Thank you very much to Nick Ramsay for the series of questions. The first related to the issue of the funding formula for local government, and the Minister for local government and I have been very clear with local authorities throughout that, should they want to come forward with ideas as to how the funding formula should be amended, then, obviously, we are open to those discussions. I think the distribution sub-group that we have with those bodies is a perfect opportunity to have discussions in that regard. There's not that appetite in local government at the moment for a review of the funding formula, but, as I say, the door is open for discussions if there are ideas as to how the funding formula could be changed in future.

There were a series of questions relating to council tax, and particularly in relation to the council tax reduction scheme. That's been a tremendously successful and important scheme. Of course, we make a contribution to local authorities of £244 million through our annual settlement to fund that scheme.

It is true to say that the number of households receiving council tax reduction help has fallen in all local authority areas, actually, since 2013-14, but we have undertaken—or commissioned, I should say—some research from Policy in Practice, which will allow us to understand how we can help to improve the case load and where changes might need to be made in future to ensure that it remains fair for all households. Because one of the reasons, I think, that we've seen the fall in numbers of households benefiting from the support that is available is the roll-out of the UK Government's welfare reforms. It impacts on a family's or an individual's ability to navigate the full range of support that's available for them, and one of the reasons is that eligibility for the council tax reduction scheme is directly linked to the UK benefits system. So, as a number of benefits, including housing benefit, are gradually being replaced by universal credit, it's important that we understand the impact that that is having on the uptake of the council tax reduction scheme.

That's one of reasons why, in January, we commissioned the research to shed some light on that issue. It’s a year-long study, and it will involve a significant amount of data analysis to track the circumstances of Welsh households as they are migrated from those legacy benefits on to universal credit. But, as I committed in my statement, when we are in a place where we can share information on those reports, I'm absolutely committed to do so, because I know that there's interest on all parts of the Assembly, really, to get this right.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies, I have to say, estimates that 3.6 million working-age households in England, who would have been eligible for support under the old council tax benefits system, are now entitled to an average of £196 a year less, so I think that our system is definitely more progressive in Wales. But I think that we can do more to make it more progressive in the longer term. So, one of the areas we're considering is the impact of revaluation. Properties liable for council tax are placed, currently, into one of nine council tax bands, based on the property values assessed by the Valuation Office Agency. They're based on property values at 1 April 2003. That's, obviously, much more recent than the situation in England and Scotland, which have values from 1991. But we are considering what difference a revaluation would make in Wales, because it is a huge undertaking. So, again, we've asked the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the University of Sheffield to provide us with some insights into that to inform our consideration on the way forward, and alongside that we're looking at things such as local land value taxes or local taxes based on income to try and ensure that we do have a more progressive system in the long term.

In terms of arrears, debt management and enforcement are absolutely crucial. It's something that I've particularly taken an interest in in my time within this portfolio. Over the course of this year we've introduced the legislation that means that the threat of imprisonment for the non-payment of council tax has now been removed. I think that's really progressive—getting into debt isn't a crime. Imprisonment is a really outdated and disproportionate response to dealing with civil debt, and there are other much more appropriate ways in which we can be dealing with that.

But we've also, crucially, introduced a new council tax protocol for Wales, and that was developed in collaboration with local government and has been endorsed by the Welsh Local Government Association, and it has been implemented in every local authority in Wales. And that's about good-practice support for families who are struggling, families who have been finding it difficult to make their council tax payments, and it's about trying to get in there at the earliest possible stage to provide those individuals and those families with the support that they might need in order to be able to pay their council tax in the future.

There were a series of questions as well on non-domestic rates, and, of course, we're really pleased to have introduced our permanent small business rates relief scheme. It's providing over £120 million of relief this year, fully funded by the Welsh Government, which, of course, isn't the case over the border, where you see some businesses, their contributions, being used to support other businesses. More than 70,000 ratepayers across Wales now receive some kind of relief, so that's half of all businesses in Wales paying no rates at all, compared to around a third of businesses under the scheme in England. So, again, I think that we've been able to offer a generous approach to small business rates relief here in Wales.

The issue of revaluation for non-domestic rates—well, it's something that we clearly were working towards, bringing forward the next revaluation for non-domestic rates in 2021 rather than 2022. And bringing that date forward means that, obviously, we can produce bills that are based on more up-to-date market conditions, and, obviously, it enables those ratepayers to plan ahead. However, the suspension of Parliament in September means the necessary legislation fell at that point, and the decision then to reintroduce it will be a matter for the new Government. So, we're working very closely with UK Government officials to try and ensure that a legislative opportunity does present itself to legislate to undertake that revaluation as soon as possible.