5. 3. Statement: The Fiscal Framework

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:52 pm on 17 January 2017.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 3:52, 17 January 2017

I thank Julie Morgan for what she said and for drawing attention to those important aspects of the framework. We have looked to see how systems work elsewhere where independent advice makes its contribution to decision making. We have looked particularly at Scotland, because, as I said, it is fair to recognise that we were treading in their footsteps in securing that level of independent contribution to the framework. The OBR is independent of Government, but it is London-based, and you could argue that it sees the world a bit through the Treasury end of the telescope. I look forward to discussing in Scotland the way that their fiscal commission is operating. As Simon Thomas said, I have some doubts as to whether a full fiscal commission is a proportionate response to the level of fiscal devolution that we have in Wales, but we have benefitted hugely, for example, from the work of the Wales Governance Centre and the work of the Institute for Fiscal Studies. So, there are bodies out there that provide independent and robust advice. There will be others as well. At the moment I’m open to a number of different possibilities. We have a period of time. The fiscal framework allows in the beginning for the Welsh Government to operate within its own forecasting ability, so we don’t have to rush it in a matter of days. I want to find the best and proportionate advice that is independent of us and allows us to deploy it, and I’m very happy to continue to discuss with members of the Finance Committee and others the relative merits of different methods as we explore them in more detail.