Our first conclusion is that we believe, as a point of principle, that there should be annual legislation to pass the Welsh Government budget, and this would ensure that the Senedd is able to effectively influence the Executive.

Our evidence gathering for this inquiry commenced with a visit to Scotland, where we held formal sessions with representatives from the Scottish budget process review group, a group established to fundamentally review the Scottish budget process. It included representatives from the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Government and eight external experts. The committee notes that any new budget process should have three main components: first of all, the approval of taxes; secondly, the approval of the supply of finance to the Welsh Government; and, thirdly, the approval of public spending, as set out in the Welsh Government's budget proposals.

Our conclusions 3 to 5 in our report recognise that legislation will need to be brought forward, setting out the rules for spending money, accountability requirements, accountability of officials and auditing arrangements. Now, as a committee, we firmly believe that a legislative budget process will better reflect the maturity of the Senedd and the principle of equitable balance of control between the legislature and the Executive. Any new process must ensure that the principles of simplicity, transparency and accountability are at the heart of its development.

One of our main considerations was whether there should be a budget Bill or a finance Bill. An annual budget Bill would authorise expenditure, while tax proposals would be agreed by tax resolutions. A more comprehensive finance Bill could encompass all tax-setting decisions, as, of course, is the case in Westminster.

Our conclusions 6 and 7 detail that we believe further consideration is needed to establish whether a budget Bill or a finance Bill is better suited for the authorisation of Welsh spending plans and taxation, and how tax resolutions fit into such a process.

Now, whilst we firmly believe our budget should be enshrined in legislation, we also recognise that a certain amount of flexibility in any process is required, due to the instability of public finances at a devolved level. For this current financial year, and the next, we are experiencing, of course, this instability. The UK system remains highly centralised, with late UK announcements and fiscal forecasts affecting the block grant, with the UK Treasury retaining considerable control over the way the Welsh Government is able to budget. We recognise that any new system will need a degree of flexibility to accommodate delays at a UK level, without causing undue pressure on the Senedd's Plenary or committee system. I'm pleased that the Minister agrees that any process needs to have the flexibility to cope with any uncertainty to the UK's timetable for fiscal events.

One of the main principles of the current budget process has been to ensure early funding notification for those relying on Welsh Government funding. We've continued to consider the importance of early funding certainty for the NHS, local government and other delivery partners, such as the third sector. As such, the committee recognises that a legislative budget process would need to consider when that certainty of funding can be given.

The conclusions I've summarised here today and the others contained in our report all lead to the main conclusion that the Welsh Government budget should be a Bill, and a Bill that is passed by us, the Members of this Senedd. However, we recognise that there is further work needed to move to a legislative budget process, and that work should be undertaken by an independent group here in Wales. There are a number of questions that we believe this group should consider, including particularly, of course, whether an annual budget or finance Bill is better suited for the authorisation of Welsh spending plans and taxation, and, as well, how the Welsh Government's modelling and independent forecasting will be built into that process.

We believe that the shared, joint approach in Scotland has worked well and believe a similar approach is required in Wales to make recommendations on how to modify the budget process to reflect the current devolution settlement and how this could sit within the legislative budget process. I am pleased that the Minister has confirmed that the Welsh Government would be open to considering establishing a joint body of the Government and the Senedd, with invited independent experts, to review the budget process. With those words, I look forward to hearing other Members' and, of course, the Minister's contribution to this debate. Diolch.