Our fiscal position is very difficult. We face several uncertainties as a result of the ongoing events in Whitehall. We are yet to understand when the next UK Government fiscal event will be, and the UK Government hasn't, at this point, indicated that there will be any additional funding coming to Wales, and we absolutely cannot rely on any assumption that there will be additional funding. Indeed, our thinking has to include the prospect that we will a see a reduced settlement, and we need to prepare for that scenario for all the reasons that Alun Davies outlined in terms of the current UK Government and its potential candidates for Prime Minister's approaches to taxes, so that will be very much at the forefront of our minds as we start preparing over the summer.

I think also the Chair recognised how hard this is, and I'm glad that the Finance Committee engaged with communities and young people, asking that important question about where would we cut if we have to cut, or if we want to cut to invest in some other areas. So, it's interesting to find out what people's priorities are and their level of tolerance for cuts in particular areas. So, I'm grateful for that work and for the entire report on the part of the Finance Committee. It's been really, really really helpful, and I'm grateful for all the engagement that you've been doing.

So, I do want to respond to some of the specific points, but what I won't do is respond to the requests for additional funding in particular policy or spending areas, because I think that that's not the purpose of today; today is for me to hear from colleagues. But I do want to recognise and confirm that I've heard what people have been saying about the cost-of-living crisis, mental health, especially young people, youth infrastructure, unpaid carers, public services, including education and other local government services, the importance of investing in R&I to boost skills and the economy and all of the challenges around public sector pay and conditions. And then other contributions focused around health improvement and primary care, dentistry, and we also heard about the importance of investing in decarbonisation and climate change and green spaces and air quality. We also heard about public transport and concerns especially about ensuring that children and young people are able to access it. And justice was referenced, as was building safety and housing and homelessness more generally, and all of this with very much a strong focus on prevention. And of course the arguments were made in favour of the EMA as well. So, lots of food for thought, I think, there for us to consider as we start to prepare for the budget.

But, in terms of some of the process points that I think are the most useful things I can respond to today, in terms of the timing of the budget, I share the Finance Committee's concerns and disappointment at it, and I think the reason for some of the ways in which we've found ourselves, in the past few years, tabling the draft budget later than we would normally anticipate, is because, at the time of the budget protocol, the UK Government had its main fiscal event in the spring, but now we seem to be responding very much to significant autumn statements, and so I think that the point about looking at the protocol and having some discussions around that is an important discussion to have.

I also think that it's important to recognise the points made about raising awareness of our tax-raising powers. I think that the budget is a really important time to do that. We've done quite a lot in recent years to try and make tax and the budget more generally more accessible to people. So, we've got the ready reckoner on the Welsh Government's website, so people can put their information in and find out how much, relatively, the Welsh Government is spending of their contribution on the various areas for which we are responsible. We also have the Beaufort survey, which asks people about their awareness of Welsh rates of income tax, for example. We're seeing an increase, but it's too slow and we need to do more engagement work there. And we also make an effort to engage with children and young people through children and young people's leaflets, and also I engage with schools and economics students and others to try and have these conversations with children and young people.

I've heard the calls for a clearer narrative around several elements of the budget and also for more transparency. I'm always keen to publish as much as we can and to be as transparent as we possibly can. So, any specific requests for further information, or areas that we can improve, I'm keen to respond to. We do have our budget improvement plan, which is a rolling five-year plan in terms of improving the way we do our budget and the way we communicate it. So, I'm obviously happy to explore what we can add in that particular regard as well.

We do publish an awful lot of information, I have to say. We publish the chief economist's report, lots and lots of data around tax, we've got our distributional impact analysis, our new approach to carbon impacts—so, lots of information is available, but, if there's more needed, I'm keen to be providing that as well. We also provide important information through the year. Reference was made to the Welsh rates of income tax and the outturn data. So, the outturn data for last year will be available this month, and I'll be publishing it alongside a written statement. This is important, because this is the first time that this data has an impact on next year's budget in real life, so I think that that will help us again in terms of thinking ahead to our budget for next year.

Overall, Chair, I'll just finish, really, by just confirming that we do remain a Government committed to a fairer, greener and more prosperous Wales. Our upcoming budget and our preparations for it will keep these values very much at the core. The challenges that we face are clearly very difficult, and we have significant pressures on our budgets, but we must have these values and our vision there to guide us. Just to close, I absolutely welcome today's debate, it's been really instructive, and I look forward to continuing engagement with colleagues across the Senedd in the coming months. Diolch.