Strategic and Economic Development

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 1:56 pm on 15 September 2021.

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Photo of Alun Davies Alun Davies Labour 1:56, 15 September 2021

I'm grateful to you for that response, Minister. I think on this side of the Chamber we certainly don't think that Wales gets anything like its fair share of resources and funding from the current United Kingdom Government. But in terms of how we spend our resources, one of the lessons I think we will learn over the coming weeks, months and years, looking back over the pandemic, is the way that the Welsh Government has been able to lead a holistic response from the whole of the public sector. And I think one of the lessons that I've certainly seen across—not just in my constituency, but here, looking at the Welsh Government response across the whole country, has been that that whole holistic public sector response has been enormously powerful. The track and trace system here compared with the catastrophic disaster across the border in England is possibly the best, but not the only example.

So, therefore, Minister, how will you look at the management of different footprints in local government, in the health service, with policing as well as Welsh Government services? Because the lesson I've learnt, which I didn't expect to learn over the last year, is that perhaps Gwent worked far better than we anticipated.