It's been a privilege to sit as a member of the Finance Committee of Senedd Cymru/Welsh Parliament, and this is especially so when it comes to the piece of work of this committee looking at the Wales Act 2014, which within it saw the biggest changes to the Welsh devolution settlement in over 800 years. I do wish to thank the Chair for his hard work and to my fellow committee colleagues for working together assiduously, despite ideological and political differences, and I do take my proverbial hat off to the Chair in this regard.

It was reassuring to hear evidence that the administration of devolved taxes is working well, including that of the Welsh Revenue Authority, who have played a vital role in the successful implementation of Welsh taxes. However, as has been stated, there are issues that this report seeks to highlight—matters of great importance to Wales. I would like to focus my remarks today to conclusion 5 of the report, namely:

'As well as the need for transparency in funding decisions made by

the UK Government, the Committee believes that there needs to be an independent process for challenging these decisions.'

I note, in reference paragraph 276 of the report it states,

'The Committee is concerned about the mechanism used by the UK Government to make funding decisions and the Welsh Government’s means of challenging such decisions. There needs to be transparency of funding decisions made by the UK Government, and the Committee believes that there needs to be an independent process for challenging these decisions - the current route of challenging decisions via the Joint Ministerial Committee is not satisfactory as it is not an independent adjudication.'

As Welsh devolution matures, 21 years into existence, the need for the UK Government to show greater respect and understanding of the powers of the Senedd Cymru Welsh Parliament are all too evident. And briefly, if I may, the UK Secretary of State for Wales—and I do emphasise 'for'—was indeed an affable chap, but comprehensively failed to answer the questions put. Though, in fairness, the chief officer of the Treasury failed to materialise for this committee and further failed to deliver any transparency to our scrutiny from Wales via post, it seems. And at a critical time of EU transition and the UK reclaiming of EU structural funds, this, in my view, is fundamentally an insult to this place, and it strengthens the virement of the former fiscal autonomy of Wales back to Whitehall. This is exemplified—and contrary to the Secretary of State's words—with Caerphilly County Borough Council, formerly objective 1, 2, 3 and 4, not being included in the UK's latest funding rounds. So, it will be a matter that no doubt will feature in the coming election and in the sixth Senedd Cymru, when it is elected—a matter of great importance to Wales.