Rebecca Evans: So, next month I look forward to bringing forward a statement to the Assembly on local government financial reform, and that's looking at local taxes in the round, so it will be looking at both council tax and also non-domestic rates. And it will be describe the research that we've commissioned across both of those areas to help us better understand what the opportunities are for more...
Rebecca Evans: Well, I don't think it's fair to say that, whenever asked about this issue, I say it's for local authorities because, of course, we have Wales-wide schemes that are administered and there is no discretion to some of these schemes. So, for example, small business rates relief, that's a permanent small business rates relief scheme in Wales, providing over £120 million of relief this year. It's...
Rebecca Evans: The Welsh Government’s package of rates relief is providing over £230 million of support to businesses and other ratepayers with their bills this year. Half of all businesses in Wales pay no rates at all.
Rebecca Evans: If local authorities particularly have any concerns about any property at all, they should draw it to the attention of the Valuation Office Agency and they will assess it in detail. I think that we need to reflect as well that, actually, it's very serious if an owner of a property seeks to evade and avoid tax by claiming that their property is a holiday let as opposed to a domestic residence,...
Rebecca Evans: There's not a loophole.
Rebecca Evans: Well, I'm not sure that I would agree that there's a loophole in the law, because the law is very clear in terms of whether a property is a dwelling for the purposes of council tax or whether it is a business for the purposes of non-domestic rates. I appreciate that some of those will be classified as small businesses and then will be eligible for rates relief. But I did meet with the...
Rebecca Evans: There are robust collection and enforcement arrangements in place to ensure all householders pay the council tax for which they are liable. We work closely with local government to improve these processes, wherever possible.
Rebecca Evans: Local authorities, in terms of their own spending decisions, will have to justify those to their local electorate. So, for the examples you gave from Monmouthshire, it would be for the local electorate to explore, or to decide, really, if they're comfortable with the decisions that local authorities are making. But in terms of the overall impact of this decision on local authorities in Wales,...
Rebecca Evans: Well, as you say, the interest rate changed without notice from 1.8 to 2.8 per cent with immediate effect last week. And that does cause difficulty for local authorities in Wales, of course, because they will have to reassess all of their borrowing plans and the plans that they have for strategic investment in social housing particularly, but also in schools and other capital projects...
Rebecca Evans: Well, as I say, I'll look into that particular case of the network to which you refer.FootnoteLink As I say, it's not something that has come across my desk, but Welsh Government is particularly keen to engage in networks and learn from others, especially now in the context of Brexit, of course, because our international relationships are as important as they've ever been now in terms of...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much. I'm familiar with the situation in New Zealand, and Welsh Government officials have been working closely with officials from New Zealand to better understand each other's approaches, because, actually, many of the things in the New Zealand budget setting approach are incorporated in our approach to the legislation of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015....
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much. So, the main factors and priories that determine the priorities of the Welsh Government will be found in our programme for government, and where, as I say, we’re looking through this particular budget, through the lens of those eight priority areas that Welsh Government has identified as being the ones for which if we can work more closely and in a more co-ordinated way...
Rebecca Evans: Well, the local government Minister has been really clear with local authorities that she and I are very open to discussions if local authorities see a better way for distributing the funding that is given to local authorities. And, obviously, the funding formula, as it is, takes into account a wide range of things—rurality being one of them. But we’ve been very clear: if there are ways...
Rebecca Evans: Well, I think it’s important to reflect on the reasons why local government have been struggling in recent years, and that’s very much because of the fact that their budgets have been decreasing as Welsh Government’s budget has been decreasing. Last year, there was funding that was well below the funding that they would have had even 10 years before that, so I think that it’s...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you. Well, we've already set out in the statement that I made on the spending review that Welsh Government's priority will continue to be the NHS in Wales to ensure that people have access to excellent healthcare wherever they live in Wales. But, alongside that, we're very keen to ensure that local government does get the best possible settlement for many of the reasons that we’ve...
Rebecca Evans: Well, you'll be familiar with our 'Prosperity for All' low-carbon plan for Wales, which sets out 100 of the different actions that we are taking across Government in terms of ensuring that decarbonisation is very much at the centre of the work that we are doing. But I think it's important to do this within the context of our Environment (Wales) Act 2016, and that puts in place a really robust...
Rebecca Evans: I hope that when committees ask officials this during this year's budget scrutiny they won't have that silence. Because we've been working hard to ensure that officials across Welsh Government, not just within the finance department, understand the importance of embedding the Act within their decision making. And one of the meetings with the future generations commissioner has been among...
Rebecca Evans: The well-being of future generations Act has very much been at the heart of all of our budget discussions so far. So, when I've met with each of the Ministers in Welsh Government, I have been asking them specifically what they are doing within their portfolios to bring to life all of the ambitions within the well-being of future generations Act and how they're using that to help inform their...
Rebecca Evans: I've met with the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales on a number of occasions to discuss how the Act can inform our draft budget preparations to maximise our available resources to have the greatest impact over the longer term.
Rebecca Evans: Well, there's no argument from me that the settlements for local government over recent years have been extremely challenging. And even with the additional funding that we have this year, clearly things will continue to be particularly difficult in terms of meeting all of the social care needs that have been identified. And, of course, the demographic changes mean that that need is growing,...
