Item 10 is the next item, and this is the debate on the final budget for 2022-23. I call on the Minister for finance, once again, to move the motion. Rebecca Evans.

Motion NDM7940 Lesley Griffiths

To propose that the Senedd, in accordance with Standing Order 20.25, approves the Annual Budget for the financial year 2022-23 laid in the Table Office by the First Minister on 1 March 2022.

Motion moved.

Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. I am pleased to open the debate on our 2022-23 final budget—a three-year budget that has used every lever to strengthen public services, to tackle the climate and nature emergencies, to improve educational opportunities, and to respond to the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

Yet again, we have felt an incredibly different set of circumstances, and I want to begin by thanking all of those who have contributed to the budget, including colleagues on both my own and other benches for their participation and co-operation. I would also like to record my thanks to our wider partners, who have also helped to shape this progressive budget.

This is a budget that provides nearly £2 billion of targeted green investment to strengthen Wales's response to the climate and nature emergencies; a budget that ensures the Welsh NHS will receive £1.3 billion in direct funding, helping its recovery from the pandemic and its ability to provide effective services in the long term; a budget that provides £0.75 billion extra for local authorities to support social care, schools and the other vital services provided in local communities by local councils; a budget that invests in the quality of school buildings through £900 million of capital funding, with an additional £320 million to continue the long-term programme of learning and education reform; and a budget that responds to the emerging economic impact of rising inflation, including £7 million to continue to support vulnerable people and families across Wales through the discretionary assistance fund.

So much has already changed since we published our plans in December. When the draft budget was published, we were starting to see impacts of the cost-of-living crisis. Since then, we have seen the outlook worsen, contributed to by the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the dire humanitarian crisis that is rapidly evolving. Prior to the invasion of Ukraine, the Bank of England's estimate suggested that inflation could peak at around 7 per cent in the spring before beginning to fall back, increasing the negative impacts for households, businesses and public services across Wales. And it was clear that we had to act. Building on the actions within our draft budget, I was pleased to announce an additional £162.4 million in 2022-23 within this final budget as part of an additional package, worth more than £330 million, to respond to the cost-of-living crisis.

The Deputy Presiding Officer (David Rees) took the Chair.

Despite receiving no additional funding from the UK Government, through responsible budget management, we've been able to go above and beyond to nearly double the equivalent support available in England. And this includes £90 million to extend the current provision of the winter fuel support scheme for a further year to run next winter, and this means more people will receive the £200 payment that provides crucial support.

We will continue to support those most in need to pay for essential costs, through an additional £15 million to extend the discretionary assistance fund to 31 March 2023. Ten million pounds has been invested in a range of social justice measures to support the most vulnerable households to help maximise their incomes to help meet the rising household costs. And £28.4 million is being provided to address holiday hunger, comprising £21.4 million to extend free-school-meal provision over the Easter, Whitsun and summer holidays, and a further £7 million for the Summer of Fun programme, providing access to free activities for children and young people during school holidays.

We're providing £13.1 million for the pupil development grant, providing a top-up of £100 to all school years to address the costs of the school day, including physical education kit and additional uniform costs, and we're providing a £2 million package of support for vulnerable families, which includes a £1 million investment for prevention payments for families with care and support needs, and £1 million to support families caring for looked-after children.

We also recognise that this is an evolving picture, with increases to household bills and national insurance contributions starting to impact from April, as well as increases in the cost of goods and impacts in the associated supply chains, and the impacts that we now know will be felt as a result of the invasion of Ukraine.

Already we stand in unequivocal solidarity with the Ukrainian people in the face of Putin's aggression. Last week, we provided £4 million in humanitarian aid, in 2021-22, donated to the Disasters Emergency Committee to ensure that it reaches those who need it as quickly and as efficiently as possible. And last week, alongside the Minister for Social Justice, I met with the leader of the Welsh Local Government Association, leaders of local authorities from across Wales, the police and the third sector to affirm our unanimous determination to offer all support possible to accept people escaping the violence in Ukraine.

Turning back to our final budget, I would like to extend my thanks to the Senedd committees for their scrutiny of our draft budget. This is an integral part of our process, and it's very welcome, to guarantee that we are achieving the most for Wales.

This final budget also includes an additional £184 million of financial transactions capital, allocations to further support the delivery of our priorities contained within the new 10-year Wales infrastructure investment strategy, and many of these items respond to points raised during scrutiny. Building on our existing £1.7 billion portfolio of investments, these new investments include £37 million to improve charging infrastructure, to help facilitate the shift to low carbon, low emission vehicles; £10 million for Tai Ffres to support the scheme's alternative housing pathway for those aged 16 to 25 who do not meet the threshold for homelessness services; £35 million to accelerate the decarbonisation of Welsh homes; a further £25 million for the Transforming Towns loan scheme, to bring vacant buildings back into use; and a further £40 million to support businesses in Wales through our existing economy futures fund.

Looking ahead to the UK Government's spring statement on 23 March, we recognise that the key levers for tackling poverty, such as powers over the tax and welfare systems, are reserved powers, and they lie with the UK Government to utilise. I will call on the UK Government to do more to respond to the crisis we face, alongside continuing to urge the UK Government to provide us with the replacement EU funds, which has resulted in a cumulative gap of £1 billion in our budgets.

So, to conclude, Dirprwy Lywydd, I am proud that we have set out a budget that delivers on our values and provides a foundation for a stronger, fairer and greener Wales, and I look forward to the debate.

I call on the Chair of the Finance Committee, Peredur Owen Griffiths.

Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. I am pleased to contribute to this debate on the Welsh Government's final budget in my role as Chair of the Finance Committee.

The committee's report on the scrutiny of the Welsh Government draft budget for 2022-23 included 41 recommendations. I am pleased that the Minister has accepted or accepted in principle all of our recommendations but one. Whilst this is a positive start to the committee's work in this Senedd, and something we can hopefully build on in future years, there are areas in the final budget that fall short of our expectations.

The committee welcomes the £162.4 million allocated in the final budget to help those affected by the cost-of-living crisis, with £1.6 million of that allocated for the single advice fund to offer advice and support on income maximisation. We recommended that the Welsh Government take steps to raise the profiles of grants and schemes designed to address the cost-of-living crisis, so that people are aware of the range of financial support available and how to access it. We are pleased to hear that the Welsh Government intends to run a campaign and is developing a suite of materials that will be delivered on numerous platforms to ensure that the Welsh public are aware of their entitlements. However, these campaigns must target the most vulnerable people to ensure they do not miss out. We have previously recommended that there should be a 'no wrong door' approach to accessing services, and we continue to call for a single point of access rather than multiple applications for support. Support can only be effective if it reaches the right people.

The final budget does not increase the support for business rates relief, something which the committee asked the Minister to consider in its report. We also asked the Minister to prioritise investment in digital infrastructure, and to pay particular focus to supporting investment in digital infrastructure and help small retailers and other businesses to develop digital skills and an online presence. In the Minister's response to this recommendation, she notes that Business Wales provides businesses and entrepreneurs with a single point of contact for information and advice, and that the Development Bank of Wales helps Welsh businesses get the finance they need to start up. However, no specific action seems to have been taken in this area.

Allocations for financial transactions capital were not included in the draft budget, with the Minister telling us they would be made as part of the final budget preparations. We recommended that an update on the allocations was provided to the committee before the final budget was laid. I am grateful to the Minister for providing this information. The Minister noted the constraints and complexities on how ring-fenced financial transactions can be used, and the timescales within which the Welsh Government had to develop proposals following the late announcement of the UK spending review. However, we are pleased to hear that this will not set a precedent, with the intention that future financial transaction capital allocations will be considered as part of the draft budget process.

Given the Minister's emphasis on building a greener Wales through this budget, it's disappointing that the Welsh Government has not clarified which specific Net Zero Wales commitments have been funded in the final budget. As a committee, we also asked the Minister to present budgetary information so that it is linked to outputs and impacts, as well as providing clarity on how the funding of policy commitments relating to the co-operation agreement is reflected in future budget allocations, but these do not seem to have been addressed either. Furthermore, it is not clear what impact inflation will have on Welsh Government costs, and we would like the Minister to confirm whether this will change the outcomes expected from next year's budget, assuming that no additional funding will be received from the UK Government. I would ask the Minister to respond to each of these points in turn.

Finally, given the seriousness of developments in Ukraine and the unfolding humanitarian crisis, I would like to ask the Minister what scope there is for additional support and funding to be provided for refugees. The First Minister has said that Wales aims to be a nation of sanctuary and has called on the UK Government to do more to help Ukrainian refugees. Clearly, there's a limit to what the Welsh Government can do in practical terms, given that visa arrangements are not a devolved matter, but could the Minister confirm whether funding will be available to support those fleeing the conflict so that they are able to come to Wales? 

There is much to commend in this budget. These are difficult times and the increased spending provided in this budget to help our most vulnerable is to be welcomed. However, there are clearly areas to work on too if we as a Senedd are to ensure that the Welsh Government’s budget works for the people of Wales. As a Finance Committee, we will take every opportunity during this Senedd term to make sure that that happens. Thank you very much.

First of all, I would like to thank you, Minister, for your statement, and also thank you and your officials for their engagement with myself over the course of the budget process—that's much appreciated. Can I also thank the Chairman of the Finance Committee for his report today, which sums up very well the points raised in that committee?

Deputy Llywydd, I don't think that it will come as much of a surprise to the Minister that the Welsh Conservative group will be voting against the budget motion today. Throughout the process, we on these benches have been pushing the Welsh Government to go further in its budget plans to tackle some of the long-standing issues in Wales that have been exacerbated over the past few years. Deputy Llywydd, for the sake of brevity, I won't repeat our policy calls—

Peter, will you take an intervention?

Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry, Mike. Please, yes.

Will you produce a Conservative budget?

Well, I tried to do—[Interruption.] Sorry. I tried this year to outline some depth into what we as a party were prepared to present, and I've made those points clear in this Chamber on two or three times. And in the future, I look to bring a full alternative budget forward, as I think it's the responsibility of an opposition to do that. Sadly, we don't see that too often. But we are, with the resources we have, bringing forward as strong points and cases as we possibly can, as we shared within our manifesto.

Throughout this process, we on these benches, as I've shared, were pushing the Welsh Government to go further on its budget plans to tackle some of those longstanding issues in Wales. Llywydd, for the sake of brevity, as I shared earlier, I won't repeat the policy calls, but the fact remains that there are a number of structural issues that will continue to hamper our recovery from the pandemic and limit the ability of the Government to achieve its aspirations.

We are not opposing the budget for the sake of it, and nor are we, supposedly, talking Wales down, like some on some of the other benches like to suggest. Instead, we have simply pushed for the level of action and ambition that is needed to put Wales back on the right track. It's not what we want, but what Wales needs, because we are all striving for the same thing: as the Welsh Government put it, to build a stronger, greener and fairer Wales.

However, despite the engagement that I referred to earlier, I am disappointed that Ministers have not listened to the calls from this side of the Chamber. As I've said previously, Welsh Ministers like to argue that they are not the only ideas factory in this place, and, back in July last year, the Minister for finance held a debate on the budget priorities to give Members an opportunity to shape those preparations, but I can't shake off the feeling that, as usual, the Welsh Government have gone for the easy option of a deal with Plaid Cymru. And yes, there are some parts of the deal—your deal—that we can broadly welcome, but there are also a number of elements of it that seem to take money from the things that our communities want and need.

Deputy Llywydd, let's be honest, despite what we've heard repeatedly from the Welsh Government throughout this process, the budget was a done deal before the ink on the co-operation agreement had even dried. I joined this place nearly 12 months ago, isn't it, with a sense of purpose and hope, but I was naïve in believing that our contributions could be considered and I could make a real difference to the direction of this Government. As such, I believe that the budget could have and should have gone further, recognising the significant resources made available to the Welsh Government by the UK Government, as well as the multi-year settlement previously requested by Ministers here in Cardiff Bay. In fact, the budget will need to go further, recognising the significant—. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm a bit deaf. I don't always hear when the intervention—.

It's all right. I didn't speak, actually. I just wondered, you say, 'recognising the extra we've had from the UK Government', but we've just heard in the statement of £1 billion less because of the money that's not come from what we usually got through the European budget. So, I think we're considerably worse off, not better off.

I think, sadly, there's a lot of smoke and mirrors around funding claims in this place, and there is—[Interruption.] There is a constant contradiction in perspectives from UK Government to Wales Government. The facts are that there was an extra £2.5 billion this year, or more, that has passported through to Welsh Government, to enable the Welsh Government to do the things it has aspired to do.

As I shared earlier, and as has already been talked about, there will be a need for further focus because of the significant economic impact that this horrific Russian invasion of Ukraine will have on the people of Wales, exacerbating the current cost-of-living pressures, and I welcome what the Minister has already said in her commitment so far.

However, to end on a somewhat more positive note, I do welcome the changes made in the final budget, which recognise the need to take actions to ease the current cost-of-living pressure, many of which we on this side have called for. I do hope that we can generally work together across the Chamber to tackle the issues head on.

To conclude, Deputy Llywydd, we stand at an unprecedented time in our history. A long and devastating pandemic, followed by a brutal and absolutely unnecessary war, has left people across Wales wondering what's next. Budgets are more than just numbers on a spreadsheet or complicated financial terms or eye-catching large numbers; they are about what real, tangible change they deliver for people. We in the opposition—

I have given extra time, but you need to conclude now, Peter, please.

Sorry. Yes, I am. Yes.

And we in the opposition will continue to press the Welsh Government to make every pound of investment count, not only to support the recovery but to deliver hope and aspiration across the country, because our communities need this budget to deliver. Diolch, Deputy Llywydd.

Just a few brief comments about the process maybe, initially. I think we're all looking forward to the budget returning to its normal timetable of eight sitting weeks of scrutiny. We haven't had that for a long time, and I think these condensed periods of scrutiny really don't help. And I'd make the point again: ministerial responses to committee reports on the budgets are arriving late in the day. I think the environment committee had ours 24 hours ago. It's an improvement on last year, where some of those responses came after the final budget vote, but we really do need to get back to a more level keel on this, I think, because it really isn't the way that things should be happening. And I know some of it is driven by UK Government timetables, and it's good that we can have a multi-year settlement for the first time in a long, long time this year, and let's hope that we don't row back from that position in future.

I welcome the fact that the Welsh Government is pressing the UK Government for greater flexibility, for example, around carrying over funding from one financial year to another, greater powers as well around borrowing. Anything we can do that gives Wales greater agility to respond to the challenges we face must be welcome, and I would hope that our colleagues on the Conservative benches will also take that message back to the UK Government as well.

I welcome the use proposed in this budget of the Welsh Government's borrowing powers. I also welcome greater use of reserves in the coming year and the over-programming of capital plans. It's high time that we made Welsh money work as hard as possible in the face of the challenges that we have before us. But, with that, of course, we would therefore expect more regular updates from the Government and greater scrutiny as well from the Finance Committee to make sure that we keep an eye on the funding contained in the Welsh reserve, given that the squeeze is going to be greater on those fundings.

It is frustrating that the money that should be coming to Wales is being denied to us by the UK Government, I'm afraid. We've heard a number of times that if funding to Wales had kept pace with inflation, we'd be talking about at least £3 billion more today in this budget. HS2 funding, many millions more should be available to us, as well as what we've already heard in relation to being short-changed on what was EU funding. We're not accusing the Tories of talking Wales down; we are actually accusing the Tories of holding Wales down by denying us money that is, frankly, being given to other devolved administrations in the UK, and all we want is parity in that respect. But we are where we are.

Now, Plaid Cymru outlined our proposals for our programme of government in our manifesto last year, fully costed, independently verified, so this isn't the budget necessarily that we would have tabled here today, but we can, as a party, be hugely proud that many of our policies—some, in fact, rejected by the Government in the past—now sit at the heart of this budget.

This budget does deliver on many of Plaid Cymru's main pledges in our recent manifesto. Two hundred million pounds in the budget to ensure free school meals for all primary school children, and that includes over £20 million in addition to extend free school meals over the summer holiday this year. Sixty million pounds to extend childcare to children of two years of age. Over £100 million of capital investment in national resilience and flooding, with an additional £24 million in revenue funding. Sixty million pounds in capital funding and £27 million in revenue for broadcasting, culture and the media. Many millions to promote renewable energy and to create Ynni Cymru—Energy Wales. Millions, too, to create Unnos, a national construction company to tackle housing problems. Millions for Arfor, for the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol and the National Centre for Learning Welsh, and millions too for mental health, in revenue and capital funding.

There's a series of investments in this budget that put right a number of social injustices, that tackle climate change, that build back from the pandemic as we face the major challenges that we've heard about in our discussions in this Senedd over the last months. Although we're an opposition party, although Plaid Cymru is an opposition party, we are delivering and we are working for the whole of Wales, which shows that we as a party are a party that makes a difference in this place, which is more than we can say about some others.

This debate would really be improved if we had alternative proposals, even if only at the level of ministerial budgets, from the Conservatives and Plaid Cymru. I welcome what Peter Fox said about producing one next year. Just a piece of advice: it has to balance, you can't keep on adding money in the expenditure column, taking money off the income column and call that a budget. So, I'm sure Peter won't do that, and I hope he'll take it up with his colleagues to explain to them that you can't do that.

There are alternatives to the Welsh budget in terms of priorities. I would, for example, increase support for education, training and university innovation, and reduce expenditure on attracting inward investment. Provide the research capacity in the universities, provide a highly skilled workforce and the investors will come.

Also, investing in early years education remains one of the most powerful levers to tackle inequality and invest in our future generations, so no-one is left behind. Far too many children start nursery school at three a year behind developmentally than the average, and two years behind the most advanced. That is a serious problem. How are they going to catch up during their time in primary education? You're asking, in some cases, over seven years, to make up two years. It's incredibly important that we make sure that children don't start behind.

If you have to bribe a company to bring a branch factory here, they do not want to come. I could spend the rest of my contribution listing companies who came, did not provide the jobs in their prospectus and then left. I will just mention the best known example: LG.

I will be supporting the budget, but the key question is: what will be achieved by the additional income and expenditure? I welcome the announcement by the UK Government of a multi-year budget settlement, and I'm pleased to see that the Welsh Government took the opportunity of a three-year spending review to give funding certainty to organisations, providing provisional allocations for 2023-24 and 2024-25. This is something I, and many others in this Chamber, have been calling for for a long time. Each year, many third sector employees get an end-of-December redundancy notice because of uncertainty of funding past 31 March. I hope this three-year funding will correct that.

I welcome the over-commitment of capital expenditure, which should avoid capital underspend as schemes slip during the year, and if they do not, the borrowing capacity can be used. I'm sure that people across the Chamber with senior local government experience have noticed how little support capital receipts give to the capital expenditure. It's easy to spend money; the challenge of Government, at every level, is to spend it beneficially and wisely.

I'm disappointed that the Welsh Government has not used the five Es. Effectiveness: was the expenditure effective in the previous year, and did it achieve what was required? Efficiency: were resources used efficiently last year, and if not, what is going to be done to ensure efficient use of resources this year? Equality: is the budget expenditure fair to all groups? Equity: is the budget fair to all of Wales, not just in one year, but over several years? And, environment: what is the expected effect of the budget on carbon and biodiversity? Whilst the future generations Act deals with the last one, the first four need addressing.

With the universal provision of free school meals in state primary schools—I emphasise 'state' primary schools—the use of free school meals as an indicator of additional educational funding will disappear. What is going to be used instead?

Turning to efficiency, the health service just needs to come into the twenty-first century. Prescriptions are printed, signed and hand delivered. Why don't we have e-prescribing? Why can't they be filled on an online form with an online signature and then sent to the relevant pharmacists? Fax machines are still used in the health service, including at a general practice that I contacted today, and I phoned the wrong number because the number on there was their fax machine. I'm not used to seeing fax machines on telephone numbers any more. They've got to come into the twenty-first century. I don't think I've seen a fax machine in the last 20 years and certainly not since I've been here. In 11 years I haven't seen a fax machine anywhere, but the health boards seem to keep on using them.

What do health boards propose will increase energy efficiency? With health boards getting extra money, how are they going to improve productivity in hospitals? How is the hospital at home going to be developed—something I've spoken in favour of previously? A prediction that I hope is wrong: the health boards will get the increase, and the share given to primary health will again decrease. The Welsh Government have created large organisations, such as Natural Resources Wales, Betsi Cadwaladr and the Welsh ambulance service. At what point is it decided they are not working and need breaking up into smaller units?

Finally, we need to solve the problem of operational management in the public sector to improve efficiency and effectiveness. We need to concentrate on outcomes. The money we spend is public money that has been paid in taxes at different levels by people. We have a duty to them to spend it wisely and fairly, and we have a duty to them to avoid being wasteful in anything that we do. So, I will be supporting this budget, and I hope it gets put past.

Good afternoon, Minister, and may I thank you on International Women's Day for your leadership, in terms of developing this budget, and also your team as well for the constructive approach that you've taken in engaging with me around Welsh Liberal Democrat priorities? I want to talk Wales up. I've never heard, in this Siambr, Wales being talked down. I think it's quite shameful, actually, that that should ever be suggested.

I want to welcome the additional investment in the pupil development grant, which plays an essential role in supporting pupils eligible for free school meals. I'm glad to see free school meals being developed in this budget. It's been a very difficult year—maybe two years even—for children and young people, and so the PDG, now in its tenth year, is really important in breaking the link between deprivation and educational attainment and engagement. I'm pleased to see the £20 million for care leavers, the additional costs to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, and the universal basic income pilot being funded at last.

But we see this budget against a backdrop of the Conservative Government in London failing to match their promises, their promises on fair and equitable funding for Wales: a loss of £1 billion by 2024 because of their failure to match EU funding commitments; a funding shortfall of £100 million for farmers; a loss of £5 billion pounds—and that's an estimate at the low end—of rail infrastructure investment because of us not getting HS2 consequentials; and, shamefully, the £20 a week loss in universal credit for our families. That is shameful, it really is, and this really makes the work of rebuilding after the pandemic and creating a fairer, greener, stronger Wales much harder than it need be.

Just to finish, of course I feel there are missed opportunities regarding support for small business, on mental health and on community energy generation, but I do welcome this budget, Minister, and I look forward to continuing to work with you and your team to deliver on our shared priorities for Wales. Diolch yn fawr iawn.

I'm sure that all Members would love to join with me in welcoming the UK Conservative Government's budget 2021 announcement of an extra £2.5 billion per year, on average, for the Welsh Government through the Barnett formula over the spending review period. And let us not forget that this is on top of its annual baseline funding of £15.9 billion. The Conservatives are giving Wales the largest annual funding settlement since devolution, and still you moan.

But are you planning to use it wisely? No. You're paying for school meals for some children of parents on very high incomes, putting unnecessary pressure on the public purse—and we're talking £90 million. You're showing your true socialist colours by wasting £20 million on a universal basic income pilot, and you are reducing the capital budget for health and social care, meaning a lack of investment in the NHS estate and equipment, despite the Welsh NHS Confederation stating that staff are more productive when they have the right, up-to-date equipment to efficiently treat patients. That is not good.

COP26 united the world in acknowledging the need to 'keep 1.5 alive' and achieve net zero. This Welsh Government launched the Net Zero Wales carbon budget 2021-25, but it is clear from the budget that not enough is actually being done to protect our environment. There's £37 million allocated to progress the shift to low-emission vehicles; however, Wales is sadly lagging behind much of the United Kingdom when it comes to the installation of fast charging points. In fact, Wales has only four more rapid charging points in the whole country than Milton Keynes, which has a population of just 265,000. Absolute failure.

Of the £1.8 billion in capital funding, £1.6 billion is spent on the decarbonisation of housing. Therefore, it's actually reasonable to question how £200 million can be effectively used to combat our climate emergency. The main body to help enhance environmental protection and monitor pollution incidents, Natural Resources Wales, is actually receiving a real terms cut in its funding, remaining the same at £69.7 million for 2022-23.

Despite declaring a nature emergency, this budget actually makes it challenging to understand the exact spend in relation to direct benefit for nature. It is really vital that the Welsh Government produces detailed analysis across budget lines as to how this budget actually does combat the nature emergency. In fact, this ambiguity is just further evidence that Wales Environment Link are correct that the scale and pace of action needed to address the nature crisis are simply not in place.

The budget does nothing to extend the rates relief for small-scale hydro plants, to encourage investment in such projects. Instead, we have a Welsh Government distracted by working towards the expansion of the state and the creation of Ynni Cymru, a publicly owned energy company for Wales. Have you not learnt the lesson, Minister, from Bristol City Council, which, despite investing £36 million to fund an energy company, went on to sell it for £14 million? But that is rather like this Government spending £52 million on an airport, plus a further £100 million, only to have it valued at £15 million. That is what we're dealing with here. I think you should leave those kinds of ventures to the private sector, where such expertise does flourish, and they have ambition and aspiration.

The same goes for the revenue allocation of £1 million to develop Unnos in 2022-23. Honestly, why don't you leave our house building to the developers who actually just want to get on with building those homes that you have failed to allow to be built over the years? 

Despite Net Zero Wales noting the Welsh Government's expectation that, by 2025, around 148,000 across Wales will receive retrofit measures to reduce heat loss, and a capital allocation of £72 million made in 2022-23 for residential decarbonisation, along with a total revenue allocation—

The Member needs to conclude now, please.

—of just under £1 million, the Local Government and Housing Committee have warned that tenants may have to carry a significant proportion of the cost.

I believe that this budget doesn't go anywhere near enough to deal with our environment issues and our climate emergency. I know there were voices over there about us putting a budget forward. Believe me, if we were in Government, we would and it would actually mean more. It would mean more to the people of Wales.

You need to conclude now, please. 

Diolch yn fawr.

Back to reality, I'd very much like to commend the finance Minister's management of the budget, because this could hardly be a more difficult set of circumstances that the people of Wales are facing. To enable you to identify £162 million extra for the cost-of-living crisis is hugely appreciated, and absolutely a sign of your excellent management of the Government's money.

This morning, I attended my local food bank and spoke to a lot of the people who were waiting to be served, and it is incredible, really, just how much people are suffering and what a difference there is between the rich and poor in our society. I thank the Bevan Foundation for their 'State of Wales' figures that show that low-income families spend £35 a week on food; high-income families spend £99 a week on food. Low-income families spend £60 a week on housing; high-income families spend £120 a week on housing. And it is ironic, isn't it, that this food bank that's in one of the poorest parts of my constituency is being served by people who are themselves on very modest incomes, and it is typical that it is the poor who are more generous than the people who have more money? And how we square that circle is a really important question in relation to what Llyr was saying: how do we make the money that Wales has go further? So, I think that's a really big issue for us all. 

In particular, I think that, in the context of what we ought to be able to see in front of us, things like the uprate in the pupil development grant, the holiday hunger payments, the discretionary advice fund and the winter fuel support are incredibly important. On the winter fuel support payment, I want to commend Cardiff Council for proactively going out to all their tenants who they have contact details for to make sure that they were claiming what they were entitled to. It is much, much more difficult to ensure that private sector tenants get that money because it's just much more difficult to identify who is eligible. And I think that one of the problems is that it sounds like the one that comes as a rebate from the UK Government for older people. Quite a lot of older people get confused—they say, 'Oh, but I've already had it', when, actually, they haven't claimed what the Welsh Government is offering. That's something that I would like us to think about as to how we're going to badge it a bit differently, so that people are clearer on that. And it would be useful to know at what point you could tell us what the uptake was of last year's winter fuel payment and whether it's possible to break it down by geographical area/local authority, so that we can see where people are not claiming what they are entitled to, because I think this is a really, really important issue.

I'm very pleased that the children's commissioner's budget has been given an uplift because I think, as other people have said, children have had an incredibly difficult two years, therefore the children's commissioner does have an extra workload and it's very important that that is properly funded. It's still unclear on what basis the other commissioners are funded. I know that there are negotiations going on with the future generations commissioner, but which budget are you going to raid in order to give any uplift if it's proved that she has a good case?

I wanted to just explore the financial transaction capital allocation. So, of the £83 million for the next year, £31 million needs to be repaid. Excellent news, actually, because it's a very useful way of ensuring that people get to do the things we need them to do if we offer them a loan and then they repay it. I wonder if you can say a bit more about that. Is this a pot of money that could be used to help landlords take out loans to decarbonise their properties, because some of the coldest homes are in the private rented sector? Could it be used to enable schools, hospitals and other public building to be rebuilt or retrofitted to decarbonise their existing buildings?

The Member needs to conclude now.

Or is this another pot of money that you might be able to identify in the future? Because there's no doubt that the decarbonisation of our homes in the context of the absolutely spiralling energy, oil and gas costs is something that we simply can't hang around for. We have to do it as soon as we possibly can. 

I call on the Minister to reply to the debate.

Diolch yn fawr. As ever, I do welcome the debate that we've had today and the comments from all Members, from all parties, because it's always illuminating if nothing else. 

Despite the challenging circumstances that we continue to face, we have maximised our available funding to respond to both the short-term and longer term challenges that we're facing. I think, as everybody has acknowledged this afternoon, many challenges remain, including the escalating cost-of-living crisis, alongside the terrible consequences of the invasion in Ukraine. The reason why we were able to provide a larger package of support here in Wales is because we've manged our money better. As Jenny Rathbone was saying, in Wales, you haven't seen those absolute scandals in relation to PPE, you haven't seen us giving out TTP contracts to our chums—absolutely not. We delivered the service through public services, where it belonged in the first place. People got a better service and, as a result, we were able to redeploy funding to support people and communities. Mike.

I would say, also, when Rhodri Morgan was First Minister, we didn't engage in PFI.

Absolutely right, and a further example through the course of the pandemic would be the fact that we took very great care and diligence in the support we were providing to businesses and, as a result, again, you don't see these big write-offs of fraud that you see across the border. So, we take care of people's money, and I think that you can see that in the budget that we've published today.

I will say that some references have been made to the funding available to Welsh Government. It's a Barnett share if we're lucky. Part of the problem is that we don't get our full share from the UK Government. Reference has been made to the HS2 project. Even the UK Government's own analysis suggests that that project will harm Wales, and yet they consider it to be an England-and-Wales project and we do not get a single penny as a result of it.

There have been requests for further funding to be injected into the NHS for capital spend. Well, it's a fact that, over the three years of the budget period that we're looking ahead to, in every single year, our capital funding falls. It will be less every year than it is this year, so it's impossible for us to provide additional funding when we have less. Our budget in 2024-25 will nearly be £3 billion lower than if it had increased in line with the economy since 2010-11. Imagine the budget we would be debating if we'd had that additional funding available to us. So, you know, we are still operating in a very, very complex and challenging period.

Reference to European funding has been made this afternoon, and, again, this is an area where we are absolutely desperately shortchanged. Under the UK Government's community renewal fund, we will receive only £46 million this year, compared to £375 million at least that we would have received from EU structural funds from January 2021. No-one can be okay with that, not even on the Conservative benches. This is just really ripping off Wales, and it shouldn't be something that any of us can be comfortable or okay with.

I was really pleased to see Mike Hedges make his annual call for an alternative Conservative budget. I am really looking forward to seeing that next year and scrutinising that. But I will say that I do recall a time, perhaps it was 2014, when the Conservatives last laid their alternative budget and they had their fingers so burned they haven't done it since, and that was because they showed that they were going to make massive cuts to education. I think it was 2014 when the Conservatives did provide an alternative budget. [Interruption.] It was 2010—okay, I've been corrected. So, it's a long time since the Conservative opposition put its plans on the table for people to take a view of.

But even if you won't do that, at least make some suggestions between the draft budget and the final budget as to where you will fund your calls for additional investment. So, we've heard lots of calls for additional investment right across the budget this afternoon from the Conservatives but not one idea between the publication of the draft and final budgets as to changes that they would make. So, perhaps we can see some of that next year, and I'm really keen to engage with those kind of ideas because I think that kind of challenge is helpful, but you do need proper plans to scrutinise. And on the challenge for us to go further, of course we want to go further, but, of course, that does rely on funding from the UK Government to help us to do that.

I don't want to be too negative, because there's so much in this budget to be celebrating, particularly, I think, our support for children and young people, because we've been really keen to ensure that we invest in the futures of those young people who have been hit hardest by the pandemic. And you'll see, particularly exciting, I think, continued investment in our apprenticeship programme, and continued investment in delivering on our young person's guarantee. Both of those things are going to be absolutely crucial if we are to ensure that no young person is left behind as a result of the pandemic. And, of course, the joint work that we're doing with Plaid Cymru is really important on free school meals, and the discussions we had with Jane Dodds in respect of supporting leaving care and in care, of course, will make a huge difference to those young people. I think that these progressive discussions that we have can only be for the good.

I'll just go on now, I suppose, to start to conclude by thanking all of those who set out representations, and those who have participated and co-operated through the process of setting the budget. Once again, we've delivered a budget in really trying circumstances, highlighting the strong working partnership that we do have in the Senedd and, of course, across wider Welsh society. And I wouldn't want to finish my contribution today without putting on record my sincere thanks to all of our Welsh Government officials whose skill, care and professionalism, and their attention to detail, is really evident in this final budget. And, I have to say, they have gone above and beyond to produce work of the highest quality, solve complex problems and think creatively, and I'm very, very grateful to them for that.

So, to conclude, this budget reflects what we can achieve in Wales through working together to use every lever available to us. We are responding to the pandemic and the emerging cost-of-living crisis, taking the vital actions necessary to address the climate and nature emergency, and we are taking steps to ensure that we are supporting not only the Wales of today, but fundamentally shaping the Wales that we hand on to future generations. 

Thank you, Minster. The proposal is to agree the motion. Does any Member object? [Objection.] Yes. I will therefore defer voting on this item until voting time. 

Voting deferred until voting time.