8. Finance Committee Debate: The Welsh Government's spending priorities for 2023-24

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:03 pm on 13 July 2022.

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Photo of Rebecca Evans Rebecca Evans Labour 5:03, 13 July 2022

Diolch. I'd just like to say thank you to everybody for their contributions this afternoon, but particularly so to the Finance Committee for bringing forward the debate today. I do think that this has been an absolutely excellent innovation in recent years, and it really does help focus the mind in terms of understanding what the priorities of colleagues are. So, thank you so much for everybody's contributions to the debate today. The Senedd will, of course, recall that we were able to publish a three-year budget settlement earlier this year, and that does provide at least a level of certainty and stability to our partners and to the people of Wales. But now we are facing very much a new set of challenges that we have to consider in our next budget and that, of course, includes continuing to respond to the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Like many other countries, we're facing soaring inflation and that's impacting on our existing commitments. It's also causing our budget settlement to be worth £600 million less than when we allocated it in October 2021, and this will be very much at the forefront of our minds as we start to consider our budget for next year. And, of course, we are experiencing the ongoing cost-of-living crisis as well as the conflict in Ukraine, but our commitment as a Government to supporting communities and citizens as they navigate these issues remains completely unwavering.