Chair, I haven't made this point so far this afternoon, but this is, as you know, a restated budget. It takes last year's budget, and it uprates it in line with that 2 per cent figure. That means that we have allocated 98.6 per cent of all the resources available to us, but there is 1.4 per cent still to be allocated. I am very keen to have conversations with other parties about how that further money could be used. We have a little bit more money than we knew this time—well, certainly, yesterday morning—because of yesterday's budget. So, there's another sum of money there ready to be used, and if in those discussions it is determined that this is an area where more investment could be used, I'm very open to having those conversations. At the moment, the Welsh Language Commissioner is being treated exactly the same as all the other commissioners that we have. They have that increase in their budget of 2 per cent for ordinary running costs, slightly more than that for pay costs.
Look, my own view is—and it's very important that I respect the independence of the commissioner, so I don't want to trespass into that territory—but I read that the commissioner had said to this committee that she thought that she ran an effective organisation and a well-managed organisation, and I agree with that. I think the commissioner has demonstrated her ability to move resources to meet new priorities, to change some of the ways in which she runs her organisation in order to free up resources to do more important things, and I have confidence that she'll manage her budget in that way next year.
Mick Antoniw asked me, Chair, specifically about the new responsibilities that the commissioner has, and I acknowledge the fact that she will be responsible for applying the standards to a new field in housing associations. I think it's fair to say that that will not be a standing start. There are many housing associations that already have very powerful and effective policies in relation to the Welsh language. There are housing associations that operate primarily through the Welsh language in Wales, so it won't be that this is a field where there isn't anything to build on.
I think one of the strengths of the commissioner in recent times has been her co-regulation approach, where she takes a differentiated view of the amount of intervention she needs to take, based on her assessment of the strength or otherwise of organisations. Where she believes people are doing a good job already, then she spends less of her time working with those organisations, so she can use more of her time where there's more ground to be gained. And I think she'll bring the same approach to her work with housing associations, and she'll find that there are organisations that already do very well, and there'll be organisations where she will have to make more of an input. I think she's demonstrated successfully her ability to operate in that way.
It will be a challenge—I do understand that. If there was more money, she could do more, but even within the budget she has, I think she's demonstrated a very effective ability to align resource with priorities.