Mark Drakeford: The Welsh treasury has in place the structures to manage effectively our public resources, including our new tax and borrowing powers. Recruitment of a chair for the Welsh Revenue Authority is about to take place.
Mark Drakeford: My immediate priorities are extending and reviewing small business rates relief and introducing transitional relief. I will shortly bring forward legislation to deliver the schemes for 2017 18. After that, I will explore opportunities to deliver administrative improvements to the system to make it more effective for government and ratepayers.
Mark Drakeford: Can I thank Lynne Neagle for her opening remarks? All the key commitments of this Government are reflected in this budget. That’s why it is an ambitious budget, because it sets us on the road to delivering all those key things that we put before people in Wales earlier this year. I agree with her entirely that the only sensible course of action, from the point of view of the citizen, is to...
Mark Drakeford: Thank you very much, Simon Thomas, for those questions. I look forward to the process of scrutiny. I acknowledge that Members won’t yet have had an opportunity to look through the budget narrative that I published this afternoon, but I hope that more details about the things that Simon Thomas has raised will be available there. I can say this afternoon that Supporting People will not face...
Mark Drakeford: As ever, it is possible to do the maths in many different ways. As Mike Hedges said, the responsibilities of my colleague Vaughan Gething now include sport as well as the health service. The best estimate I have of the proportion that health spending takes in next year’s budget is that it remains below 50 per cent of this Assembly’s budget. Of course, I recognise the pressures that there...
Mark Drakeford: I thank Mark Reckless for those parts of the budget that he recognised as being welcome. I’ll try and address his specific questions. In relation to the mental health funding that is part of the £240 million, the £15 million for diagnostics is part of the capital programme provided to the health main expenditure group, and, of course, as a result of that investment, waiting times for...
Mark Drakeford: May I say thank you to Adam Price for his comments in introducing his questions? Af yn syth at y cwestiynau penodol a gododd Adam Price. Mae e'n hollol iawn i dynnu sylw at y ffaith ein bod yn gorfod cyflwyno ein cyllideb gerbron y Cynulliad cyn datganiad yr hydref, pan mae’r Canghellor yn addo ailosodiad ariannol, a phan fo’n rhaid i ni wneud ein penderfyniadau heb wybod yn union sut y...
Mark Drakeford: Thank you to Paul Davies for his contribution. I take it for granted, really, that we share an ambition across the Assembly to make sure that the money we have available for public services is spent effectively, that it brings about real improvements in people’s lives and that we spend the money we have in the way that has the greatest impact. I look forward to the detailed scrutiny of the...
Mark Drakeford: Thank you very much, Llywydd, for the opportunity to make a statement on the Welsh Government’s draft budget for 2017-18. I have laid the budget before the National Assembly this afternoon for consultation and scrutiny. We live in a most uncertain period. After very careful consideration over the summer, I have decided that, in advance of the fiscal resetting promised by the Chancellor in...
Mark Drakeford: The Welsh Government is committed to transforming the expectations, experiences and outcomes for all learners, including those with additional learning needs. The forthcoming introduction of the additional learning needs and education tribunal (Wales) Bill will be a key milestone in the transformation journey that is already under way.
Mark Drakeford: The BBC has recently reported that we have the fastest-growing digital economy outside of London. The wider ICT sector is worth £8.5 billion in turnover to the Welsh economy. With Welsh Government support, the sector has created 7,500 high-value jobs in Wales over the last five years.
Mark Drakeford: Since 2008 the autistic spectrum disorder strategic action plan has supported the development of services for people with autism, supported by over £14 million additional funding. We are rolling out a new autism plan, to provide extra support for children, adults and families, including those not eligible for other services.
Mark Drakeford: I made clear the need for Wales to develop its own fisheries policy when the UK leaves the EU, to safeguard the future prosperity of Wales’s fishing industry and our coastal communities. The Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs will discuss this with stakeholders at the next round-table meeting.
Mark Drakeford: We know that the attitudes of others can prevent people with mental health problems from getting the support they need. Our ‘Together for Mental Health’ delivery plan sets out the actions we are taking to challenge mental health discrimination and improve knowledge and understanding associated with mental health problems.
Mark Drakeford: Let me begin by disagreeing with Nathan Gill. When I pay my subscription to Glamorgan County Cricket Club every year, I don’t then go around saying every time I go there, ‘By the way, that’s my money, not yours.’ It becomes Glamorgan County Cricket Club’s money, which they use on my entertainment. [Interruption.] Or not, as the case may be. [Laughter.] As for his second point, as to...
Mark Drakeford: Dirprwy Lywydd, can I say how much I agree with both points that the Member made? I emphasise in my statement the timescale for leaving and the importance of that in relation to the current round of structural funds, but the Member emphasises not simply the speed but the shape of that exit—the nature of it. And while we remain in close dialogue with the United Kingdom Government to make...
Mark Drakeford: I think I heard two questions in the middle of that, Dirprwy Lywydd. Let me confirm for the Member: he asked whether spending decisions that are made while we remain within the European Union are to be made in a way that is consistent with the legal obligations that membership provides; the answer to that is ‘yes’. He then asked whether future regional policy outside the European Union...
Mark Drakeford: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. I’ll move straight into the questions that the Member raised. Our plans for using the remaining European funds that we have at our disposal during the 2014-20 programme will be by delivering the programme that was agreed at a UK level with the European Union. It involved learning the lessons from the 2007-13 round. It involved making sure that we have a proper mix...
Mark Drakeford: I thank the Member for those questions. It was never a claim that I made in my statement that European funds have been, to quote the Member, an unalloyed success. My case was that, in the difficult times that we have faced, European funding has been a fundamental element in bringing about some very significant improvements. If the Member thought that I was selective in my examples, then I’m...
Mark Drakeford: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you for this opportunity to provide Members with an update on the European structural fund programmes. The implications for Wales of leaving the European Union have been regularly rehearsed in this Chamber since 23 June. Today, I will focus instead on the progress made in deploying funds already secured, particularly in the 2014-2020...
