We've had a constructive and grown-up conversation with the WLGA, with the varieties of political leadership that it represents, and, actually, one of the key asks of local government has been about the fact that they are significantly unimpressed with the time frame to put bids in, and, actually, the money itself you referred to didn't really make much difference, it was time. But it's also to build up capacity to go into a competitive bidding process rather than looking at a needs-based approach, and when you look at what that then means, you write the best bid, you're more likely to get money. That doesn't mean that people with real needs are going to get access to that money, and that's a big flaw in the way that the process is currently being designed.

And I should say this is not new money; this is significantly less money than would otherwise have been available, and you just can't deny the reality that in this year there will be more than £300 million less coming into Wales, even if the pilot funds pay out at some point within this year and even if local authorities can spend the money before the end of the financial year. If you were still leading a local authority, I think you would be incredibly frustrated at not having a decision made, and you'd be worried about more than extra money for the capacity of your local authority to do this, but also the capacity of the UK department to manage direct relationships with every local authority in the UK. It's an enterprise that is fraught with difficulty, and it just isn't the right way to operate, because you're trying to recreate an entirely new relationship while breaking down those that have worked, delivered funds and learnt lessons in more than two decades. So, we'll continue to talk with local authorities, but we need a plan of some sort from the UK Government that everyone understands and understands the rules of. It's better to have a plan we disagree with than no plan at all, which is where we find ourselves now.