Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I'd like to start by echoing the comments made by the Chair of the Finance Committee and the Chair of the Children, Young People and Education Committee about this new approach to budget scrutiny, and it being a model, perhaps, for future work, and I'm sensing that I'm sure other committees will want to take a careful look at it. It was very, I think, constructive for three committees with different expertise and different interests to come together and consider this very important aspect of the way Welsh Government formulates its budget, and seeks to ensure that vulnerable people in our community are protected in the budget-setting process, and all those equality issues are factored in in a meaningful way that actually helps produce the eventual budget. 

I'd also very much like to thank the stakeholders and the Welsh Government for engaging in this work, because I think that's been very constructive and progressive too. And it is clear, I think, that everybody wants to see the budget process made more transparent and more effective, and that's a very good starting point for this discussion and this debate as we go forward. In fact, our committee and, indeed, the predecessor committee have long had reservations about the effectiveness of the budget process and, particularly, the impact assessment process. Those impact assessments must inform the decision-making process. As I think Lynne has just said, it shouldn't be a matter of justifying decisions that have been made, but informing decisions yet to be made, and being used in the earlier stages of the process, if it is to be meaningful and all the stakeholders that are interested are to believe it to be meaningful. But I do welcome the Welsh Government’s commitment to reflect on the evidence we considered in relation to those single integrated impact assessments, and I hope this will lead to improvements in the process and, ultimately, improvements to the decisions that follow.

If I might move to some specific issues, Dirprwy Lywydd. Welsh Government officials recently received a briefing organised by the Equality and Human Rights Commission on the cumulative impact assessment model. And I think many us are concerned with this, because when we look at austerity, for example, the cumulative impact over a period of years gets ever greater, and you do reach the stage where it's extremely alarming indeed. And the EHRC said that the Welsh Government showed a willingness to explore this model further. So, I'd be interested in hearing from the Minister as to whether you are likely to take forward that model.

An ongoing issue across a range of our committee’s work is integration of legislation, and the differing requirements placed on public bodies by different pieces of legislation. This was a key theme in our work. We heard of the layering effect of different requirements, which can lead to matters falling through the gap. This is before further new duties, such as the Equality Act 2010’s socioeconomic duty, are incorporated into Welsh law.

In our work on parenting, maternity and work, we called for a refinement of the public sector equality duties. In responding to this recommendation, the Welsh Government told us that the Minister would be receiving advice on the regulations and reporting arrangements, particularly the relationship between the duties and the future generations Act.

The EHRC have called for the equality duties to be amended and strengthened so that they are more focused on outcomes for individuals. They note that they held a symposium earlier this month to help inform the Welsh Government’s thinking for this review. So, if the Minister could provide an update on the outcomes from this symposium and indicate the timetable for reviewing these duties, we would be grateful as a committee.

As we say in our report, now is a good time for changes to be made to the impact assessment process. The well-being of future generations Act gives a clear policy framework, and in recommendation 4 of our report, we called for the Welsh Government to commit to using this as a basis for its approach to impact assessments. This recommendation was accepted by Welsh Government. In responding to this, the future generations commissioner said this had not happened sufficiently to date in the budget process. So, I'd be interested in how the Minister responds to that particular analysis.

Finally, we see in the Welsh Government’s response that the review of the integrated impact assessment tool will be comprehensive. It also states that it will include engagement with a number of external stakeholders, including the commissioners and the budget advisory group for equality. The EHRC in commenting on this said external engagement with people from protected groups would be key, suggesting that such engagement should go beyond the advisory group. Would you be able, Minister, to outline how you will be engaging with stakeholders outside of the advisory group on the toolkit review?