2. How will the Welsh Government distribute the £78 million earmarked as part of the local government hardship fund within the budget in order to help local authorities manage loss of income due to Covid-19? OQ55361

The Minister for Housing and Local Government is currently working with the Welsh Local Government Association to determine the most appropriate basis for support. But it will be through a claims process.

Well, thank you very much for that answer, because I think I'm right in saying that, speaking generally, councils are reclaiming their COVID-related expenditure from you monthly in arrears. Can you say whether you've refused to cover any of the expenditure presented to you, even with that evidence? And have you got any steer yet about what kind of evidence you'll be seeking from councils to support claims of lost income as, presumably, it's not just extrapolations from previous years? 

I understand that there is a very rigorous process in place, as you'd expect, in terms of looking at those claims that are coming through from local government. The Minister for Housing and Local Government and her officials are leading on that, although my understanding is that some claims are rejected on the basis that they potentially are not directly COVID pressure related, or they are potentially lost income now, but income that could be recovered later in the year. So, we have to test all of these things really robustly, because we only have a very, very finite pot of money to be tackling the COVID crisis with and it's really important that we're able to do so in a really robust way and to evidence our decisions as well. Because I'm always really aware that, although we're taking decisions very quickly at the moment, we will need to, in time, account for all of those decisions, in terms of getting the best value for the public purse.