Rebecca Evans: I have had the opportunity to discuss this particular issue with the Minister for environment and rural affairs just this morning, because we are keen to be able to demonstrate the decisions that we make and the impact that they do have on our carbon reduction. However, it really is not that simple. So, for example, investing in the infrastructure to support electric cars is only one part of...
Rebecca Evans: I do have to say, what I think is lacking in innovation and lacking in ambition is when opposition parties put out press releases that could have been written before. I think it's almost par for the course, isn't it, that an opposition party will say that there's been a missed opportunity or that they're disappointed? How about studying and scrutinising the budget and genuinely challenging...
Rebecca Evans: I think, in terms of our support for business, the figures that we've already seen for land transaction tax do speak for themselves, because, in the first year of land transaction tax, the changes to the rates ensure that we do maintain our attractiveness to commercial enterprises. And, as a result of these new tax rates, over 90 per cent of non-residential transactions in Wales pay the same...
Rebecca Evans: Well, I'd start, of course, by suggesting that Darren Millar is wrong to suggest we have punitive business rates in Wales, because, actually, a larger proportion of businesses in Wales pay no rates at all than do across the border in England. And the place where we set our business rates really does reflect the fact that our average rateable value in Wales is different to in England. So, in...
Rebecca Evans: Certainly. Only yesterday I was able to announce, as part of the budget 2020-21, that we would be continuing to extend our high street and retail rate relief scheme into 2020-21. So, that's more than £24 million of funding, which supports over 15,000 businesses with their rates. I think that's really important, but, actually, that goes alongside £230 million of other relief for businesses...
Rebecca Evans: I certainly don't think we've got to the point where we can say we have achieved complete best practice yet, and that's been very clear, because we've set an ambitious budget improvement plan. I see that as a five-year rolling plan in terms of how we can continually strive to improve the way that we set our budget and the way that we can make considerations about where we put Welsh...
Rebecca Evans: Well, of course, the setting of council tax is a matter for local councils themselves. And I have to say the Welsh Local Government Association have recognised the settlement that local authorities have received this year as being an exceptionally good one. And we've worked really closely with the WLGA and others in terms of setting the budget and understanding the pressures that they're...
Rebecca Evans: The Welsh Government operates within the budget regime set by the UK Government. Budgets are monitored closely by officials, and this includes forecasting and explaining budget variances. I receive monthly reports from the finance director, and discuss financial performance with officials. I am responsible for approving budget amendments during the year.
Rebecca Evans: Well, obviously, there have been difficult decisions that have had to be made within individual portfolios in terms of whether or not they're able to increase funding for particular elements of their budgets or simply maintain those areas of spend. And, as Alun Davies quite rightly says, the spending of £25 million has been maintained rather than increased in terms of the bus services...
Rebecca Evans: I'm grateful for the question, and, as I was able to set out in my statement on the draft budget yesterday, additional funding has been found for next year to provide funding to support communities at particular danger in terms of climate change and flooding, but that's on top of the additional funding that we're putting through our innovative housing programme for coastal risk management....
Rebecca Evans: Llywydd, I understand you've given your permission for questions 2 and 8 to be grouped. The Welsh Government's draft budget follows the UK Government's one-year spending round, which does not turn the page on austerity. Our budget in 2020-21 will be £300 million less in real terms than 2010-11, but, nonetheless, the Welsh Government is investing in a more prosperous, more equal and greener...
Rebecca Evans: Funding early intervention services has been an important consideration in allocating the 2020-21 budget. For example, in 2020-21 we have doubled funding for our whole-school approach to mental health to £5 million, invested £5.5 million to support Healthy Weight: Healthy Wales and invested an additional £3.5 million for the Flying Start approach.
Rebecca Evans: We are investing in Ogmore through developments including INEOS Automotive and the new Tirion residential development, which I visited last month. We have also allocated £3 million for the new National Imaging Academy for Wales at Pencoed, and £3.5 million to redevelop Maesteg town hall, in line with our Valleys taskforce work.
Rebecca Evans: I'm very grateful to the Chair of the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee for the work the committee did in scrutinising the regulations. I was pleased to provide that clarity in terms of the drafting choice for the approach that the committee was particularly interested in. These uprating regulations will be required each year to ensure that all eligible households in Wales...
Rebecca Evans: I welcome the opportunity to bring forward these amending regulations today, and I'd like to thank the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee for its report on the regulations. The Council Tax Reduction Schemes (Prescribed Requirements and Default Scheme) (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 amend the 2013 council tax reduction scheme regulations. The scheme provides direct help to...
Rebecca Evans: There have been questions as to what we expect to achieve from our additional funding from the NHS. Well, of course, we continue to expect NHS Wales to make progress in reducing waiting times, and ensuring that the focus really is on those people who are currently waiting the longest. I know that NHS organisations are due to submit their budget plans for 2020-1 at the end of January, and...
Rebecca Evans: That's absolutely right. All of these things that we're doing to ensure that people keep money in their pockets are political choices that we have made about the way in which we spend our budget, and the kind of draft budgets that we put before this Assembly year on year. So, other examples would be the education maintenance allowance—£30 a week for 16 to 18-year-olds living in low-income...
Rebecca Evans: And I will come on to the issues of health and education as I move through my response to the debate, but I'll start off by saying that Welsh Government is really keen to do what we can to keep money in people's pockets. Some of the measures that we're taking across Government to ensure that we're tackling poverty actually mean that people in certain circumstances could be £2,000 better off...
Rebecca Evans: Diolch, Llywydd. I welcome the debate that we've had this afternoon and most of the comments and representations that we've had from colleagues. And as I outlined in my opening statement, this is a budget that's taking place amidst uncertainty and evolving circumstances, and it's also a budget set in the long shadow cast by a decade of imposed austerity by the UK Government and despite claims...
Rebecca Evans: We have always looked to protect local government from the worst impacts of austerity. Delivering on the commitment for the best possible settlement, local authorities will receive an extra £200 million through the revenue and capital settlement next year. This brings total investment from the Welsh Government in core revenue funding and non-domestic rates to spend on delivering key...
