Mark Drakeford: Well, thank you very much, Sian Gwenllian, for that question and for drawing attention to the work that is ongoing in this field. Dirprwy Lywydd, i mi, mae’r gwaith a wnaed gan y byrddau gwasanaethau cyhoeddus ar gyflawni eu hasesiadau lles yn galonogol iawn. Rwyf wedi cael cyfle i ddarllen nifer go lew ohonynt. A bod yn hollol onest, credaf y gallech ddweud eu bod yn nodweddiadol o gymaint...
Mark Drakeford: Thank you for that question. Invest-to-save funds are deployed against principles, which include delivering improved public services, generating significant cash-releasing savings, encouraging greater collaboration between public service bodies, and disseminating lessons learned and best practice.
Mark Drakeford: Well, Deputy Presiding Officer, I hear the case the Member is making and I acknowledge what he says about the way in which the money is spent in north Wales at present. He will be eager to know, I’m certain, that a meeting was held this morning with the Secretary with responsibility for health to discuss the developments in north Wales.
Mark Drakeford: I thank David Melding for that point. He draws attention to one of the characteristics of the fund, which is that it has been used by some parts of the public sector far more regularly than others. So, the health service in Wales has an excellent record of using the fund for energy efficiency measures, and has saved a great deal of money in the health service as a result. Local authorities...
Mark Drakeford: Dirprwy Lywydd, I will publish the Welsh Government’s outline draft budget on Tuesday of next week.
Mark Drakeford: Dirprwy Lywydd, the bedroom tax is not a matter devolved to Wales.
Mark Drakeford: We will continue our efforts to protect local government in Wales from the worst of the cuts to the Welsh Government’s budget. I repeat, however, the advice I provided earlier this afternoon that this year should be used by local government to plan for harder times and tougher choices that lie ahead.
Mark Drakeford: Dirprwy Lywydd, I read reports of the meeting that David Rees and Jeremy Miles had attended, and I absolutely understand the points that local workers in services were making about the pressures that they face and the impact of austerity in the lives of those that they try to assist. I have listened hard to what local authorities in Wales have said to me about moving more specific grants into...
Mark Drakeford: The £1.3 billion Swansea city region city deal aims to boost the region’s economy by £1.8 billion and generate almost 10,000 new jobs. Two of the deal’s projects are based in Neath Port Talbot.
Mark Drakeford: Well, Dirprwy Lywydd, I understand the point that Jeremy Miles is making. I think it’s important for me to say that when the deal was signed by the UK Government and the Welsh Government, together with local colleagues in the Swansea bay city region area, it was on the basis of 11 projects coming forward together to form a deal. Now, I’ve had further discussions with people locally as...
Mark Drakeford: Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lywydd. Thank you to all those who have taken part in what’s been a really interesting discussion of a very important report. So, thank you to the committee for putting the time and the effort into making what I think is a constructive and significant contribution to this very important area of public policy. Dirprwy Lywydd, there are only three things, really, that...
Mark Drakeford: Yes, of course.
Mark Drakeford: Well, Suzy, I wanted to say—I was about to say—that we are very keen that the strong sense of partnership, which we think has been a strength of the way that European funding has been deployed in Wales so far, that we need a partnership that reaches beyond those most easily able to take part, which I think is the point you made earlier in your contribution. We need to make sure that we...
Mark Drakeford: A number of schemes using the private finance initiative were undertaken by Welsh local authorities and local health boards in the period between 1995 and 2008. Detailed information relating to these schemes is published periodically by the UK Infrastructure and Projects Authority.
Mark Drakeford: We are continuing to deliver EU funds in line with our objectives for growth and jobs agreed with the European Commission. We have so far invested £1.37 billion, 66 per cent, of our allocation and we are committed to investing the remaining funds within the scope of the UK Government’s guarantee.
Mark Drakeford: Financial powers to local authorities in North Wales will form part of the finance framework to accompany local government reform.
Mark Drakeford: The 2017-18 financial settlement provided local government with its first cash increase since 2013-14.
Mark Drakeford: My priority for Torfaen for the next 12 months is that the authority builds further from last year’s auditor general assessment which concluded that the council had ‘clear strategic vision driven by open and inclusive leadership and is actively developing its corporate arrangements to deliver improved outcomes
Mark Drakeford: The majority of local authority administrative services are delivered in-house, with outsourcing only accounting for around 3 per cent of all service delivery methods and outsourcing to the private sector only around 1 per cent.
Mark Drakeford: Thank you very much, Llywydd. Today, I lay the Welsh Government’s draft budget before the National Assembly. It’s a budget crafted in a period of austerity that has by now lasted longer than seven years, and under the shadow of further cuts to come. Today, for the first time, I published alongside the budget a report from the chief economist for Wales about future public finances and our...
