I welcome the budget proposals. Yes, the settlement will be difficult for the Commission to work within. I have no doubt they'll have to make some very difficult decisions. Welcome to the world of the rest of the public sector. It cannot be immune from the problems and difficulties caused by austerity as the rest of the public sector is facing. I said last year that the Commission's budget could not be immune to the real-term cuts in expenditure that many public sector bodies, which we all rely on, which we all have a very high opinion of, and which we all need, are facing.

I'm very pleased to see the end-of-year underspend in the remuneration board's determination because there was a level of inevitability about that underspend, in that the budget was based on people being paid at the highest point on the grade for all staff, and anybody who was joining was starting at the lowest point. So, there was a level of inevitability about that, which was not good for budgeting for the Assembly and didn't hold us in the best light.

I'm very pleased to see that the budget has been produced to mirror the increase in the Welsh block grant. Llyr Gruffydd wasn't there last year, but one of the things we said was that we didn't want it to exceed that. I think the expectation was that 'not exceed' meant equal it. I think that's the view that was held by the Commission as well, that that's what our view was—that we would expect it to move in the same direction. But there are pressures on the Commission budget. We keep on asking them to do more and more, but we don't want give them money for it. But I'm sure there's not a local authority leader in Wales who would not be saying exactly the same thing. So, it is difficult, and I congratulate both the Commission staff, the chief executive, and the Commissioners, for bringing a budget in like this. It's going to be difficult, it's going to take managing, but I think that we cannot treat ourselves differently to the way we treat the rest of the public sector in Wales. And, so, I would urge Members of the Assembly today to support this budget.