Therefore, funding provided for local government for the care provided by them is funding that provides savings to the NHS at a later date, and the WLGA estimate that local government has had to make real-term cuts of 22 per cent over the past decade. Now, clearly, this is not sustainable for the future and the priority has to be clearly set out in the 2020-21 budget, or the NHS will suffer down the road.

One comment on a priority there is consensus about, and that’s the issue of decarbonisation: the future generations commissioner has estimated that not far off £1 billion will need to be allocated for decarbonisation schemes in Wales. Now, the concern for many is that we at this point in time haven’t seen any real signs from the Welsh Government—despite setting decarbonisation as a high-level priority, the Welsh Government haven’t shown that they are willing to make that commitment in financial terms.

So, those are two areas that have to be reflected in the budget for next year. Just one final point: it is, of course, of great concern that we are only seeing a one-year spending round from the UK Government, and I think it will be a priority to strengthen our reserves as we face the risks of more austerity in years to come.