One of the areas that has drawn criticism in previous years has been the approach to funding projects, as we've just heard really, through utilising underspends from the determination to top up the Commission's budget. This year, the Commission has changed the way it budgets, with clear separation between the budget of the Commission and the determination. So, rather than utilising the underspend from the determination to fund projects, a project fund has been included, and a specific budget line for the remuneration board's determination.

In light of the recent changes to the determination, the Commission would have seen a likely reduction in the size of this underspend. However, we are pleased to see these changes. These changes have resulted in some presentational issues with this budget, in the way in which spending is detailed, and our first recommendation asks for consistency in budget presentation, and the Commission of course has accepted this recommendation.

The committee made recommendations in relation to specific workstreams, namely the projects under public information and engagement, and the Youth Parliament costs. The committee thought these areas lacked clarity. We requested the final budget be updated in relation to public information and engagement, and, whilst further information has been provided to the committee, I am disappointed that the actual recommendation to update the budget documentation has not been implemented. The Commission's response provides additional costs on the Youth Parliament; however, it remains unclear how these costs have been established. I note that costs will be updated after the first residential meeting of the Youth Parliament, but we do remain concerned that the basis for the costs identified seem to lack a substantive evidence base.

The budget refers to a possible voluntary exit scheme in the final quarter of 2018-19. The committee recommended that staffing decisions should be given serious consideration, and any voluntary exit scheme should clearly link to the capacity review. The response still doesn't provide clear links. However, I do recognise that this may relate to sensitive information in relation to staffing. And on staffing, of course, we have previously requested that the Commission doesn't increase the head count of staff within the Assembly, and we are pleased that the head count has remained at 491. We recognise that there have been, and will continue to be, challenges ahead, but we welcome the commitment from the Commission to only revisit the cap of 491 in exceptional circumstances.

Recommendation 4 of our report referred to the costs of the Legislative Workbench software. And I am pleased that the narrative surrounding this has been updated to clarify the resource committed by the Welsh Government and that committed by the Commission. This is clearly a hugely important area to us as a legislature, and clarity, of course, in that respect, is very, very welcome.

We note the possibilities for potential in-year supplementary budgets, and recognise that these relate to pension scheme changes, and changes to accounting rules as well. We welcome the early notice of the possibility of those supplementary budgets coming forward.

Finally, the committee has previously recommended that the Commission's budget doesn't exceed the increase in the Welsh block grant, and we've commended the Commission on budgeting within 1.6 per cent for 2019-20. However, the response of the committee states that they will ensure that the Commission's operational budget increases in line with the Welsh block grant. The 'response of the Commission', I should have said. And as a committee, we're a little bit concerned that there is an assumption there that the budget should automatically increase. The budget, of course, should remain within the block grant, yes, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the Commission should automatically assume that their budget increases at the same level. So, I very much hope that the culture change that I referred to at the beginning of my contribution continues, and that our recommendations as a Finance Committee can contribute positively to the continued strengthening of the Commission's budgeting process.