Diolch, Llywydd, and I move the Commission's budget for 2021, so that's from April next year, and I ask that it be incorporated into the annual budget motion.

As you will have seen in the budget document, the Commission is seeking a total budget of £61.411 million, and that comprises £36.274 million for Commission services—that's our operational budget—£16.172 million for the remuneration board's determination, £0.5 million for pre-election expenditure, and £8.465 million for interest and non-cash items.

Before I outline the detail of the Commission's budget requirement a bit more, I'd like to comment just on two specific items that I think do need highlighting in this debate. Both these items, I do want to make clear, are outside of the Commission's control. As you'll have seen, the budget shows an increase on both last year's budget and the forecast figures we proposed in our budget document this time last year. The first reason for this is the requirement for organisations to account for leased assets in the same way that they account for assets that they own, following the implementation of international financial reporting standard 16. This is an independent accounting standard commonly adopted across the world.

It's important to stress, from a funding or cash point of view, that this does not impact on the amount of cash we require from the Welsh consolidated fund, but it does increase the overall budget figure. Without this change in the accountancy rules, the total budget would have been considerably lower at £59.575 million, and to help with transparency and understanding, we've included that pre and post IFRS 16 figure in the budget document.

The second item to draw to Members' attention is the increase in the budget between the draft and the final version of this budget. The draft Commission budget was laid on 24 September 2019 and the Finance Committee had a scrutiny session on that document on 3 October. That draft budget document included a sensible estimate of the increase in the annual survey of hours and earnings index that applies to Assembly Member and Assembly Member support staff salaries from April 2020. The estimate used in that document was 2 per cent, a very sensible estimate based on actual increases in October 2017 of 2.3 per cent and in October 2018 of 1.2 per cent, both of which in themselves were within the acceptable range of budget estimates. However, on 29 October 2019, the Office for National Statistics published the data for 2019, and the increase is unexpectedly more than double the estimate that we had used, requiring an increase of £360,000 more than was included in the draft budget. Now, as you'll appreciate, this confirmation comes very late in the day, but we have included the additional amount in the final budget and we have, of course, informed the Finance Committee of this increase. Both those items, actually, have been fully explained to the Finance Committee, but I do repeat that they're outside the Commission's control.

Coming back to our overall budget, this document outlines the financial requirement for the last year of the fifth Assembly, which includes provision for the Commission to prepare for the sixth Assembly, and forecasts for the first two years of the sixth Assembly. And in it we set out how the budget supports the Commission in meeting its strategic aims of providing outstanding parliamentary support, engaging with the people of Wales, and championing the Assembly and using resources wisely.

The Commission exists to support the Assembly and, of course, its Members. As we know, the pressure on Members remains significant, given our relatively small number and the complex issues that we're addressing now, most noticeably the impact of the UK leaving the EU. We need a budget that provides the right level of resource to support Members through this period. The longstanding uncertainty around the timing of the UK's withdrawal from the EU, and the terms of any departure, has created challenges in planning how we resource that work as an Assembly, and how we as a legislature can deliver those changes. Whilst the terms of Brexit still remain to be determined, we have been planning for work post Brexit, as you would expect us to. Controls and actions such as scenario planning and training ensure that we are managing potential risks.

The direct link to movements in the Welsh block has been removed in accordance with the guidelines provided in the Finance Committee's statement of principles, but this budget is transparent, prudent and is set in the context of long-term financial funding here in Wales. It considers how the Commission prioritises its resources to ensure services to Members and those that we serve are not compromised.

I'd like to thank the Finance Committee for its scrutiny of the budget and its continued commitment to ensuring fairness in our budgeting process and transparency, of course. I have to say, appearing before a committee is not the most relaxing of experiences, but the questions that we have and those of the Public Accounts Committee do genuinely help drive improvement, and I hope you feel that you're seeing that.

The committee made six recommendations on the back of the scrutiny of the draft budget. Three of the recommendations requested further information and clarity on particular issues: the first of those was the project to replace the legislation software in use; details of the Commission's long-term project planning; and a report on the long-term benefits from the voluntary exit scheme. I hope, again, that the Finance Committee acknowledges our wish to be open and transparent on this and we'll be reporting back to you on the legislation software project in the summer of 2020, when the contract has been awarded, and on the other two areas in the autumn of 2020, again reflecting the requirement for a long-term view.

The fourth recommendation concerned staffing support for the standards commissioner and proposed that the resources needed for this work be identified separately within the budget for 2021 and for future years. We've done that, and so those costs are now clearly shown in table 4 and will continue to be shown separately in the years ahead. Members will be aware, of course, of the resignation of the former standards commissioner. There's an acting commissioner pending, but the work on scrutinising and reviewing what the standards commissioner needs in terms of his work will kick in when the permanent standards commissioner is appointed and when we get a clear idea of what that individual is going to need.

The fifth recommendation highlights the importance of ensuring transparency regarding additional costs when new policies are authorised by the Assembly. There is—I have to assure Members—continued governance around the provision of resources, including to the standards commissioner, and, of course, it's very relevant when we see the final version of the Senedd and Elections (Wales) Bill, which we'll know a little bit about today, about what uncosted changes might be occurring to that, hence our commitment, as you'll see in the letter to you, to the Finance Committee, about focusing on these new policies that might come through the Assembly.

And then just finally, the committee recommended that the Commission prioritises funding to promote the awareness of votes at 16. One of the Commission's strategic goals is, of course, to engage with the people of Wales and to champion the Assembly. So, I can confirm that within that total of £500,000 set aside for pre-election expenses, £150,000 has been earmarked for awareness-raising work.

We are, of course, as ever, open to suggestions on how to improve our budgeting process. I'll be willing to answer any questions Members may have, but in the meantime, I'm very happy to put this budget forward on behalf of the Commission, reiterate our commitment to working in a way that's open and transparent, and to deliver the best possible value for money for the people of Wales. Diolch.