Rebecca Evans: I thank Dawn Bowden for raising that particular issue, and allowing me the opportunity again to stress that austerity isn't over with this UK Government budget, and it's very much alive and well. The UK Government has ensured that our budget for next year is still only marginally higher than it was a decade ago. And I think that that does demonstrate that we are still facing some challenges...
Rebecca Evans: I will be carefully reviewing the budget to assess the impact for Wales. But as always, it will be important to look below the headlines, as the devil is always in the detail, and I intended to publish a written statement later today.
Rebecca Evans: I am in regular contact with UK Treasury Ministers about securing the additional funding we need to respond to the unprecedented impact across Wales of the recent storms.
Rebecca Evans: There were several things that were obvious by their absence, I think, in the Chancellor's budget today, one of which was any mention of the steel industry. There was no clarity on rail spend. We had references to rail spend in Manchester, Leeds and other areas—Darlington—but nothing for Wales. And there were no real research and development commitments for us in Wales, and it was very...
Rebecca Evans: As David Rees recognises, we haven't yet understood the full picture in terms of where those consequentials might be. I would offer one word of caution in the sense that consequentials are given but they're also taken away, so that is an important consideration in terms of when and how funding is passported. But, as we come to a better understanding of the detail that we will have, then,...
Rebecca Evans: I am in regular contact with UK Treasury Ministers about a range of financial issues. Ahead of the budget, I wrote to the Chancellor setting out our priorities for Wales, including addressing regional inequality and responding to the climate change emergency.
Rebecca Evans: Well, the Prime Minister committed that funding would be passported to Wales to help us deal with the flooding, and we absolutely will hold him to that. Mick Antoniw is completely right to say that we don't yet know the scale of the challenge ahead of us, in terms of the recovery, because so much of that structural surveying work has yet to be done. Many of the areas that need to be surveyed...
Rebecca Evans: Well, I've had discussions with the UK Government about flooding, so you won't see announcements particularly related to Wales in the budget for flooding today. What you will see is an announcement of £120 million for repairs and £200 million directly to local communities for flood resilience. Now, we don't understand yet what the consequential funding might be that flows from that, but...
Rebecca Evans: I share any concern that people are waiting too long to receive their funding. Most applications to the discretionary assistance fund are processed within 24 hours, so individuals should have the funding within their bank accounts very quickly indeed. I know that, as of 4 March, there were 278 awards made at £500, and 266 awards made at £1,000, so representing over a total of £405,000. So,...
Rebecca Evans: Homes affected during recent storms will receive up to £1,000 from Welsh Government. We are asking those impacted to contact their local authority emergency support teams in the first instance, to ensure they can access support as quickly as possible.
Rebecca Evans: Well, the Wales development bank sits within the portfolio of my colleague the Minister for economy, but I do know that it has done really sterling work in terms of helping to support businesses prepare for Brexit. And in many ways, this is about helping businesses prepare for something difficult, so we can learn some of those same lessons. It's been really important in terms of those...
Rebecca Evans: We recognise how important non-domestic rates are in terms of our public services here in Wales. They contribute more than £1 billion to local government and to police services, and those are services that all businesses will benefit from in some way. We do take a different approach here in Wales, because our tax base is different. So, in Wales, the average rateable value is around £20,000,...
Rebecca Evans: I would welcome any support that the Conservatives can give in terms of ensuring that their colleagues in Westminster do ensure that Wales is funded as much as it needs to be in terms of the coronavirus. The Chancellor was at pains in his opening remarks to say that the coronavirus is something that is not a political issue; it is something that we all have to deal with, and we have to work...
Rebecca Evans: I didn't hear anything from the UK Government today, actually, about changes to income tax. I know that there was an announcement in respect of the national living wage and the national insurance threshold, but I don't recall anything specific to income tax. Because that would be something that we would be keen to explore, particularly in case it had any implications for our Welsh Government...
Rebecca Evans: Well, I've got bad news for the opposition spokesperson, of course, because austerity certainly isn't over. If you look at the documentation that supports the UK Government's budget, the Office for Budget Responsibility paints a pretty gloomy picture of prospects, even before taking into account COVID-19. And that's not surprising, given the UK Government's reckless approach to trade...
Rebecca Evans: Well, you'll certainly see, very shortly, published, the document that we commissioned, which does look at the implications of land value tax and what that would mean for Wales. This is part of a suite of research that we've commissioned that looks at various aspects of local taxation, both for non-domestic rates and for council tax. We've also had a piece of work that looks at what the...
Rebecca Evans: I was pleased to make the case to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury yesterday that there should, in this budget, be a package of support for business, and I was pleased to see that delivered on. So, as you mentioned, there will be some things in there that will help support people in the immediate crisis. For example, the sick pay will be paid from day 1 rather than day 4; the Prime...
Rebecca Evans: I have been having these discussions with my colleague the health Minister in terms of how we deal with COVID-19, and there are also discussions that I've had with colleagues from the other devolved nations, and also with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. We're clear in Wales that funding is not going to be a barrier to the NHS being able to deal with the coronavirus. We were also clear at...
Rebecca Evans: Yes, there is a variation in success in terms of bringing those empty homes back into use. Hopefully, the work on the CPOs, which I've just outlined, will prove useful to local authorities that have thus far struggled in this area, because we know that some local authorities have felt that they don't have either the capacity or the confidence to engage in that particular area of work. Council...
Rebecca Evans: Welsh Government's property loans programme has available a mix of capital grant and repayable loan financing worth over £42 million, available through local authorities to owner-occupiers to improve properties and to bring those empty properties back into use. Of this, £11 million has been allocated to the six authorities across north Wales to help those owner-occupiers and landlords bring...
