5. Statement by the Minister for Finance and Trefnydd: Fiscal implications for Wales of the impact of, and response to, COVID-19

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:46 pm on 13 May 2020.

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Photo of Rebecca Evans Rebecca Evans Labour 4:46, 13 May 2020

So, those questions, I completely agree with Mike that Barnett consequentials is the minimum and there's no reason why we shouldn't have additional funding, and that fact was, I think, well recognised by the fact that the UK Government has said that it will provide additional funding to help us deal with the February floods, for example. So, that recognises that there will be special circumstances in parts of the United Kingdom that do require funding over and above the Barnett consequentials. And, again, that precedent is there that funding should be based on need; so, the funding for flooding was certainly in response to need. So, I think that we can continue to press those arguments.

And clearly, before the coronavirus outbreak, we were starting to make a bit of progress in terms of the fiscal framework and to explore how it can better work, and the statement of funding policy can better work for Wales alongside the other devolved nations. And I hope that work will pick up again as soon as we're able to and as soon as appropriate to take that forward. 

I also got excited when I heard about the write-off of the funding in the UK Government, but officials very quickly made some enquiries and that funding was actually accounted for within the budgets of the health department in previous years. So, unfortunately, there was no additional funding for us on that occasion.