Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:40 pm on 14 November 2018.
Well, I'm absolutely delighted to hear that, Nick, because, of course, this is one of the major steps forward for this democracy that this place has actually voted for. To think that we're actually bringing it in in its inaugural year for £100,000 with running costs after that of about £50,000, I think, from where I'm standing, that actually sounds more than value for money. Obviously, there's a pressure on us now having budgeted for those figures to make sure that we stick somewhere pretty close to them anyway, and we look forward—if that is that the correct phrase—to answering questions on that next year.
Regarding staffing and the voluntary exit scheme, any decision is related to the capacity review. It's one of the things that gets taken into account in the prioritisation of just about anything now, because I think we would all accept that the skill sets needed within the Commission staff now to help support us, as Members, in what is going to be a completely different institution from 1999, are considerable. There would have been an argument, I would say, for saying that we did need additional staff for this, but having made the commitment to stick to 491, how those 491 are utilised is a considerable challenge actually, and I'm hoping for Assembly support in the way that we're doing that.
Sticking to the Welsh block grant, I think our commitment was not to exceed it; it wasn't necessarily to match it. But I think we've done pretty well to come in on this, bearing in mind, as a couple of Members have said here, including you, Mike, how difficult this is, and I'm hoping you'll be employing the same level of scrutiny and the same arguments about bringing things in on a sixpence to the other 99.7 per cent of the budget that will be affecting this place, and I'm sure you will.
The other thing perhaps I might have mentioned in my opening remarks, and I just want to raise it here, because you mentioned it, Mike, is that we are no longer budgeting for 100 per cent of the remuneration board's determination figure for reasons that have been put forward very persuasively by the Finance Committee in the past. So, I thank you for acknowledging that, and a similar figure has been included for churn within Commission staff as well, so that it's not just Assembly Members and their staff that are being treated in that way. We are—. The Commission staff are treated in the same way.
So, I'm glad you recommended this budget for acceptance. I obviously do as well, and I'd be grateful for all your support later on at voting time. Thank you.