Part of 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services — Postponed from 8 November – in the Senedd at 2:43 pm on 15 November 2017.
There are two things that I'll say. The first is that we think that we can manage some of the reduction without impacting on current research activity. It will affect some of our relationships within the United Kingdom architecture around health and care research, but we think that we can manage. But it means that there are things that we may not otherwise be able to do. The challenge, though, comes back to my second point, which we made in committee today. There is no consequence-free choice to make in having trade-offs within departmental budgets and across departments as well. The reality of a significant and continuing reduction in the real-terms budget available to this place means that budget reductions are being made in areas we'd much rather not do. So, this is just one of those areas. It was not a pleasant choice, not a choice that I enjoyed making, but that is the reality of being a Minister in the Government at a time of continuing austerity. I sincerely hope that your colleague at No. 11 Downing Street sets out a different course for public expenditure for the sake of every single part of the United Kingdom, but I do not hold out significant hope for an alternative view for the future.