8. Will the Minister outline the Welsh Government's budget prioritisation process? OAQ55192

The budget strategy is agreed by Cabinet at the start of the year. Prioritisation is guided by the bilateral discussions I have with Ministers and wider engagement with the four statutory commissioners and external stakeholders. The budget improvement plan outlines our approach to improving the budget process over the longer time frame. 

Can I thank the Minister for that response? The amount of money spent on services is easily accounted for, but what's more difficult to identify is the outcomes achieved by that money. Does the Minister currently or does the Minister intend to set targets to be achieved with additional money provided to the different Ministers so that we can see that we're getting enough bang for our buck?

Mike Hedges's suggestion almost sounds attractively authoritarian, but I'm not sure that it is the view—. [Laughter.] I'm not sure that it's for the finance Minister to set targets across Government, but I do think that where they are appropriate, they should be developed by those Ministers and monitored closely by the individual Ministers as well.

So, there are some examples in our Welsh Government annual report, which was published in January, which show how we work against some sets of targets. One example, of course, would be the 20,000 affordable homes target during this term of Government, which we aim to build, and, of course, we're attaching £175 million of funding in 2020-1 to a diverse range of measures in order to help us progress our housing ambitions. So, whilst I'm not sure it would be for me to set targets, clearly, if colleagues set targets, then I'm keen to support them to achieve them.

Thank you very much, Trefnydd.