, Finance Committee
Audit Wales - Scrutiny of the Estimate 2025-26 and Interim Report: Evidence session
Diolch, Mike. Before we move on to the fee schemes—and this may be a question, possibly, for Ian—you’re requesting an increase of £25,000 in relation to governance costs and highlight board development as one of the drivers. And I know you’ve spoken about…
, Finance Committee
Audit Wales - Scrutiny of the Estimate 2025-26 and Interim Report: Evidence session
Thanks for that clarification. Mike.
, Finance Committee
Audit Wales - Scrutiny of the Estimate 2025-26 and Interim Report: Evidence session
Adrian, did you want to come in on that?
, Finance Committee
Audit Wales - Scrutiny of the Estimate 2025-26 and Interim Report: Evidence session
That's similar to what you did in north Wales, isn't it?
, Finance Committee
Audit Wales - Scrutiny of the Estimate 2025-26 and Interim Report: Evidence session
Diolch, Rhianon. Mike Hedges.
, Finance Committee
Audit Wales - Scrutiny of the Estimate 2025-26 and Interim Report: Evidence session
Because of the Senedd term.
, Finance Committee
Audit Wales - Scrutiny of the Estimate 2025-26 and Interim Report: Evidence session
Okay. Thank you. Rhianon.
, Finance Committee
Audit Wales - Scrutiny of the Estimate 2025-26 and Interim Report: Evidence session
Eight and a half. Okay. And you're trying to drive that down towards 5 per cent, so 5 per cent is probably more of an aspirational target rather than a—
, Finance Committee
Audit Wales - Scrutiny of the Estimate 2025-26 and Interim Report: Evidence session
The flip side of that—[Interruption.] Sorry, Rhianon. The flip side of that is, obviously, if it escalates, there's probably a higher risk involved—and we've talked about this before. Can you remind us where your current staff turnover rate is, and how you're…
, Finance Committee
Audit Wales - Scrutiny of the Estimate 2025-26 and Interim Report: Evidence session
Okay. Thank you.
, Finance Committee
Audit Wales - Scrutiny of the Estimate 2025-26 and Interim Report: Evidence session
So, when do you think that your negotiations with the trade unions will be concluded for—
, Finance Committee
Audit Wales - Scrutiny of the Estimate 2025-26 and Interim Report: Evidence session
Diolch. Rhianon.
, Finance Committee
Audit Wales - Scrutiny of the Estimate 2025-26 and Interim Report: Evidence session
Oh, Mike. There we are. If we could—. Hang on. There we are, Mike—you're unmuted. Thank you.
, Finance Committee
Audit Wales - Scrutiny of the Estimate 2025-26 and Interim Report: Evidence session
Okay, thank you. Rhianon.
, Finance Committee
Audit Wales - Scrutiny of the Estimate 2025-26 and Interim Report: Evidence session
So, your working assumption is that you wouldn't be coming back to us for any additional funding; you'll find that from efficiencies if you needed to give a pay award that's higher than what you've budgeted for.
, Finance Committee
Audit Wales - Scrutiny of the Estimate 2025-26 and Interim Report: Evidence session
We'll work through that as time goes by. So, lovely. I'll bring back Rhianon now. Thank you.
, Finance Committee
Audit Wales - Scrutiny of the Estimate 2025-26 and Interim Report: Evidence session
Because we had a very lengthy—well, fairly lengthy—discussion on this in the Chamber yesterday and the day before, so it was just getting that clarity. So that's fine; thank you. I'll bring—. On that, then, we'll watch and see how that works and then we'll…
, Finance Committee
Audit Wales - Scrutiny of the Estimate 2025-26 and Interim Report: Evidence session
And have you looked at the Office for National Statistics definition of public sector and whether or not you believe that you fall into that, so it means that therefore that passported money should come to you, or—? Where do you where do you sit in that?
, Finance Committee
Audit Wales - Scrutiny of the Estimate 2025-26 and Interim Report: Evidence session
Can we unmute Peter, please? There we are. Thank you.
, Finance Committee
Audit Wales - Scrutiny of the Estimate 2025-26 and Interim Report: Evidence session
There's a 'yes', Rhianon.
, Finance Committee
Audit Wales - Scrutiny of the Estimate 2025-26 and Interim Report: Evidence session
Fine. Okay. Thank you very much. I'll bring Rhianon Passmore in at that point. Thank you very much, Rhianon. Let me just make sure that you're unmuted. There we are, you're unmuted. Thank you.
, Finance Committee
Audit Wales - Scrutiny of the Estimate 2025-26 and Interim Report: Evidence session
So, you could make those decisions in-year, bring back a supplementary or report it at the end of the financial year. Are there any issues that you could foresee where you'd need to speak to this committee—if they're larger than you expect, whether or not we…
, Finance Committee
Audit Wales - Scrutiny of the Estimate 2025-26 and Interim Report: Evidence session
Okay. Thank you for that explanation. That helps. You've previously told us that the movement in working capital relates to that normal contingency, and you were talking about that just now, through year-end movements. Does that remain the same, and can you…
, Finance Committee
Audit Wales - Scrutiny of the Estimate 2025-26 and Interim Report: Evidence session
Okay. Thank you, Kevin.
, Finance Committee
Audit Wales - Scrutiny of the Estimate 2025-26 and Interim Report: Evidence session
Okay. Thanks for that. Last year, you talked about the presentation of your estimate and the issues around understanding precisely what level of increase you'll be requesting. Part of that issue related to the money moving from one spending area to another…
