Can I thank the Commissioner for his statement? And I very much welcome what he's said today, although, in one respect, I don't, because it's altered exactly what I was going to say in my speech this afternoon. I was a member of the Finance Committee that scrutinised the budget of the Commission. On the information before the Finance Committee, the decision made was, I believe, the correct one. I would like to highlight two recommendations: the committee recommends that the Senedd Commission adopts a collaborative approach to reducing energy use on the Senedd estate and engage with the Members, their staff and Commission staff to gather ideas and to plan and implement projects and policy that will meet these aims. I only use my office here for two days a week. There does not need to be heating in that office outside Tuesday and Wednesday. In fact, I'll go even further: there need not be heating in that room outside 10 o'clock on Tuesday and Wednesday lunch time. So, these are the things where we need to look at what can we do to help, rather than say, 'It's the Commissioners' fault', or, 'It's somebody else's fault.' What can we do?

Energy use has got to be reduced, and I hope the Commission approves a plan to reduce energy use, but I also hope all Members here will make suggestions like mine of what can be done when they aren't using their offices. Some people use their offices or have staff in their offices all the time, and that's perfectly within the rules and right, but for those of us who don't then there are savings to be made.

I would also like the Commission to consider the financial and operational benefits or otherwise of purchasing the freehold of Tŷ Hywel as an alternative to extending the current lease. I'm very concerned that we seem to be stuck on a lease here that is going to last us forever. Some of us wanted to use the Guildhall rather than Tŷ Hywel back in the day. We were unsuccessful with those arguments, and I'm not going to reopen them. But if we're going to stay here, buy it. It's going to be a lot cheaper in the long run.

Finally, a two-tier budget process: I think that is something that is fundamentally wrong. We set the budget via this system for the Senedd Commission, the auditor general and the ombudsman. They're funded by the Senedd as a whole from Finance Committee. They're not compared with, 'Would it be better to spend this money on health, would it be better to spend this money on local authorities, would it be better to spend this money on environmental matters?' They're being judged against an absolute of what they're asking for. I don't think that's the right way of going about it. I don't think it is being fair to other services, and it's also unfortunate—I'll talk about the auditor general and ombudsman—that they go in and look at authorities and organisations that are short of money, but they're not short of money themselves, so they cannot understand the problems that exist with those organisations. My expectation is, apart from health, all other public services will be treated less generously than those who have their budgets from the Senedd directly. 

This is a question for all parties: is the current method of funding the Commission, ombudsman and auditor general fair? If we're arguing them against health or local government, they certainly wouldn't get the level of support that we're providing them with at the moment. Should the Senedd set a percentage increase for each prior to the Finance Committee examining their budgets, so all we're looking at is how they're getting down to that number and not the amount they're asking for?

I've raised this many times in the past, but I seem to be pushing more at an open door this time, so I'll labour the point. I've previously requested at probably nearly every Commission budget that the Commission budget is increased by no more than the increase in the Welsh block grant. If the Commission increases by more, it looks as if we are putting ourselves ahead of Welsh public services that people depend on.

I will now say something even more controversial: do we need the remuneration board? Can we afford it? Is it a good use of scarce resources? Are there other methods of doing what the remuneration board does at much lower cost? We've already set our salaries as relating to increases in pay in Wales, and I was very much in favour of that when it was done, and I think most people here are, so we're treated no less favourably than the people of Wales.

We keep on having these expensive organisations, and the remuneration board is one, which take money away from our key services. So, Deputy Presiding Officer, I know we can't decide to close the remuneration board today—though if I thought we could and I thought I could get a vote on it, I would put it forward—but can we ask that it's looked at so that we can see if we can do without it? It costs us an awful lot of money, which I could think of a lot of better ways of spending.