, Finance Committee
Public Services Ombudsman for Wales—Scrutiny of Annual Report and Accounts 2020-21, and Estimate 2022-23: Evidence session
Well, thank you very much for joining us this morning, and, ombudsman,
, Finance Committee
Introductions, apologies, substitutions and declarations of interest
Good morning, and welcome to this meeting of the Finance Committee; I'm very pleased to see you all. This meeting is being broadcast live on Senedd.tv, and the Record of Proceedings will be published as usual. Aside from procedural adaptations relating to…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
When I raised the issue of reduced day-care centre provision in Caerphilly County Borough Council for disabled adults and the implications this has for clients, their families and staff, you referred the matter to Caerphilly County Borough Council. Well, it…
, Finance Committee
Motion under Standing Order 17.42(ix) to resolve to exclude the public from the remainder of this meeting
I do now propose, under Standing Order 17.42(ix), that the committee resolves to exclude the public from the remainder of this meeting. Are Members content? I see that Members are content. We will therefore move into private session.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session
Excellent. Thank you very much for your time this morning and for joining us at this meeting, and thank you for your responses to our questions. We will consider your comments very carefully now.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session
Great. Just to touch on one final thing before we close, and we've got about three minutes, according to my clock, and I'm grateful for that. To look at the Senedd and Elections (Wales) Act 2020, how do the costs of the current financial year compare to the…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session
Thank you, Peter. I'll bring Rhianon in now for the final few questions.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session
Thank you. I'll bring Peter in, if I may.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session
I think Rhianon might want to ask a supplementary along those lines.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session
Oh, right, okay. Yes.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session
Sorry?
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session
Thank you very much. I will bring—if Mike's—Mike, are you okay, or—?
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session
And the financial impact of that, how does that feed into your budgeting process?
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session
Just if I may, you talked about contingency planning and business continuity and that sort of thing. How has it affected your continuity business plans about a physical building, where we've done quite a lot online? So, has that changed the contingency plans…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session
Thank you, Rhianon.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session
Rhianon had an added question to come in on, Mike, if I can.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session
Ken wanted to come in, please.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session
Ken—yes.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session
Thank you very much. Okay. Can I go over to Mike for the next section? Thank you.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session
Okay. Thank you for that. A final one from me on this. We know that there are discussions going on around Senedd reform and some of the scenarios and other things that we're considering and the impact of that on the 2022-23 budget. How would you resource…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session
Nia. Can we unmute Nia? Thanks. There we are.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session
Okay. Thank you. So, we've obviously heard the announcement about national insurance contributions changing next year. The overall cost of that is around £300,000, from your report—it states that in there. How much of that is related to Commission staff, and…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session
Okay. Lovely. And do you think that—? What would be the implications of possibly not raising it by 4.4 per cent?
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session
We note that there's a 4.4 per cent budget increase. Do you think that's taken sufficient regard of the principles set out by our predecessor Finance Committee?
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session
Thank you very much for your time. I'm going to kick off with some questions, and thank you for the budget and for preparing it and for your officials for preparing it as well. So, thank you very much. The first question is: how have goals and priorities…
