Diolch yn fawr, Mark Isherwood. Congratulations on your role as Chair of the Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee—PAPAC, as it is now called. Obviously, you are responding to—taking forward the report that was undertaken by the previous Public Accounts Committee, and I've already written to you, as you've outlined, with our response to your report, and I wanted to make sure that you did get that response in time for this statement today, and also knowing that you will be discussing this tomorrow.

Well, it is important that I respond to the point about how we're managing and responding to this, and what the role of the scrutiny of the Senedd is in terms of the well-being of future generations Act. As I said in my statement, I wanted to look at the whole picture of all the reports that are coming before us on the well-being of future generations Act, given it's the first five years. It's the first time that we've had all the reports, and we do need to give Members time to consider both the findings of the reports, not, obviously, just our response to your report, but also, as we respond, as I said in my statement, to the auditor general's report and the future generations commissioner report as well. And I'm very happy to come back to respond to further discussions and the outcome of your consideration tomorrow.

In terms of why I'm responding today, the recommendations within the report are directed at Welsh Government. Those that are directed to Welsh Government are for Welsh Ministers to determine, and they do cover key decisions, such as reviewing the list of bodies subject to that—that has to be Welsh Ministers who consider that; funding cycles as well—those are for Ministers to lead on. And the nature of the well-being of future generations Act, rightly, is that it cuts across all the responsibilities of Welsh Ministers, as well as the Welsh Government civil service. So, I do look forward to—. I will respond to points that come out of your discussion tomorrow. 

As far as scrutiny of the Act by the Senedd, obviously, as we've said, the Senedd is an important part of the accountability architecture of the well-being of future generations Act, and I think the approach taken shows that the legislation can't be considered just by one committee, nor is it the responsibility of one Welsh Minister. It's a collective responsibility and duty to promote and carry out sustainable development in what we do, and I understand that the Llywydd as Chair of the Business Committee has provided a response to the two recommendations from the PAC report concerning scrutiny of the Act. Hopefully you will see that what's very important, in terms of my response to the PAC committee, is the fact that I have accepted your recommendations—that I have accepted, within the remit and the prospects that we have in terms of timing, all of the recommendations.

Just looking at financial security to public bodies that are subject to this Act—the longer term financial security—that's a crucial recommendation that came out of your committee. Of course, you know it remains our aspiration, as a Welsh Government, to provide longer term budgets, and I do want to comment on this today, because it's not just for us, but for our partners and stakeholders, to provide that certainty. But there is an issue here in terms of—and it was recognised by the committee—lack of forward funding figures from the UK Government. It has been an issue for us. It has meant that we haven't been able to give multi-year funding settlements as a Welsh Government, and we continue to press the case to the UK Government to publish multi-year settlements. We will, then, hopefully see, with the forthcoming UK spending review and budget on 24 October, this move to—that we could hopefully expect a three-year settlement. So, this could help us move forward, because we want to provide an indication of funding for future years, where this is possible, for our public bodies, and if we receive this multi-year settlement from the UK Government, it should enable us to provide bodies with much longer term indicative budgets. So, that is the reason why we have to accept in principle, but it includes, obviously, a recognition that the UK Government has a part to play in this as well.

And just, finally, we are looking very carefully at the other issues I've mentioned, the milestones, and the way we move forward on that, but also the review of public bodies that are subject to the Act. And that is crucially important, that we are carrying out a review of the bodies subject to the Act, and those four tests applied in determining which public bodies are subject to the Act that are being developed will form the basis of that work. So, this is a positive response to the recommendations of the Public Accounts Committee, and I've mentioned at least three already. Thank you, Deputy Llywydd.