1. Will the Minister make a statement on the allocation of funding across the Welsh Government in light of the Chancellor's announcement of £600 million of additional budget consequentials from the UK Government? OQ55901

So far this financial year, I have allocated more than £4 billion as part of our response to COVID-19. I'll continue to make further prudent funding decisions and allocate further resources when they are needed to support vital public services, the economy and individuals.

Thank you for your answer, Minister. A couple of weeks ago, I asked the question of your colleague the Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales, and he very helpfully suggested that you were best placed to answer the question. I'm sure you would, of course, welcome the £600 million that was allocated by the Chancellor last month in guaranteed consequentials to the Welsh Government, and that's on top, of course, of the £1.1 billion guaranteed from the UK Government earlier this year. That brings a total amount of additional funding by the UK Government to £5 billion to fight the pandemic here in Wales. There has been some concern over the timely distribution of these funds to businesses. Can you tell me how much of this funding is still in the Welsh Government's coffers, rather than providing that vital support to businesses and organisations across Wales during this pandemic? You've mentioned you've allocated £4 billion to date, so I calculate that's another £1 billion yet to spend. Do you agree with that analysis, and when is that going to get to businesses on the front line?

I was very pleased to be able to negotiate that guarantee with the UK Government in respect of additional funding for COVID-19. But what we have yet to receive from the UK Government is that reconciliation exercise, which will help us understand exactly what that guarantee relates to. Because, let's remember, all of this funding is just in relation to spend on tackling COVID-19 across the border in England—this isn't any special treatment or any special favours for Wales. But I have to say that, just last week, we voted and passed our second supplementary budget, to give maximum transparency to the decisions and the allocations that we're making in Wales. And Wales is the only part of the UK that has published a second supplementary budget thus far, to demonstrate the funding that is being provided to individuals, to businesses, and to communities, the NHS and local government as well.

In the second supplementary budget, that increased the overall Welsh resources by £2.5 billion. There is further funding to be allocated, but of course we are only two thirds of the way through the financial year. We have the prospect of a 'no deal' Brexit hanging on the horizon, and we don't yet know the full path of the pandemic through to the spring. So, there will be further allocations to be made, but they will be timely and in response to the specific conditions in which we find ourselves.

Minister, only a few short months ago, we saw Conservative Cabinet members of the UK Government and, indeed, the Prime Minister clapping and thanking key workers every Thursday at 8 p.m. on the doorstep—indeed, outside No. 10. Fast-forward to today, we now know that the Chancellor is planning to freeze the pay for some of those key workers. Thank goodness it's not our NHS workers, and some others, but many, many public sector workers who've been on the front line will have their pay frozen next year. Does the Minister agree with me that if the UK Tory Government can find the money to give, indeed, friends hundreds of millions of pounds in contracts for unsuitable personal protective equipment, then surely to goodness they can find the money to give our public sector workers—all of them—who they thanked every week, the pay rise they deserve, in recognition of how they've kept this country going during the pandemic?

Huw Irranca-Davies is absolutely right, in the sense that the allocations and the decisions made by the UK Government are very much a reflection of the values of the UK Government and the things that it holds most dear. For my part, ahead of the Chancellor's spending review today, I wrote to the Chancellor urging him to rule out the public sector pay freeze and to deliver the funding that we need here in Wales in order to protect health, jobs and support a fair recovery. And the Treasury really does need to use all of the levers at its disposal to stand by those front-line workers who have done so much for us in Wales and across the UK through the course of this pandemic. And the decision today simply pits different parts of the public sector against each other, which is really, really concerning, but clearly it's deeply disappointing and unnecessary. 

Minister, the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer is now announcing the UK Tory Government's spending plans for the coming year, with the very delayed comprehensive spending review. It is disappointing, when we are seeking security and longer term planning across inter-governmental agencies and local government during this time, that this is still a one-year plan. And, of course, the Welsh Government will look, naturally, as part of the union, to receiving money proportionate to any funding to England, thanks to the Barnett formula, and I look forward to those consequentials coming to Wales, although I do remain perplexed and at a loss that Wales still, at this point, has nothing from HS2.

Minister, it is important that the Welsh cultural and musical offering is protected and sustained during this harsh COVID winter, and although the cultural recovery fund has been welcomed and oversubscribed, it still leaves out broad categories, which Welsh Government has attempted to breach. So, Minister, what representations, then, will the Welsh Government make to the Treasury for much needed extra income for Wales? And how does the Welsh Government intend to further financially support live Welsh musical performance? 

It's really important, as I was saying to Russell George, that the Welsh Government has the results of that reconciliation exercise, so that we can understand exactly what the consequentials that we have received thus far pertain to, and then we can get a better understanding as to whether there'll be further funding coming forward before the end of the financial year. I know that there are some discussions going on at the moment in terms of further support for the culture sector, and certainly that will be something I would seek to have some further discussions with Eluned Morgan and Dafydd Elis-Thomas regarding. 

The second question [OQ55934] cannot be asked for technical reasons.