Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Trefnydd – in the Senedd at 3:01 pm on 23 September 2020.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Rebecca Evans Rebecca Evans Labour 3:01, 23 September 2020

Absolutely, I'll give you my assurance that inter-governmental mechanisms in relation to finance, and also fiscal flexibilities in particular, will continue to be at the heart of conversations that I have with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. So, you'll recall earlier on in the summer one of our big concerns was about being able to switch capital to revenue—that was something that we were looking to do. But, actually, as a result of the additional advance funding I was able to negotiate with the Treasury, I'm actually more interested in different flexibilities now. So, one would be, for example, the ability to draw down more from our Wales reserve, should we need it, or to carry more over at the end of the financial year, if we felt that was prudent to do as well. Because, obviously, the crisis is no respecter of financial years, and things can happen right at the end of a financial year, or at the beginning, and it makes the budget management very difficult.

Now, all of these things are things that the UK Government could very, very simply agree to. They don't involve additional funding; they simply involve allowing us to use the funding that we have in the best way. So, I'll continue to have those discussions. I know that there's sympathy, actually, from various parts of the Senedd on that—and beyond—so, if we can work collaboratively on that, I'd welcome those opportunities.