There have been questions as to what we expect to achieve from our additional funding from the NHS. Well, of course, we continue to expect NHS Wales to make progress in reducing waiting times, and ensuring that the focus really is on those people who are currently waiting the longest. I know that NHS organisations are due to submit their budget plans for 2020-1 at the end of January, and we'll be looking for those plans to deliver improved performance for patients next year. And I know that the health Minister looks forward to examining those plans, and he'll then approve or not approve those plans.

Some of the specific things that you can see in our draft budget today in health includes investment from NHS Wales in the major trauma network for south Wales, west Wales and south Powys. And the aim of that major trauma network is to enhance patient outcomes and experience across the entire patient pathway from the point of wounding to recovery, and that network will improve patient outcomes by saving lives and preventing avoidable disability, returning more patients to their families, to work and to education.

We're also investing in new treatments, with £16 million per year being allocated to health boards to support our commitment to invest £80 million over the course of this administration, taking the time that people wait for those treatments from 90 days now just down to 10 days, and I think that's something that we should be very, very proud of.

We're also investing in precision medicine, through genomics and cell and gene therapies, and this approach to diagnosis and treatment will mean that patients will have access to more personalised diagnoses and treatments, with greatly improved outcomes. And, again, there was a question about primary care, and we'll continue to be investing in primary care, increasing the primary care cluster funding in the next financial year by £10 million, and that will be focused on implementing the primary care model for Wales and collaborative working through those primary care clusters.

In 2019-20 we announced an increase of £25 million in the general medical services contract, taking it up to more than £536 million. And in addition, the primary care development fund of over £40 million is supporting the primary care workforce and cluster working. And, of course, there's a really strong emphasis on prevention and early intervention in our draft spending plans, and some of the new spend includes the £5.5 million to support the 'Healthy Weight: Healthy Wales' strategy. And there are also a number of really important capital investments as well. So, we're investing over £374 million in the healthcare infrastructure in Wales in 2021, and some of that will support some really major projects. For example, the final construction phases of the Grange hospital in Cwmbran, and the next phase of refurbishment of the Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr, and I think that that's exciting times for the NHS in Wales.

Questions were raised with regard to the local government settlement and how we arrive at the sums of money that local authorities receive. I think any suggestion that there is anything biased about the decisions that are made through the formula are absolutely shameful. There is absolutely no evidence that any authorities, any rural authorities or other types of authorities, are being disadvantaged through the local government funding formula. The core revenue funding we provide to local authorities every year is distributed according to a relative need formula, and that takes account of a wealth of information on the demographic, physical, economic and social characteristics of authorities. But it is a fact that, generally, the allocations to north Wales authorities this year are below the Welsh average, and that is due to the lower relative change in population and the pupil numbers in comparison to the rest of Wales as a whole. Now, that's a feature of the funding formula, and that funding formula has been developed in consultation with local government through the distribution sub-group, and that's a technical working group whose members do include senior local government officers from across Wales. It does include the Welsh Local Government Association and independent experts, to ensure the fair treatment of those different factors. And included within the formula are a number of indicators that account for the varying degrees of population sparsity across authorities, and they use schools as part of the formula. And all of these things are very, very closely overseen by the independent members of the distribution sub-group to ensure that there's no bias, either in favour of or against the interests of any particular authority.

In terms of making the information public, the details of the formula and its application is set out in the background information for the standard spending assessments, and that's commonly known as the Green Book. The Green Book is published annually, and it also includes the formula and calculations that are used to determine the standard spending assessments for each individual service area. It will be published here in Wales after the local government settlement has been published, which is the final publication, which is scheduled for 25 February.

I'm going to be really, really quick now, Llywydd, in addressing some of the issues on school investment. And of course, we are increasing our investment to local authorities, who are the primary way in which money gets through to schools. So, we have £1.8 billion going into education across local authorities and the education MEG. There was some specific questions relating to, for example, the three-year allocation of funding. Well, we're unable to provide the three-year allocation of funding; schools in England have been able to have a three-year settlement, but of course we only have that one-year settlement, so we can't provide the level of reassurance and certainty that we would like to. ALN—really pleased that we've been able to provide additional funding within additional learning needs, and the post-specialist placements funding as well. Both of those have increased, and those don't relate to the ALN transformation programme—that's extra, additional funding on top.

Decarbonisation has been absolutely crucial to our ambitions this year. And what I really want to make clear is that, actually, the additional £96 million, as part of that £140 million of capital expenditure, is just a part of the picture. So, where you'll see most of the exciting things happening, in terms of decarbonisation, they're already happening within portfolios within the rest of the budget. So, you'll see examples through the level of social housing grant that we're making available. All housing now—all social housing—is built to the Welsh housing quality standard. That's part of our decarbonisation agenda, but of course you won't see it in the additional funding. And the same for all of the items in our low-carbon delivery plan, and the work that Ken Skates is leading on through the economic action plan, which is driving sustainable growth and combating climate change. Because that's one of the calls to action for private businesses, which they have to do if they want to access the economic futures fund. And of course it plays a major role in the economic contract as well.

I just want to reassure Members there have been no cuts to the Welsh language budgets, and I know that the Minister will be able to provide further information on that. It's one of those situations where you see money moving between lines within the budget, but the sum doesn't actually add up to a cut, as it were.

So, I think I've already set out our approach to taxes in my opening remarks, and of course you'll have seen it in the documents. There are no secrets on the way, there's nothing that we're hiding, as Darren Millar was suggesting—that we might be introducing new taxes within the year; this isn't going to happen. So, despite all of the challenges that we've discussed, I want to re-emphasise that the investments that we've taken in this budget, and over the term of this Government, have protected our valued public services, and helped us to invest in our priority areas, with a view of supporting our ambitions for a more equal, more prosperous, and a greener Wales. Thank you.