5. What additional budgetary allocations will the Minister provide to support Transport for Wales now that it has taken control of the Wales and borders rail franchise? OQ55928

We have made available an extra £113 million, approved by the Senedd for rail services last week in the second supplementary budget. We are continuing to closely monitor what further funding may be needed for the operation of services until the end of the year.

So, Welsh Government is now directly, or at least through its 100 per cent owned Transport for Wales, paying really quite substantial amounts to subsidise services within England, including for stations that, perhaps, a handful of passengers only are using. In addition, Transport for Wales is the station facility owner for quite large stations in England, such as Hereford, Shrewsbury and Chester. The UK Department for Transport is considering transferring responsibility for those stations away from Transport for Wales. Is that something the finance Minister would support, and shouldn't the UK Government be doing more in this area now?

The UK Government should be doing a huge amount more in this area. We're very aware that, for too long, Wales has been at the back of the queue when the UK Government has been investing in rail infrastructure, and the rolling stock that we're currently using, much of it is nearly 40 years old. Based on known commitments for the period from 2019 to 2029, we estimate shortfalls of up to £5.1 billion over this period.

I have to say I'm even more concerned than ever now about rail funding in Wales as a result of the spending review today. The Member will know that the Barnett formula works on what are compatibility factors between UK Government departments and Welsh Government, in terms of where the responsibilities lie, and my understanding is, although we've yet to look at the spreadsheets following the Chancellor's statements, that the factor for the Department for Transport is going to be slashed as a result of HS2. So, that is a real concern. Unfortunately, I haven't seen the spreadsheets that are always shared after the Chancellor makes his statement, because I've been here this afternoon, but as soon as we have the opportunity after answering questions, we'll have a better understanding of what the real implications for us will be.

Minister, Transport for Wales, of course, will be taking on quite a bit of additional responsibilities over the coming years. I note that Transport for Wales continues to employ a significant number of outside, external consultants rather than using resource from within Transport for Wales. When asked about this last week, what James Price, the chief executive officer of Transport for Wales, said was that if they had a longer term remit letter, then they would effectively be able to resource additional skills within Transport for Wales, reducing the need for external consultants. The implication there is that a huge saving could be made, I think. Is this something that you have discussed with your colleague the Minister for the economy and transport?

We would always love to give partners longer term certainty for their funding, and, certainly, it's something that the Chancellor has been able to offer schools and the NHS across the border in England, and also infrastructure projects, but hasn't been able to offer us that same kind of certainty. So, a one-year spending review, following another one-year spending round, which we had last year, just means the situation is very difficult in terms of providing any level of certainty.

So, yes, I do have discussions about the future funding arrangements with my colleague Ken Skates, and, obviously, he will be keen to have greater sight of funding across future years, and we are considering a model, actually, that might provide that, but I'm very aware that there would have to be a great deal of flexibility in that to allow us to respond to unforeseen situations. For example, earlier this year, we had to use maximum flexibility with Welsh Government budgets to reallocate funding in terms of responding to COVID-19. So, it's a discussion we're having in that context, and also, I have to say, in the context of the future of regional funding, but again, much depends on the outcome of the spending review today in terms of how much we'll be able to allocate to that.