously, of the commercial sensitivities for those businesses involved and also within the context of the auditor general's report.
Rebecca Evans: Thank you. I understand, Presiding Officer, that you've given your permission for questions 3 and 4 to be grouped together. Together, the Minister for Housing and Local Government and I met representatives of local government at the finance sub-group on 23 January, where we discussed a range of matters, including the funding challenges facing local government.
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for raising this, and I do find it quite staggering to hear the shouts of 'good question' and 'hear, hear' from the Conservative benches when, as a result of austerity, funding per head of the population for day-to-day devolved public services, such as schools in Wales, will be 7 per cent lower next year than it was a decade ago. Between 2010-11 and 2019-20, the Welsh budget will...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much, and I know that you raised this particular issue in the Chamber with me a week or so ago, and I've certainly had some further opportunity to explore the issue further. I think that what we have to remember is that all non-domestic rates revenue received in Wales is distributed to local authorities to help fund local services. So, the vast majority of local authorities in...
Rebecca Evans: I think the brass neck on the Conservative benches is quite incredible this afternoon. If public spending had kept pace with growth in the economy, we would have an extra £4 billion to spend next year, and imagine how generous we could be to local authorities then. But I do have to say to the Conservatives, if the Conservatives want more money for any area of Welsh life, be it local...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much. It is always the case, obviously, that local authorities would like to have as much of the funding in the revenue support grant as possible, and we have taken steps, on an annual basis I think, to explore what more we can do in order to give local authorities the kind of flexibility they need. We have a further meeting of the finance sub-group coming up very shortly, and...
Rebecca Evans: Well, look, there's absolutely no truth whatsoever that there is any politics involved in the local government funding formula. The local government funding formula is developed in collaboration with local government. The local government Minister and I have been very clear with local government that, if they want to come forward with a different way of apportioning funding amongst local...
Rebecca Evans: I met the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 15 February and pressed for clarity on Brexit-related financial issues, including the possibility of an emergency budget. The message was clear: a full fiscal event is not on the agenda, adding to the uncertainties facing us.
