1. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on planned capital expenditure within this Assembly term? OAQ(5)0077(FLG)

Our spending plans, approved by the Assembly yesterday, provide for nearly £7 billion of capital investment over the next four years.

Thank you for that response. Further to that, the Welsh Government’s infrastructure investment plan lists some 350 investments across Wales, with a total value of over £40 billion. You will be aware of that, I’m sure. Clearly, capital settlements provided by the UK Government, or the limited borrowing powers of this Assembly, will enable us to deliver all of those infrastructure improvements required over the next few years. Given the fact that the consultation on creating a national infrastructure commission for Wales, or NICW, is now closed—it closed on Monday—what discussions are you to have with the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure on devising an innovative funding system that will enable us to deliver more of these necessary projects, something similar to the vision put forward by Plaid Cymru for the body—our NICW as compared with your NICW?

Well, thank you very much for that second question.

Rwy’n parhau i drafod y materion hyn yn rheolaidd gydag Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet dros yr economi. Roedd y drafft o’r gyllideb derfynol, a gymeradwywyd ddoe, yn dangos cynnydd sylweddol yn y dyraniadau cyfalaf sydd ar gael i’r portffolio hwnnw at ddibenion buddsoddi cyfalaf pwysig. Rydym yn parhau i chwilio am ragor o gyfleoedd i allu buddsoddi yn yr agweddau ar economi Cymru sy’n darparu elw drwy’r gweithgarwch economaidd ychwanegol y byddant yn ei gynhyrchu. Gwn fod Ken Skates yn edrych ymlaen at drafodaethau pellach gyda Phlaid Cymru ynglŷn â gwahanol fodelau i’n galluogi i barhau â’r math hwnnw o fuddsoddiad.

I’m very pleased about the plans to replace the Velindre Cancer Centre with a new building on the Whitchurch Hospital land. Could the Cabinet Secretary provide an update about the funding that will be available for the new Velindre Cancer Centre?

I thank Julie Morgan for that further question. She’s referring to work that was begun by my predecessor, Jane Hutt, because, even with the additional £440 million of capital investment announced in the autumn statement, the Welsh Government’s capital budget will be 21 per cent lower in 2019 than in 2009, and that means that we have had to look for innovative ways in which we can fund very important capital developments in the future. The new Velindre Cancer Centre is one of three such schemes that are in development. They will have a total capital value of around £1 billion. Now, the Welsh mutual investment model has recently been explored with the Office for National Statistics to make sure that, when we are finally in a position to move ahead with it, its expenditure will not count against our capital departmental expenditure limit. And those conversations have proceeded, I think, constructively, and I hope to be in a position to report their outcome to the Assembly within the next few weeks.

Good afternoon.

Gan gyfeirio’n ôl at gwestiwn Dai Lloyd, bydd Cadw, fel y gwyddoch mae’n debyg, yn defnyddio refeniw a godwyd ar wahanol safleoedd Cadw er mwyn cyfrannu at y gwariant cyfalaf ar rai o’n safleoedd mwyaf pwysig yma yng Nghymru. Rwy’n meddwl yn benodol am Abaty Nedd, y clustnodwyd £0.25 miliwn neu ychydig dros hynny ar ei gyfer eleni, ond nid yw’n glir iawn i mi faint o’r gyllideb gyfalaf y bydd yn ei defnyddio dros y blynyddoedd nesaf. Y model buddsoddi cydfuddiannol rydych newydd sôn amdano gyda Julie Morgan—a oes lle i syniad o’r fath mewn perthynas â buddsoddi yn ein hadeiladau hanesyddol pwysig nad ydynt yn ôl pob tebyg, ar eu pennau eu hunain, yn codi llawer iawn o arian?

Well, Chair, in front of the Finance Committee this morning, I explored the fact that there are a range of different capital ways in which we can invest in Wales—traditional capital, financial transaction capital, the new borrowing ability that we will have should the Wales Bill pass, and then innovative funding models. We are trying to use all the levers at our disposal in order to carry out those very important capital investments that are there right across the range of responsibilities that the Assembly discharges. Now, in the case of Cadw, the Cabinet Secretary has had discussions with Cadw about them themselves supporting capital investment through the revenue that they raise, and that’s yet another way in which we’re able to do this, but we remain open to looking at all the different methods that are available to us in order to do important work of the sort that the Member just identified.