Thank you very much, temporary Deputy Presiding Officer, and, as Chair of the Finance Committee, I am very pleased to be opening this debate today on the future spending priorities for the Welsh Government. As this Chamber will know, of course, for some time the Finance Committee has expressed its concern that the Senedd does not have a formal opportunity to debate and, hopefully, as a result, influence the Welsh Government’s spending priorities prior to the draft budget being laid. Last year was the first time we held this type of debate, which was particularly pertinent, of course, given the implications of Brexit and a general election at the end of the year.

In our report on the 2020-21 draft budget, we recommended that the Welsh Government should consider how a debate on spending priorities could be factored into the budget timetable to ensure the Welsh Government was able to take into consideration the views of the Senedd prior to publishing its draft budget. I am very pleased that the Minister for Finance and Trefnydd and the Business Committee have agreed that this type of debate should be held annually.