, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 6
Sorry, yes—.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 6
Catherine, did you want to come at it from—?
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 6
You're nodding away there, so, yes, let's—. Jane.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 6
Actually, Jane, did you want to come in?
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 6
Okay. Thank you. I'll bring in Sam, then, for some final questions.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 6
Great. Anything on that from a social services side, with regard to spending capital? I suppose it mainly comes in through local government, capital into local government and, obviously, as mentioned, the rules are slightly different there. Lance or Jane, any…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 6
Lovely. Thank you.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 6
I'll bring Mike in on a couple of questions, and then come to Sam, then, to close.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 6
Catherine's indicated there, so yes.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 6
I'll bring Rhianon Passmore in now with some questions around financial pressure. Maybe, reflecting on what Darren and others have said, maybe, in our papers, question 8 might be appropriate to bring in at that point, and then come from there. Rhianon. Hang…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 6
Darren, yes.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 6
Jane, from a treasurer point of view, managing this—and we know that the money is likely to flow down from Westminster through to Welsh Government to local authorities in particular—is there a challenge in timing and in budgeting and in making sure you have a…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 6
It's the challenge with timing, I suppose, with that.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 6
What about national insurance?
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 6
Do you want to carry on with the workforce things and then I'll go to Rhianon for the—?
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 6
Sorry, Darren. Carry on.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 6
Thank you very much. I'll come to Mike Hedges now.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 6
Forgive my ignorance slightly. The letter that comes out, is it tailored per health board, or is it a one to all health boards? It's just for my knowledge, really. Is it a letter to you or is it a letter to everyone?
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 6
And what's changed?
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 6
So, it's a bit more urgency around it, rather than—. It's probably a 'yes' or 'no' question, actually. Has the Welsh Government sent the allocation letter and the NHS planning framework for next year to NHS bodies? And if so, has it set out the headline…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 6
No problem there. Thanks for that, because I think it gets to the crux of the difficulties with this. I'll come to you in just a second there, Darren, because in your briefing for the Senedd's debate on the draft budget, you said, 'The NHS requires clear and…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 6
Thank you for that. From a social services point of view, then, Lance, that's a little bit towards the more preventative aspect rather than the acute, if you like, or firefighting, as Darren explained it there. Any further thoughts on that balance between the…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 6
Jane, I saw you were nodding to that bit there. So, from a corporate services point of view, and from doing this, what are your views on the question of whether the balance is right and some of the things that you've heard there?
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 6
So, have the Government actually got the balance right at the minute, or you'd say, 'No, it needs to change'?
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 6
But, looking at the performance and outcomes that are in health bodies in Wales, the report from Audit Wales on cancer services said that: 'Variations in performance and outcomes persist within and between health bodies in Wales'. It was quite a hard-hitting…
