7. Will the First Minister provide an update on recent discussions with the UK Government regarding additional funding for Wales? OQ56110

Llywydd, despite our repeated calls, the UK Government continues to make funding announcements at the eleventh hour without any engagement with the devolved Governments and without any immediate clarity on implications for Wales. Confusion surrounding last week's announcement on business support is only the latest example.

Thank you for that answer, First Minister. Last week, I was very pleased to read on the Welsh Conservatives' social media accounts that the UK Government was providing £220 million of—and I quote—'extra funding' to support jobs and businesses in Wales. That would certainly be very welcome and much needed at this time, especially in areas like my constituency of Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney. The announcement was also described by the Welsh Conservatives' economy spokesman, Russell George, as—and again, I quote—'an additional £227 million'. Then the UK Treasury embarrassingly corrected its own press notice after wrongly claiming that the Chancellor's announcement meant extra or additional money for Wales. I recall that, last July, the Institute for Fiscal Studies warned that the whole lack of transparency in Treasury budgets was contributing to the confusion about the financial support being given to devolved Governments, making it more difficult to scrutinise and saying that this was corrosive to public trust. Well, First Minister, I got my calculator out, and that tells me that £227 million multiplied by nil equals nil. So, is my calculator wrong, or have we, in fact, been told one of the most misleading and dishonest statements ever told by the Welsh Tories? And does this not prove that the UK Government should follow the Welsh Government's more transparent approach?

Well, Llywydd, I'm afraid that the Member's calculator is accurate. And she's right of course—she set out the history of it. The Treasury made an announcement—I heard it myself on the radio—that there was an extra £227 million coming to Wales. That was, I thought, very good news—we would have been able to use it to top up the most generous package of support for businesses anywhere in the United Kingdom. And then it turned out a few hours later that, no, this wasn't extra money at all—we'd apparently had it already. Well, that really isn't the way to conduct business across the UK nations.

The Welsh Government will lay a further supplementary budget, Llywydd, which we'll put in front of the Senedd early in February. This will be the third time that Senedd Members have had a chance to see how the Welsh Government is using the money that is available to us in this extraordinary financial year. Finance Committee will be able to consider it, questions will be asked on the floor of the Senedd, and all the figures will be there, for all Members to see. The UK Government has not published a single supplementary estimate, in the whole of this financial year. And I think the Member makes a very good point about the importance of being clear with people, where the money is coming from, what it's being used for. We try and do that here in the Welsh Government, and we would have been helped, particularly over the issue that Dawn Bowden has referred to, if there had been some greater accuracy and transparency in the way the UK Government described the money, which in the end did not come at all to Wales.

Thank you, First Minister.