I am very pleased to speak in this very important debate, and I would like to congratulate the finance Secretary for his handling of these issues in the challenging circumstances that he referred to at the beginning of his introduction. I welcome the final budget and the additional revenue and capital funding that has been allocated, and I just wanted to speak briefly about a few of those additional areas today.

I am particularly pleased that there is £6 million in additional revenue funding to help prevent homelessness. I think that one of the messages, certainly from the Finance Committee and from many of the discussions that we have had about how we plan our finances, is that we want to work on prevention. I think this is clearly an area where we have made great strides, and I think it is widely acknowledged that Wales is leading the way in the UK in preventing homelessness. I think this £6 million—although, obviously, not a huge amount—is certainly going to make a significant difference. It is important for us to remember that this is an area where we are making progress. There have been calls from homelessness charities for the UK Government to follow the example of Wales in its legislation, in placing a legal duty to help people in housing crisis, to prevent and relieve homelessness. I know that the statistics have shown that that is working. So, I think that the money that is given towards preventing homelessness is really putting money where it should go. So, I really want to very strongly welcome that money towards homelessness.

Many speakers have mentioned the additional £10 million for social care, and how vitally important social care is. Mike Hedges, of course, referred to the long-term nature of social care, and this additional funding, I know, will help meet the extra cost of funding the national living wage, and is in addition to the extra £25 million announced in October. So, I think, again, it shows the priority that the Labour Government in Wales is giving to social care.

I also want to take the opportunity to comment on the £1.7 million funding to provide financial support for people and their families with contaminated blood. Obviously, there is a consultation on payments for people infected with contaminated blood and their families, which is still ongoing until 20 January. So, I know that no decisions have yet been made about how this £1.7 million in funding will be distributed. I am very pleased that the Cabinet Secretary for health came along to the last meeting of the cross-party group, which I chair, to hear concerns and worries about the people who are hoping to benefit from this money. He was able to listen to the experiences of many of the families and people directly affected by this scandal, which of course dates back to the 1970s and 1980s. I wanted to mention that group in this budget debate because, obviously, the decisions that we make about money are of huge individual importance to all of those people who have suffered from this major tragedy. I am hopeful that we will be able to come forward with a solution that will help satisfy some of their greatest concerns. I think it is very important to remember that the families of those who have had hepatitis C and liver disease suffer greater financial hardship as a result of family members receiving contaminated blood, because they are penalised when it comes to getting loans and getting insurance. That has a massive detrimental effect on their financial stability. That’s why they argue for ongoing support, rather than one-off payments. So, I wanted to make that point in the budget debate, although I know that decisions haven’t yet been made.

Finally, I'd just like to echo the good news about the progress that has been made about the financial stability that we hope will be obtained. I particularly welcome the idea of having the independent regulator, and I think that this is a final budget that is much to be applauded.