, Finance Committee
Public Services Ombudsman for Wales- Annual Report and Accounts 2025-26, and Estimate 2027-28: Evidence session
I guess it's the difference between 'substantial' and 'reasonable' that I'm just interrogating.
, Finance Committee
Public Services Ombudsman for Wales- Annual Report and Accounts 2025-26, and Estimate 2027-28: Evidence session
Yes, I accept that.
, Finance Committee
Public Services Ombudsman for Wales- Annual Report and Accounts 2025-26, and Estimate 2027-28: Evidence session
Thank you. That's helpful to understand. And then on strategic aim 4, I mean, firstly, just to commend the improvement in the sickness absence levels. I don't know if there's anything particularly that was done that achieved that improvement. I think we'd be…
, Finance Committee
Public Services Ombudsman for Wales- Annual Report and Accounts 2025-26, and Estimate 2027-28: Evidence session
It's pack page 231: 'proportion of complaints handled by public bodies and then escalated to us'. I think your target is under 5 per cent, and it went up from 6 per cent to 11 per cent. Likewise there's been an increase in some of the similar KPIs, and that's…
, Finance Committee
Public Services Ombudsman for Wales- Annual Report and Accounts 2025-26, and Estimate 2027-28: Evidence session
We'll reflect on that in the wash-up.
, Finance Committee
Public Services Ombudsman for Wales- Annual Report and Accounts 2025-26, and Estimate 2027-28: Evidence session
There are a couple of other areas to delve into. On key performance indicators, first of all, just a comment: I don't wish to sound ungenerous, but on your KPI measures, you say that if it's within 10 per cent, you rate it as green, if it's between 70 and 90…
, Finance Committee
Public Services Ombudsman for Wales- Annual Report and Accounts 2025-26, and Estimate 2027-28: Evidence session
If I can just zoom us back out a little bit, and into the discussion about how you're working with bodies around complaint management, I wonder if you could speak a bit more about any preventative work that you do as ombudsman, both in terms of managing or…
, Finance Committee
Public Services Ombudsman for Wales- Annual Report and Accounts 2025-26, and Estimate 2027-28: Evidence session
You get e-mails as well.
, Finance Committee
Public Services Ombudsman for Wales- Annual Report and Accounts 2025-26, and Estimate 2027-28: Evidence session
Thanks, Chair. Just on AI, rather than just empowering your staff rather than just empowering your staff to go back and say, 'Can you give us something shorter?', have you considered just having a form for the public to raise complaints that sets a word limit…
, Finance Committee
Public Services Ombudsman for Wales- Annual Report and Accounts 2025-26, and Estimate 2027-28: Evidence session
I've got a couple of questions just on this theme, if that's okay.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2027-28: Evidence Session
Okay. And then the last question, I think, about this area: obviously, there was some refurbishment work in Tŷ Hywel ahead of the May 2026 elections—just commenting on what I can see around me, the accommodation looks of really high quality—so to what extent…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2027-28: Evidence Session
But just to be clear, those organisations will contribute a proportional sum of moneys into the overall costs as a rental charge?
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2027-28: Evidence Session
Obviously, Senedd Members, et cetera, are not the only residents of Tŷ Hywel. It's also used by the Welsh Government and press organisations. How are you engaging with them about the Bay 32 decision and what's their influence, but, also, what's the…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2027-28: Evidence Session
Yes, I'm sure there is.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2027-28: Evidence Session
So, I think, when this committee considers that go/no-go decision, I think having a clear profile over the 25 years or whatever the project length is, would be really helpful so that we can understand the impact to the Senedd Commission budget beyond the…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2027-28: Evidence Session
Just picking up on what Sera was saying there a minute ago about the growth in costs for Bay 32, which I guess are partly related to the decant, by 2029-30, between the Bay 32 lines and the depreciation, you're up to about £30 million. Is that the peak, and…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2027-28: Evidence Session
I guess we're not here to make a profit, but if we can make an income that contributes to the bottom line, that's good. And there are attractions elsewhere in Cardiff, for example, with a cafe function—cafe and shop—that make a six-figure income profit. So, I…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2027-28: Evidence Session
Where's the growth?
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2027-28: Evidence Session
It's not profit. Yes, exactly, it's not profit.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2027-28: Evidence Session
It's revenue.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2027-28: Evidence Session
Well, I'm not sure we do. That's why I'm asking if it's net income or not, because if the catering—. If the employment costs are shown elsewhere, are we actually making any money on it?
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2027-28: Evidence Session
Just on the numbers again—table 8, the analysis of income—is that net income or are the salaries for people running the shop, for example, shown elsewhere?
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2027-28: Evidence Session
Okay.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2027-28: Evidence Session
Okay. But then on the interest charges, those are falling away. We're not going to fund Bay 32 via—
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2027-28: Evidence Session
Okay. That's a clear explanation. I guess that's the right accounting treatment. I just wonder whether, for clarity, it's simpler to have all the associated Bay 32 costs in one budget line, rather than have them split out over different lines.
