Diolch, and thank you to all colleagues for what I think has been a really helpful debate. We've heard so many different priorities coming forward: dentistry, building safety, the health Minister’s six priorities for health, the EMA, social care workforce, highways, renewable energy, support for care leavers, the Welsh language, bus services, homelessness provision, farm funding, mental health and swimming pools. And I know that many of these particular issues are subject to some specific recommendations from committees. So, perhaps I'll leave my colleagues to respond to those through their responses to the committees, which I know that we'll be aiming to get to committee Chairs at least in time for the debate on the final budget. And I thought I maybe would concentrate my remarks more along the process, the reprioritisation exercise that we undertook and, of course, some comments on tax as well.

So, I thought I'd begin in reference to the comments by the Chair of the Finance Committee that suggested the committee was surprised and worried at the lack of candour in the draft budget. I take that suggestion very seriously, because we've always adopted an open, transparent and collaborative approach to the preparation of both our draft and our final budgets. I'm really proud that, as a Government, we publish a huge and extensive suite of documentation alongside the budget, and that includes details of our spending plans across all of Government, the impacts of our decisions, the economic context within which we're making those decisions, as well as new tax products, such as the ready reckoner.

And this year's documentation, of course, builds on that which we provided for the 2022 multi-year spending review, and that also included a distributional analysis of our spend, and that was a really significant piece of work, which helps us not just as a Government, and helps the Senedd too, but also our partners in the public and the third sectors. We also, of course, provide a budget leaflet, and that provides a really easy and accessible way into our high-level allocations, and we've provided a children's budget leaflet and also a fantastic animation, which sets out where our money comes from and what it is spent on. And some of these products have been developed in collaboration with our partners and stakeholders, including children, and of course we've sought to take back feedback from colleagues within the Senedd over the years, including the Finance Committee.

So, throughout the production of this year's budget, I've welcomed the constructive engagement and collaboration that we've had with the Finance Committee and with the Chair in particular, and we've worked really closely with the committee to provide details of what our priorities are, to the keep the committee up to date in terms of the challenging circumstances that we face, and also to actively pursue some collaborative working practices, which is why I was concerned by the comments mentioning candour. I think that could be interpreted by the public as an attempt to obscure the scrutiny process, and I think that couldn't be further from the truth. I always have recognised the importance of the scrutiny process, especially at times when funding is so restricted, and I'm keen to continue that open and collaborative work, and of course I'm open to understanding what further information committees need to complete their scrutiny, and look forward to continuing that productive relationship.

One area I think the committee identified as one that we could provide some further information in future would be alongside the calculations relating to the block grant adjustment. So, certainly, we'll look at seeing what more we can provide. Even though the draft budget narrative contains some substantial detail on the block grant adjustment, I do recognise that it has become more complicated over time and there would be benefit, I think, to a more detailed presentation of that information. So, I look forward to working with the Finance Committee on that particular aspect as well.

So, thinking of the reprioritisation exercise, it's just worth re-emphasising, I think, that this budget, of course, builds on our already published plans as part of our three-year spending review. So, this budget only allocates £1.2 billion over two financial years. Of course, we scrutinised a three-year spending review last year. And, as part of that, of course, we allocated an additional £1.3 billion over that spending review period to health, and nearly £0.75 billion additional to local government, and I think that we need to remember that in the context of what we're scrutinising here as well.