10. Debate: The Final Budget 2022-23

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:01 pm on 8 March 2022.

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Photo of Jenny Rathbone Jenny Rathbone Labour 6:01, 8 March 2022

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?