Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:09 pm on 9 February 2021.
Thank you very much, Llywydd. It's a pleasure to contribute to this important debate on behalf of the Finance Committee. It is of course the debate on the draft budget for 2021-22, and, of course, this will be the final draft budget of this Senedd, and, for the third consecutive year, it's been produced and scrutinised under exceptional circumstances. This year, the pandemic has led to delayed UK fiscal events, and that's resulted in delays to the Welsh Government's draft budget. In turn, this has reduced committee's time for scrutiny, and that's particularly concerning given that COVID-19 will have an impact on public spending for years to come.