, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 8
Not delving into my crystal ball too much about what might or might not happen tomorrow, but if you look at the polls and with a potentially very large majority for the next incoming Government, is it an opportunity to actually advance some of that work and…
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 8
—with different Governments in different places. Sorry, Mike.
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 8
And that's very much across party as well—
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 8
And I think that's one thing that this committee has found useful is our relationships with our equivalents in Scotland and now in Northern Ireland as well, so, working side by side with them on a tripartite basis is quite useful. And something that we might…
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 8
Do you meet—? If the CST isn't there, would you meet anyway?
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 8
Mike, we'll come on to some questions from you.
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 8
To have a reset.
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 8
Peter, and then I'll bring Mike in afterwards.
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 8
So, in a way, giving you more autonomy to manage your own budgets effectively.
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 8
That parity of esteem, really, between Governments, rather than as a—. I know we talked last autumn around switches from capital to revenue and that you'd have to ask the Treasury to be able to do it, and that you potentially could be dealt with as any other…
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 8
Thank you. You mentioned a revolving door at the Treasury with regard to changes to Chief Secretaries. How does that affect the cultural aspect within the Treasury of how they deal with devolved Governments? Some of the evidence that we've received seems to…
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 8
Excellent, okay. Thank you.
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 8
Okay. Sarah, did you want to come in on that?
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 8
One of my colleagues might come into this later, but with the scrutiny that this committee gives to those meetings—and we get that communiqué—it's hard sometimes to put the meat on the bone from a piece of paper without the context. So, how do you see that…
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 8
And I suppose a bit more focusing on the things that are on the agenda and being able to take that time. And, remind me, are the terms of reference and the agendas published?
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 8
And you talked about the rotating chair—not as in spinning around—but changing the chair of the FISC. You've chaired one of those sessions—what was your experience of doing that and, then, the experiences of the Scottish Government and the Treasury being able…
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 8
You talked about the Heads of Devolved Governments Council. What does the engagement that you've had with the Westminster Government on that, or is that not really functioning that well, or not meeting that regularly—? Is it beholden on the Prime Minister to…
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 8
Croeso cynnes—a warm welcome. We've got a lot of questions, but we're very grateful to you for the written evidence that you've already provided. It's been very, very useful. If we don't happen to get through all the questions that we have, we may write to…
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 8
Welcome.
, Finance Committee
Fiscal Inter-governmental Relations: Evidence session 8
Moving on to our first substantial item this morning, which is evidence session No. 8 on fiscal inter-governmental relations. Welcome, Cabinet Secretary, to the meeting. Could you introduce yourself and ask your officials to introduce themselves as well…
, Finance Committee
Papers to note
On the papers to note, we'll note the letter that we've had, and we've had another letter as well. That was a late paper, but we'll note that on the record next time. The two letters are about petitions. I'd like to write back to the Petitions Committee to…
, Finance Committee
Papers to note
We'll move on, therefore, to the papers to note. We have one paper to note and there is one late letter that's come in, but we'll be noting that next time.
, Finance Committee
Introductions, apologies, substitutions and declarations of interest
A warm welcome to this meeting of the Finance Committee. We have one apology to start—Rhianon Passmore is running a little late, but she'll be joining us in due course. Otherwise, everyone else is here and it's good to see you this morning. This meeting is…
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into Individual Member Accountability: Evidence Session 9
Thank you very much. Diolch, Chair.
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into Individual Member Accountability: Evidence Session 9
That will be the new by-election process, effectively. Just finally, then, from me, if you decided—. We're going with the Jane Dodds example at the moment, but if you decided halfway through that petition and that process, and you thought, 'Actually, no, I'm…
