Diolch, Llywydd. At the opportunity we had to debate the draft budget in the debate on the statement on the draft budget just a couple of weeks ago, I responded in some depth to the issues that were raised regarding poverty, the NHS, the Welsh language, and the local government settlement, so I propose to use my time responding to the debate this afternoon to look at some of the other areas that colleagues have mentioned in the debate today and previously, which I didn't have the opportunity to look at last time.

I think the theme of decarbonisation has come through extremely strongly in the contributions this afternoon, and I think that it's really important to recognise that the additional funding of £96 million for decarbonisation measures as part of that wider £140 million that looks at decarbonisation and biodiversity is only one part of the picture. You can look right throughout the work that the Welsh Government is doing and throughout the budget to see where we are making inroads in terms of addressing decarbonisation. So, an example would be the additional £48 million that is being used to increase the level of the social housing grant available. So, now, all new housing in Wales is built to the Welsh housing quality standard, and that, of course, improves energy efficiency and reduces the emissions from domestic heating.

We're also investing nearly £21 million through our economic action plan in 2020-21, and that's about just driving sustainable growth and combating climate change through the calls to action for private businesses, which they need to deliver if they are to access the economy futures fund. And, obviously, that also plays a really prominent role in the economic contract as well. So, you can see decarbonisation running through all of those things.

And, of course, we've published our low-carbon delivery plan, which sets out a wide range of actions and priorities for Government. For three years now, we've been providing additional funding to implement the active travel Act, which places that legal duty on local authorities to improve their active travel routes— again, very important for decarbonisation. And our Welsh Government energy service has been investing in zero-interest loans across the public sector in Wales to deliver energy and energy efficiency projects. And, for 2020-21, we are putting a further £4 million of capital into that.

Of course, when we look at the farming industry, we know the important role that that can play in terms of helping us with our decarbonisation aspirations. So, £40 million has been made available through the farm business grant towards capital investment in equipment and machinery that's been pre-identified as offering clear and quantifiable benefits to farm enterprises, and there's an additional £1.5 million in 2020-21 in that regard. So, it's not just about the additional £96 million—actually, it's about doing things right through the Welsh Government budget.

We are taking our advice from the UK CCC in terms of the areas where we can have the best and the most deep impact, and they tell us that decarbonising the road transport sector is crucial to delivering a net-zero target. And that's why over £60 million of the additional targeted investment in decarbonisation is aimed directly at the transport sector. And, of course, we look forward to the UK CCC providing Wales with further advice during this year as to how we can best make that journey towards zero carbon. Of course, I understand the desire of colleagues to have those carbon impact assessments to better understand the impact of our spend. It is tremendously difficult to do; we're looking to see whether this is being done successfully internationally. We haven't come across an example yet. We'll look perhaps to the future generations commissioner to demonstrate, through the work that she does in her budget, to perhaps give us some guiding route to developing a carbon impact assessment. But we are really clear that, where it can be done, then we should certainly make efforts to do that.

One example where we can demonstrate the impact of our spend on carbon, for example, is the additional £7.9 million to support a range of air-quality measures, including incentivising hackney carriages and private hire drivers in Cardiff to upgrade to ultra low emissions vehicles. Now, based on our current assumptions, estimated carbon dioxide savings of approximately 3,300 tonnes per year can be achieved. So, that's one area where we can demonstrate it, and I'm really keen that colleagues across Government are exploring ways in which we can demonstrate this further in future years, because I recognise and understand and agree with the desire to do more in that area.

The example of the New Zealand well-being budget was given as a way that we can further look to improve what we're doing, and we are engaged with New Zealand as part of that network of well-being budgeting nations—so, sharing information—because they're very keen to know what we're doing here as well. But I can provide that reassurance that the future generations commissioner has been involved with us in the development of the budget throughout, and you particularly see that, I think, in the budget improvement plan, which we published for the first time ever this year. That takes a five-year horizon, looking at how we can seek to better embed the well-being of future generations Act, and, particularly, I think, prevention, in the work that we're doing right across Government.

In terms of prevention, I think the example that Mike Hedges gave in terms of the investment that we must make in housing is a really good example, because, as he described, the impact of poor housing on an individual can be quite devastating in so many ways.