Thank you very much once again, Deputy Llywydd. I'm pleased to contribute to this debate too, this time on the Welsh Government's final budget, and I do so, of course, in my role as Chair of the Finance Committee. I'm also pleased that the Minister has accepted or accepted in principle every one of the 36 recommendations made by the committee.

During the debate on the draft budget, this Chamber recognised the uncertainty that surrounded the budget cycle again this year because of delayed UK fiscal events and a lack of forward funding figures. And, in speaking on behalf of the Finance Committee in that debate, Siân Gwenllian made the pertinent point that the draft budget was very much a draft, with Welsh Government holding significant unallocated reserves. Whilst the committee appreciated the need for some flexibility this year to deal with the uncertainty of the pandemic, that isn't conducive to effective budget scrutiny, and the approach taken for this budget should not set a precedent for future years.

The final budget allocates more than £800 million more than what was scrutinised as part of the scrutiny of the draft budget. It's certainly not ideal that we're considering a final budget here today when the UK Government budget, published a day after the Welsh Government's final budget, has announced an additional £735 million for Wales, which has not been considered as part of this budgetary process. I also note that the Welsh Government has responded to policy announcements in the UK budget by announcing the extension of some elements of the COVID non-domestic rate relief and the extension of the land transaction tax reduction to the end of June, as we've just heard from the Minister. I'm pleased that the Minister has outlined the changes between the draft budget and the final budget and the implications of the UK budget. This will assist the Finance Committee, of course, in considering potential changes to the Welsh Government's budget for 2021-22. 

This final budget allocates around £11.2 million for matters relating to Brexit. However, it's extremely disappointing that the UK budget announced that funding to replace EU structural funds will be directly allocated in Wales on devolved matters via the UK community renewal fund and the levelling up fund, bypassing this Senedd. Now, as I mentioned to the Chamber earlier this afternoon during the debate on the third supplementary budget, the Finance Committee, along with members of the European and External Affairs Committee, will take evidence from the Secretary of State tomorrow on the shared prosperity fund.

We are pleased that the Welsh Government has accepted recommendation 2, and we will continue to seek commitments from the UK Government that UK fiscal events will normally take place by a specified date. This is imperative to ensure that devolved administrations have sufficient time to carry out meaningful budget setting and scrutiny. In addition, we're pleased that recommendation 3 has been accepted and that the Welsh Government will continue to press the UK Government for multi-year settlements to be reinstated in time for next year's budget cycle. For the past three years, the draft budget has been produced and scrutinised under exceptional circumstances due to Brexit and the pandemic. Delayed UK fiscal events lead to delays in the publication of Welsh Government draft budgets, and that in turn has reduced the time available for scrutiny. This is very concerning, given that Brexit and the financial response to the pandemic will have an impact on public spending for years to come.

Now, this is the final budget of the fifth Senedd, and there have been a number of challenges as a result of COVID-19, and the financial impacts have been significant. It's likely that responding to the pandemic will still be a significant part of the response in 2021-22, but I am hopeful that the focus will shift to recovery during the coming year. It's clear that there'll be much work to be done by the next Welsh Government, and certainly by the next Finance Committee too. Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd.