5. Debate: The Draft Budget 2018-19

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:27 pm on 5 December 2017.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 5:27, 5 December 2017

Well, you have boldly gone, once again, in laying your amendment, I know. Llywydd, my hands are tied, not by doing a two-year deal with Plaid Cymru but by the fact that we do not have a comprehensive spending review from his Government, so I don't have a budget for the Welsh Government for more than two years ahead. That is what's making me unable to do anything beyond that.

There was a series, Llywydd, of very specific things raised in the debate. Mike Hedges, I know, is an enthusiast for the SHEP programme and what we're able to do with the £0.5 million we've set aside in each year of the budget to help families during the school holidays. I hope we can do more. I hope we can do more in Swansea.

Can I just clear up one point that's been raised by a number of Members and then I will finish, Chair, and that's Supporting People? Because I know there have been concerns about it. Let me just read out to you two sentences from a letter sent by my colleague, Rebecca Evans, to Bethan Jenkins in clearing up this matter. First of all, the Minister makes it clear that no decisions have been taken as yet as to whether an early intervention and prevention grant will be created in 2019-20. The Minister awaits the evidence from the work that is already going on before coming to that conclusion. When she does come to make determinations there, she says in the letter, regardless of that work, 'I would like to reiterate that, as a result of a budget agreement reached with Plaid Cymru, there will be no cuts available in funding for the Supporting People grant in either 2018-19 or 2019-20', and I hope that those Members who have had anxieties this afternoon will take comfort from that very clear statement.