This month's Finance Committee report, as you've heard, on the Welsh Government's third supplementary budget for 2020-21 reports that this allocates almost £1.3 billion additional fiscal resource and almost £837 million in capital, with the main increases in economy and transport, housing and local government, and education. The backdrop is the £5.2 billion provided by the UK Government to the Welsh Government to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The additional £650 million this financial year brings this to £5.85 billion, on top of £1.4 billion increased Welsh Government funding for 2020-21 following increased spending on public services in England. The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer has already confirmed that the Welsh Government will have at least an additional £1.3 billion to spend in next year's budget, and his budget last week added a further £740 million of funding to the Welsh Government. The Finance Committee recommends that the Welsh Government continues to press the UK Government for clear, systematic changes to the funding process in relation to the structure of UK fiscal events.

Further, the Minister told us that the Chief Secretary to the Treasury did allow a degree of flexibility in terms of carrying forward any consequentials generated through the operation of the Barnett formula over and above the £5.2 billion guaranteed funding previously confirmed on 23 December. So, the supplementary budget details the £660 million that will be carrying over into next year, and that is because of the very late notification. However, she fails to acknowledge that the excuse constantly given by the Welsh Government for its slow responses to just about everything, the COVID-19 pandemic, also applies to other Governments, and that, despite this, the UK Treasury worked closely with all three devolved Governments this financial year. As the Chief Secretary to the Treasury stated in his 23 February letter to the Finance Committee, officials have had even more frequent engagement; a full breakdown of 2021-22 funding was provided at the spending review 2020 last November, and they will also publish the next iteration of block grant transparency later this year, which will, again, include a full and detailed breakdown of funding. In reality, therefore, the Minister doth protest too much to justify carrying forward so much funding to spend at a later date.

As our report also states, reassurance is required from the Welsh Government that the funding provided to local authorities is taking full account of the differential impact of COVID-19 on local authority incomes. And the committee recognises that the role that the third sector plays in providing services that support health, social and local services has also been impacted in terms of ability to raise revenue. The level of additional funding that this sector is receiving is modest in comparison, as the Chair said, to the support given to the health service, and that will cost the health service dear.