675 contributions on record. Newest first, by sitting day. Page 13 of 19. Counted by Siambr
Prynhawn da. The Welsh Government is working closely with Wrexham County Borough Council and the Wrexham bid team. We recognise the economic, cultural and societal benefits the City of Culture status can bring, and on top of the £60,000 allocated in 2026-27 towards supporting the application development, we're taking a cross-Government approach, getting behind the bid, before Wrexham submits its full application by 10 August.
Absolutely. And I thank the Member and her colleagues in Wrexham for putting up such a strong effort behind that wonderful bid. The Member has always promoted all the Wrexham has to offer, and what Wrexham offers in terms of this city of culture bid is quite significant. But she makes a very important point. Yes, this is for the local benefits that will derive from it, but it very much is a bid that should feel as if it belongs to all of us—all of us from the north of Wales and all of us throughout the country. Officials have been actively engaged in the past few weeks, supporting the bid, and, yes, this Government will do all we can to support in the build-up to, as I say, the application going in fully on 10 August.
I think the Member is absolutely right. Yesterday, we were looking ahead to a year until the Tour de France comes to Wales. And it's not just looking forward to that one day; it's about the legacy that comes from that. It's exactly the same with the city of culture. And, yes, hoping that Wrexham lands this, but it's about what it lands Wrexham for many years to come, hopefully. I think we were looking at the figures for Coventry. I think the UK City of Culture there helped to generate more than £183 million for the local economy. So, just in pure financial terms, this can bring real benefits. But it's not just the financial; it's the societal, as I say. It's the bringing of communities together, something that Wrexham has shown it is very, very good at doing anyway, building around the amazing success of its football team in recent years. But, as I say, the Government will do all we can to make sure that everything is lined up to make it as strong a bid as possible by the time it's tabled in early August.
The Member is right that it's important that this is built across party-political divides. We need everybody to get behind this and show that there's real momentum politically and within the community for this bid to become a success. We can look at the things that the Government is doing to support small businesses in general: the town-centre taskforce, which we hope will bring benefits to Wrexham, as in towns the length and breadth of Wales; we can look at the new development agency and its specific remit, which will be to help small, indigenous businesses grow. What we have around a bid like this is just a real opportunity, a one-off opportunity, for somewhere like Wrexham to build a dynamism around the economy in the town, to build real impetus and momentum around this, coming together with those Government initiatives. What we want to do is make sure that we align everything behind small businesses in Wrexham, to make the most of the opportunities that will come with this.
We recognise the financial pressures faced by local government. That's why I'm proud that we secured an additional £112.8 million for local government in the 2026-27 budget. That meant every authority received an increase of at least 4 per cent. We will consider future funding in-year and for 2027-28 as part of normal budget planning.
Borrowing powers are very important and useful tools for local government. I'll be making the case in a debate here later this afternoon that councils have more borrowing powers, in effect, than we do as a Government, and I'll be making the case that we should be able to have those borrowing powers here in order to invest in our future. What's important always, of course, is that decisions are made in a prudent manner about the reasons for spending, what the investment is, the affordability of the repayments and so on. So, I'm not going to criticise councils for borrowing—it's very much part of their armoury to strengthen public services locally. It is, though, very much for those local authorities to make those prudent decisions. We trust local authorities to make those prudent borrowing decisions themselves and to balance out their aspirations for the people that they represent with the affordability of those loans. What we want to always make sure, though, of course, is that we provide as a Government a solid framework for funding so that local government has that baseline in order to provide for their communities.
Dwi'n sicr, Lywydd, yn cytuno efo'r Aelod ynglŷn â'r angen am sgyrsiau aeddfed o fewn y Senedd hon ynglŷn â dyfodol cyllido Cymru, a chyllido llywodraeth leol yn rhan o hynny, a chyllido gwasanaethau cyhoeddus yn gyffredinol. Oes, mae yna ddyrannu arian wedi ei gyhoeddi sydd yn mynd i wneud gwahaniaeth gwirioneddol yn y meysydd a gafodd eu crybwyll yn fanna, o ran cyflwr ysgolion a chinio ysgol am ddim, ac ati. Mae cyfyngiadau ariannol, wrth gwrs, yn dynn, a chyfyngedig ydy'r hyn sy'n gallu cael ei gyflawni drwy gyllideb atodol, wrth ddiffiniad. Ond, o weithio efo'n gilydd, dwi'n ffyddiog y gallwn ni gadw ffocws ar ddelifro ar gyfer pobl Cymru.
I certainly, Llywydd, agree with the Member on the need for mature conversations within this Senedd on the budgetary future of Wales, and the funding of local government as part of that, and the funding of public services more generally. Yes, there has been an allocation announced that will make a very real difference in the areas mentioned in the question, in terms of the condition of schools and free school meals, and so on. The financial limitations are tight, and what can be achieved through a supplementary budget, by definition, is quite narrow. But, in working together, I am confident that we can retain a focus on delivery for the people of Wales.
The key thing that we all agree on here is that we have an unsustainability within the additional learning needs sector in Wales and that we need to build that sustainability. That will have to be a coming together of the financial and, of course, the policy. The policy: what is going to change and how will money be used? The Member will know that my Government has made constructive proposals as to what can be done this financial year to move forward towards that sustainable footing that I mentioned. I look forward to continuing that dialogue so that we can give confidence to pupils, to teachers, to schools, to local authorities, but it has to be a coming together of the funding and the policy, and it's a conversation the Member knows that I'm very eager to have.
The quantum, the money that is overall able to go to local government, I'm afraid to point out, has been pushed further and further down after 15 years of austerity under Conservative rule at Westminster. There is an impact to austerity years, to cuts by the UK Government, as that feeds through the system and down to local government. That's not something that we can deny. I lead a Government now that's dealing with the pressures that are emanating from the very, very tight constraints, ultimately because of decisions taken at Westminster. I refer the Member to what I said about the deal that we struck on local government for this financial year—£113 million almost—which we decided we had to try to funnel towards local authorities because of the real pressures that they face in delivering their services, plus, of course, the pressures on council tax during a cost-of-living crisis.
I like to give substantive answers here, but I need to point out that Andy Burnham is not the Prime Minister of the UK, and that the very early conversation that I had with Keir Starmer that didn't lead to a meeting because of chaos in Westminster I sincerely hope will be replicated in a very early meeting with Andy Burnham, should, as we expect, he become the Prime Minister of the UK, because I've got a lot to talk to him about.
It's nice to get lessons in spending money wisely from the man who spent so wisely so as to build a property portfolio spanning at least five houses and four acres in three countries, and a party leader who has taken £5 million in donations from cryptocurrency billionaires internationally. My Ministers—. I think there have been at least—. Hands up, who has met a UK Government Minister today?
So, three today. So, there's no question of this Government missing a single minute, a single opportunity to stand up for the people of Wales, as the people of Wales put their trust in us to do. It's not our fault, the shambles at Westminster, which could even include his party leader standing down, I don't know, in a statement at 2 o'clock—who knows? That's the chaos within the Reform leader's party, and it's chaos at Westminster that has stopped us from being able to take that face to face between the Welsh First Minister and the UK Prime Minister. I'm looking forward to putting that right very, very soon, when they sort out their leadership issues there.
Well, if you look at the money that has been found for childcare, if you look at the money already channelled towards health, if you look at the steps that have already been taken to establish a new development agency to create new jobs in Wales, all those measures that we said that we would do, we have hit the ground running and we have delivered on those. We are only just getting started as a Government. It's a Government that recognises we're in a minority and we look forward to building partnerships right across this Senedd on behalf of the people of Wales. But it's that determination to lead a different kind of Government, to set a higher level of ambition for Wales that attracted the people of Wales to vote for us in greater numbers than they have for any other party in the history of devolution. We're just getting down to the business of delivering on their behalf.
The Member will also know, of course, that at the end of the last Labour Government, they did not make a decision to spend money on additional learning needs because a decision was made by the then Labour leader that that was not the priority at the time. We have made it a priority, it's in our manifesto, to build a sustainable additional learning needs framework for Wales. And the Member knows, as I have said, that we have made constructive proposals on how we can work with him on bringing together the funding and the policy to build that sustainability that we need.
I think what we need to avoid here is letting politics become the most important thing. What people expect us to do is to find a way to put a plan in place for those areas of priority for the people of Wales. And, yes, I'm as keen as he is to work on ALN, but we work within tight constraints, including the hundreds of millions of pounds of overspend that this Government inherited from the last, as well as aligning budgets with the people's priorities—a more sustainable NHS, expanding childcare, delivering more free school meals; all of which Labour's own finance Minister, and I believe the Labour leader here himself, support—that's what we've tried to do, in the spirit of constructive working, in order to deliver for the people of Wales.
I'm trying to be as constructive as I possibly can here. The problems that we face in ALN have been caused by 27 years of Labour education Ministers. We want to work with this current group and anybody else to make sure that we build up sustainability for the future.
The plans that we have in the supplementary budget stick with the previous Government's spending plans, whilst making allocations in areas I know the Member's party supports. I hope we can make positive progress on this, because we owe it to the people who are quite right in pointing out that we have a depth of problem in ALN in Wales and in England that deserves to be resolved, but it's not going to be resolved by a one-off payment.
My Cabinet Minister for education has announced that also we in Wales want to bring forward that statutory guidance to achieve the aim that the Member says he wants to achieve. The timing of this is essentially around the summer holiday and wanting to work in a way that the education sector told us that they wanted to work, in order to make sure that there is no break, that there is no delay in people being able to feed into that consultation. This is a Government that's made its position very, very clear on this and we're moving forward as quickly as we can. We could open that consultation before the summer, but because of the summer we'd have to continue it afterwards anyway.
While the Welsh Government regulates all registered independent schools, how they govern and manage themselves is a matter for the proprietor. I also point out, of course, that those decisions on VAT, decisions on national insurance that we are told has put additional pressures on independent schools, they are matters that are reserved. My concern, when it comes to the closure of an independent school is for the learners, the families and the staff affected, and the impact of the moving of students into the state school or college sector. My Government will be working closely with authorities to make sure that those pressures are dealt with. Our job is to support that state school sector now. There may be the need for more support when we have independent school closures. That's why we have put those incentives in to bring more teachers into the profession, so we strengthen the workforce. It's why we are putting in place the framework for improved numeracy and literacy within schools. And if he thinks that 50 days is two thirds of the way through the 100-day plan, I'll put him down for the numeracy lessons. [Laughter.]
We have announced our targets to halve Wales’s productivity gap with the rest of the UK in the next 10 years. There have been widespread calls for a new development agency to help Wales meet that challenge. The Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy will make a statement about the next steps in establishing the agency later this afternoon.
We want to make sure that we have the right tools at our disposal to build a stronger economy for Wales, and we firmly believe that having a development agency is an important part of doing that. I know the Member has an opposition to the notion of having a development agency. They're very, very effective in action across much of the world—one of the best, at one time, was the Welsh Development Agency. I think it was a problem to get rid of it. It should have been fixed at the time.
So, what we want to do is have that tool in our armoury, and in establishing the group that will now set out the terms for how it will operate, those are exactly the kinds of questions that we will hone in on: what kind of relationship will it need to have with the Development Bank of Wales, which had a good track record, in many ways, in supporting Welsh businesses? How do they work together? How do we make sure that business really is able to use its ability to be nimble and fleet of foot, to help other businesses in Wales through this development agency? This is about getting it right from the start, and the work begins right now, within the first 50 days of a Plaid Cymru Welsh Government.
One of the most important things to consider in establishing an agency is how we set it up to make the most of the talent, assets and resources we have in abundance across the whole of Wales. It will need to create the kind of conditions for businesses to innovate, grow and access investment they need wherever they are, including, of course, in Port Talbot, which has faced real challenges but has so much potential too. And it does include working alongside and helping co-ordinate other sources of support, such as free ports and UK Government funding, to put Welsh businesses in the best position to grow. I think perhaps the most important word used there was 'coherence'. What I have heard too many times is that we have elements in economic development working in conflict with each other. The job of the new development agency will be to try to bring that coherence so we're all heading in the same direction.
I was speaking at a business event in Cardiff just before the election and the current plethora of organisations that are trying to do good work were likened to a plate of spaghetti, and that what we needed to do was untangle that plate and make sure that, as I said, that coherence is there. I've had people tell me that they're worried about what this will mean for the Cardiff capital region, for example. Does it mean you don't need that? No, it doesn't mean we don't need that. But what you need to do is make sure that, from the very beginning, those relationships are there and that the new development agency knows what its role is to get the best out of the Cardiff capital region or other bodies. That is the attitude that we will seek to put in place from the very beginning, and we should get more details from the Minister later this afternoon.
The Welsh Government is clear that Welsh patients receiving healthcare in England should not face disproportionate barriers in accessing services. While local health boards are responsible for planning, securing and delivering health services for their local populations, the Welsh Government works closely with NHS England and NHS organisations to support cross-border healthcare, in line with the NHS cross-border healthcare services statement of values and principles.
It's a major problem. Cross-border sharing of medical records is complex because NHS Wales and NHS England use multiple digital systems. Local organisations have reciprocal arrangements where possible, supported by agreed cross-border principles. But we are developing right now further digital improvements, including common standards and the national data resource, to support exactly what the Member refers to, which is the need for safer connected care for patients, using the latest technology well.
Mae'r Aelod yn gywir, wrth gwrs. Mae yna lawer o lif y ddwy ffordd. Os ydyn ni'n edrych ar ofal sylfaenol, mae yna 13,000 o bobl o Gymru wedi’u cofrestru efo GPs yn Lloegr, a bron i 21,000 o bobl o Loegr wedi’u cofrestru efo GPs yng Nghymru. Felly, mae hon yn berthynas sydd yn fuddiol i ni ar ddwy ochr y ffin.
Beth sy'n clymu'r cyfan at ei gilydd ac i fod i osod fframwaith sy'n gweithio ydy'r ffaith fod gennym ni ddatganiad o egwyddorion a gwerthoedd. Mae hwnnw i fod i sicrhau bod dim triniaeth yn gallu cael ei wrthod, dim triniaeth yn gallu cael ei oedi, oherwydd ansicrwydd neu ei bod hi ychydig bach yn annelwig pwy neu pha gorff sy'n gyfrifol am ariannu gofal iechyd.
Beth rydyn ni angen ei wneud, wrth gwrs, ydy sicrhau ein bod ni bob amser am wirio bod y gwerthoedd yna a'r egwyddorion yna yn cael eu cadw. Lle mae yna dystiolaeth nad ydyn nhw, dwi'n rhoi sicrwydd y byddai fy Ngweinidog iechyd i yn eiddgar iawn i fynd ar ôl hynny, fel dwi'n siŵr y byddai’r Gweinidog iechyd yn Lloegr.
The Member is quite right, of course. There's a great deal of flow both ways. If we look at primary care, there are 13,000 people from Wales registered with GPs in England and almost 21,000 people from England registered with GPs in Wales. So this is a symbiotic relationship on both sides of the border.
What ties all of this together and should put a framework in place that works is that we have a statement of principles and values. That should ensure that no treatment can be refused, and no treatment can be delayed, because of uncertainties or ambiguity in terms of which body is responsible for funding healthcare.
What we need to do, of course, is to ensure that we always check that those values and principles are adhered to. Where there is evidence that they are not, I will give an assurance that my health Minister would be very eager to pursue that, as I'm sure would the health Minister in England.
Said he through political posturing, and that's the point. We need to find a way to make sure that no part of Wales feels that it is missing out on the level of health service that it requires, be it people across the north of Wales with the problems that are well documented in Betsi, or people in Powys who have specific issues related to the fact that there is rurality throughout the whole of the county, there is no district general hospital, and the importance of those cross-border facilities is even more heightened.
I've spoken with my health Minister for years now about how we ensure that the people in Powys in particular feel very much at the heart of the plans that we have for the development of health services in Wales. All I can do is give the assurance that we will take forward that pledge with the utmost seriousness and that we expect to be held to account on it. When it comes to whether it's a rural health service or cross-border health services, these are matters that are very much on our radar as a Government, and there's a real determination there to show that we will not stand by and watch the health service being degraded in any part of Wales in the way that the Member describes.
There are a number of points to unpick there. On the number of people from Wales having to access services across the border in England because they're not available in Wales, that's an argument that I've long made. Poor decisions have been made over many years that have led to the loss of services in Wales. Patients crossing the border might get very good services—people from the north get excellent neurology services at the Walton Centre—but we have to look at what we can do to build up services here too. It's a point of principle that's important to me, but, at the end of the day, you want to access the best services possible right now.
On the data, as I mentioned earlier, this a specific problem that is being addressed right now. Digital improvements are in the pipeline, including finding those common standards that would be beneficial internationally—across the border between Wales and England, and further afield, for that matter.
It is a real concern, the loss of thousands of community beds that we have seen over the past few decades in Wales, and there is an impact to that. The loss of community beds does mean an added challenge in terms of moving patients out of district general hospitals into the community. I know, from visits to my district general hospital, the sheer number of people who are in that hospital who are medically fit for discharge, and yet they are unable to be discharged.
It's not a matter of being able to embark now on a major reversal of the loss of those community beds, but it is about recognising the importance of strengthening care within our communities. In particular, it's about the shift—which we have already started work on—of resources towards primary care. That means care within the communities, it means working across multidisciplinary teams, district nursing and so on, so that we are able to treat people within their communities. That work has already begun within the first 50 days of this Government's programme. It will be a long burn, because we are trying to undo decades of shift away from primary care and the costs that we have seen as a result of that. But we're determined to make it happen. And where you don't have a district general hospital in Powys, that becomes even more important, doesn't it?
Workforce planning must improve across NHS Wales, which is why we are committed to bringing forward a new national workforce strategy for the NHS. I'll engage with organisations, including Swansea Bay University Health Board, on our priorities. We will work with health boards, trusts and Health Education and Improvement Wales to strengthen planning, better align training with funded posts and support a sustainable workforce to meet future service needs.
Decisions on the workforce, of course, are down to the health boards themselves. All NHS organisations need to have a clear workforce plan that supports safe delivery of their service models, and to keep those plans under review, in the light of the needs of their population and their overall financial position.
I am very, very aware of the concern around the plans announced in that particular health board. The key thing here is that health boards and trusts have that responsibility to ensure that their workforce plans reflect their local population needs. I and my health Minister would urge them now, in light of those concerns, to ensure that any proposals that they bring forward will not have a detrimental impact on the health of the people of that part of Wales.
The Government always keeps its level of intervention under review. It's part of what we do in order to make sure that health boards deliver for the people of Wales. It is troubling, and it has been. I spent most of my time here as an opposition health spokesperson. It is troubling to see those financial deficits year after year, which is why that sustainability agenda is so, so important to us.
For example, in making money available through the supplementary budget, it is not about quick fixes. We cannot rely on quick fixes or expect just injections of cash to make a difference overall. You spend money in a way that can deliver healthcare in a different, more sustainable way. That is our intention with the funding that is going in now, and that is equally true for Swansea bay as it is for any health board in Wales. But it's up to those health boards to make sure that they balance the books and provide the healthcare that the people they serve deserve.
I have long made the case—and I welcome those comments from the Member—that cutting the dependency on agencies has to be at the heart of making our health services more sustainable. I do note that part of those plans by Swansea bay has been around getting rid of agency posts, which isn't, in itself, a negative. We need to build sustainability for the long term.
On graduate jobs now, of course, we have returned to this week after week, and a problem has arisen this year because of decisions made, as we know, by the last Government. What we have been able to do through, for example, the graduate summit that was convened by the health Minister is to try to give assurance that, in the long term, we will be needing these posts, and that we need these specially trained health professionals to provide a solid, sustainable health service for the future. We'll do everything we can to get over this difficult point in time, which I find deeply frustrating, and which is clearly distressing for the students involved.
The NHS is facing sustained pressure due to rising demand for investigations and treatment for cancer, alongside increasingly complex care needs and treatment options. We're bringing forward a national cancer plan and a long-term NHS Wales workforce strategy that will help to address these pressures on NHS services.
Given the pressures on cancer services, it is very worrying to read the concerns raised by the Royal College of Radiologists. I, and we as a Government, certainly recognise those concerns and agree that workforce capacity in radiology and oncology is a significant challenge at the moment. As part of that NHS workforce work that we will be doing and the cancer plan, we will be setting out further action to help address the pressures. We're also working closely with Health and Education Improvement Wales, NHS organisations and health boards to strengthen workforce supply in areas critical to cancer services, including oncology, radiology, diagnostics and specialist nursing. But, to me, it's in the coming together of those two elements—a new workforce strategy and a new cancer plan—that we have the real ability here to get to grips with those shortages that are, undoubtedly, real.
The Welsh Government is working with HEIW, NHS Wales organisations and universities to monitor employment outcomes for newly qualified nurses and midwifery graduates following the 2026 NHS Wales streamlining process. The Cabinet Minister for Health and Care convened a graduate summit on 18 June, bringing together NHS Wales partners, HEIW and universities to identify immediate support for graduates and longer term workforce planning improvements.
'I can't give a date' is the answer. It's well worth pointing out the depth of the problem that has been created. In midwifery, it's as serious as in any other. Of the 135 graduates, 70 of them remain without roles. Now, that's something that worries me deeply. We need midwives. I'm grateful—I say 'thank you' today to all those women and men who made the decision to become midwives. They feel let down because of the situation they've found themselves in.
It's in that spirit that the Cabinet Minister for health decided to immediately call that graduate summit to mitigate the impact. I've asked HEIW to co-ordinate a consistent national support offer for graduates across Wales. This will include a single point of access to ensure that graduates remain supported, practice ready, which is key, and connected to emerging employment opportunities. What that means, for example—. I'll give you another example: paramedics. Very few, if any, will be able to go straight from paramedic training to be a paramedic. So, what has been done is to find other roles, many within the ambulance service, so that, when the time comes, as soon as we can engineer that, they will be able to become paramedics. The same would be true of midwives.
There is no quick fix. It's a problem, sadly, that we have inherited, but that we are very, very serious about doing all that we can to resolve. But hang on in there, we need you as a midwife, we need you as nurses and paramedics. We'll do what we can as a Government to bring you into the health service, because we don't have a health service without you.
Mi ydyn ni am adeiladu ar y safonau uchel sydd gennym ni’n barod yng Nghymru. Yn ein maniffesto, mi wnaethon ni ymrwymo i ddatblygu cynllun iechyd a lles anifeiliaid sy’n seiliedig ar wyddoniaeth. Mi fyddwn ni’n gweithio efo rhanddeiliaid, partneriaid gweithredol, y diwydiant a’r trydydd sector wrth ddatblygu ein dull newydd ar gyfer Cymru.
We want to build on the high standards we already have here in Wales. In our manifesto, we said we would develop a science‑led animal health and welfare plan. We will work with stakeholders, operational partners, industry and the third sector to develop our new approach for Wales.
Tethering, clearly, is not unlawful, as the Member said, but it is a practice that does raise significant welfare concerns. There are no plans to review legislation at this point in time, but the Animal Welfare Act 2006 does require horse owners to meet welfare needs, including shelter, diet, healthcare and behavioural needs. It's very, very clear to me and to this Government that tethering is unsuitable for long-term use. The equine code of practice, though, sets conditions, including access to food, water, shelter and supervision around this. Alternatives are very much encouraged and it is then around the enforcement of animal welfare laws in general as to whether those animals are being treated well or not with this practice, which is clearly worrying.
We are committed to improving connectivity for people across Wales by delivering a modern and integrated transport network. Working with Transport for Wales, we'll deliver better rail services in Blaenau Gwent Caerffili Rhymni, with more new trains, faster, more reliable services and investment in stations, including Caerphilly interchange.
The Member is right, and we are committed to improving connectivity, especially for those areas in Wales that are isolated from good-quality public transport links. One of the many reasons we're seeking the devolution of rail is to allow us to be in control of decisions like the reopening of closed lines. Where we do have the control, on the core Valleys lines, for example, the decision was able to be made on reopening, such as the line to Nelson, and between Aberdare and Hirwaun. But any reopening requires significant funding, clearly. That is why we need a fair funding settlement for rail from the UK Government—just imagine what we could do with that £5 billion of money owed to us because of HS2.
Other than to say that the in-year pressures left by the previous Labour Government are ones that we are having to deal with, and we will.
Diolch yn fawr iawn, Lywydd. Dwi'n falch iawn o gyflwyno’r cynnig yma i'r Senedd, ac mae'r Llywodraeth wedi cyflwyno'r ddadl yma heddiw yn yr ysbryd o adeiladu consensws yn y Siambr yma. Mae cyllid teg yn fwy na gwleidyddiaeth neu rethreg bleidiol. Mae o'n ymwneud â Chymru, sydd â'r offer yn ei dwylo i adeiladu dyfodol gwell i ni ein hunain. Mae trefniadau ariannol presennol y Deyrnas Unedig nid yn unig yn annheg i Gymru, maen nhw'n gwneud methiant economaidd yn fwy tebygol. A drwy ddiwygio'r system bresennol, mi fyddwn ni'n sicrhau bod gan Lywodraeth Cymru yr adnoddau a'r pwerau, y levers hynny, sydd eu hangen i fuddsoddi mewn gwasanaethau cyhoeddus, mewn seilwaith a thwf economaidd.
Thank you very much, Llywydd. I'm very pleased to move this motion at the Senedd, and the Government has introduced this debate today in the spirit of building consensus in the Chamber. Fair funding is more than just politics or party political rhetoric. It relates to Wales, which has the tools in its hands to build a better future for ourselves. The current fiscal arrangements in the United Kingdom aren't just unfair to Wales, they make economic failure more likely, and through reforming the current system we will ensure that the Welsh Government has the resources and the powers, those levers that we need, to invest in public services, in infrastructure and in economic growth.
I want to work constructively with the UK Government within a respect agenda. Should Andy Burnham, as it looks likely, become the next Prime Minister, then I'd expect his experience of working in a devolved context in Manchester to help him understand the issues we are facing. I welcome his recognition that the current funding system is overly centralised and producing uneven outcomes across the UK. I want to work alongside him to deliver for people here in Wales. And, if I could say, the clearer we speak as a Senedd, united on that particular issue, the more likely it is that our voice as a nation is heard in Downing Street.
Mae ein maniffesto diweddar, ‘Dros Gymru’, yn amlinellu amrediad o ymrwymiadau ar ddiwygio cyllidol. Wrth galon y rhain mae'r amcan o wella’r trefniadau cyllidol mae Llywodraeth Cymru'n gweithredu oddi mewn iddyn nhw, a diwygio fformiwla Barnett hefyd, i sicrhau cyllido tecach i Gymru. Mi fyddwn i'n croesawu yn fawr cefnogaeth y Siambr wrth geisio gwireddu'r gwelliannau pwysig iawn yma. Ac mae'r cynnig heddiw, yn syml, yn gosod y gwahoddiad hwnnw am gefnogaeth y Senedd iddo fo.
Er i ni weld ychydig o addasiadau cadarnhaol y llynedd, prin mae'r fframwaith cyllidol wedi newid ers ei gyflwyno ddegawd yn ôl. Dydy'r fframwaith ddim yn cynnig lefel yr hyblygrwydd sydd ei hangen ar Lywodraeth Cymru i reoli ystod ein cyfrifoldebau cyllidebol yn effeithiol, na chwaith yn adlewyrchu uchelgais pobl Cymru. Gadewch imi egluro pam.
Our recent manifesto, ‘For Wales’, outlines a range of commitments on fiscal reform. At the heart of these is the objective of improving the fiscal arrangements that the Welsh Government operates within, and reforming the Barnett formula as well, to ensure fairer funding for Wales. I would welcome very much the support of the Chamber in trying to achieve and deliver these very important improvements. And today's motion is simple in setting out that invitation for Senedd support.
Even though we saw a few positive amendments last year, the fiscal framework has changed little since it was introduced a decade ago. It doesn't provide the level of flexibility that the Welsh Government needs to manage our range of fiscal responsibilities effectively, nor does it reflect the ambition of the people of Wales. Let me explain why.
The Wales reserve—our savings account, if you like, as a nation—has a limit of how much we can put in it, set at 1.4 per cent of our budget. This prevents us saving for future investments to support economic growth and boost productivity. The Treasury will simply claw back any money where there is not enough space in our reserve to store it. And whilst we have no limits on how much we can access from the reserve for this year, this is temporary, unlike Scotland, which has permanent unlimited access. So, next year, we will only be able to draw down less than £200 million, well under 1 per cent of our budget. These constraints and rules are holding Wales back. It might surprise some Members—and I mentioned this earlier today—to know that, as a national Government, we have less generous borrowing powers than local councils, who can undertake prudential borrowing to support infrastructure investments. If we were not impeded by these kinds of restrictions, we could have gone further last month in our supplementary budget, for example, to invest in key priorities on childcare, free school meals for secondary school pupils, even ALN. But we are constrained. And alongside fair funding and flexibility, we want greater tax powers that strengthen accountability and allow us, crucially, to mould our own future.
We also need to get to grips with the fundamentally outdated and unfair Barnett formula, which makes us dependent on decisions taken in Westminster, because it ties Wales to spending choices for England. And let me spell it out: we have to wait for the Treasury to decide to spend on a particular area in England before we can get a consequential. So, we can't instigate additional expenditure ourselves to match our needs as a nation. That's the fundamental problem of the funding settlement. And, indeed, when Andy Burnham was mayor of Greater Manchester, he co-authored a book that made the case for a new funding formula covering the whole of the United Kingdom. He argued it was time to replace the Barnett formula with a modern formula that worked for the nations and regions. Funding, he said, and I quote,
'would be allocated based on social factors and levels of need.'
And that's all we ask for. Those comments were welcomed. Less so the apparent backtracking by the would-be Prime Minister last week when his team were briefing BBC Wales that he has already ruled out reform of Barnett. But I will, as I've said, give Andy Burnham the benefit of the doubt. They may not have been written by his own pen, let's say. But, in doing so, I kindly make this point: principles should not change by someone's proximity to power. But neither should they change when a party goes from a position of being in Government to a party in opposition. Labour's 2026 Senedd manifesto says explicitly that the next chapter of devolution must be underpinned by fair funding. If the Labour benches are to remain true to that commitment, they will vote for the Government motion. This is a motion that Labour themselves could not only have voted for over the years, they could well have tabled it themselves. But now they focus not on getting a better deal from the Treasury, but on blaming Scotland, choosing rather bizarrely, if I might say, to side with Westminster politics against the interests of the people of Wales.
We need Treasury reform rooted in a clear assessment of need that reflects Welsh demographic and economic realities, not just population. Wales requires a higher level of funding per person than equivalent programmes in England just to provide the same level of service, but, plainly, there's a range of issues that play into that. We have an ageing population, higher rates of long-term illness and a more dispersed population, which means higher costs for delivering public services. We have significantly more roads to maintain than they do in England—I think it's twice as much as England in terms of the population. The rurality and the sparsity of population costs money. It needs to be reflected.
Now, all Governments across the UK share an interest in funding arrangements that are fair, consistent and trusted. No one country should be disadvantaged by the current system, and all Governments should have the same opportunity to deliver for its people. And so, it's right to explore alternatives to the existing Barnett system. We also want to continue work with the other devolved Governments and the Treasury to pursue improvements to transparency, to fairness and greater scrutiny of the existing system. There should be independent oversight of the operation of the Barnett formula. It can't be right that the Treasury makes the rules, decides if they've been broken and determines any remedial action. The Treasury's instinct will always be to resist any transfer of fiscal powers, and I'm not underestimating the challenge of negotiating for these improvements, but we must move away from viewing this and accepting this as a zero-sum game.
There's an opportunity to make improvements in the way our framework operates, adding crucial transparency to fiscal matters and removing constraints that prevent us from taking action that will benefit Welsh public services. Wales must receive its fair share of public investment, and that also includes UK Government funding for reserved functions in Wales. Analysis by the Wales Governance Centre shows relative spending per person in non-devolved areas in Wales is at 91 per cent of England's level. Wales has been denied billions of pounds that could have transformed infrastructure and economic productivity. We heard that message clearly earlier this afternoon when the Deputy Minister for Transport made his statement on rail investment. On HS2, because rail isn't devolved, when spending on HS2 in England goes up, the clearer the injustice for Wales becomes. It has to be addressed. Meanwhile, the profits from our natural resources within the Crown Estate in Wales go to Westminster. Only last month, we heard those profits have increased from £8.7 million in 2021 to £210 million in 2025-26. Fair funding and further devolution, as we see, are inseparable, and that's why we're seeking devolution over rail and the Crown Estate.
Lywydd, mae'n rhaid i ni fynd at wraidd gwendidau y trefniadau presennol. Mi fydd ein comisiwn cenedlaethol ni, y comisiwn newydd, yn ymgysylltu efo'r cyhoedd mewn sgwrs genedlaethol am ddyfodol cyfansoddiadol Cymru ac yn cryfhau'r dystiolaeth ar gyfer diwygio pellach. Mae hynny'n golygu, ac yn gorfod golygu, diwygio cyllid. Mi fydd yn edrych ymhellach ar y pwerau, yr adnoddau a'r offer sydd eu hangen arnom ni fel Llywodraeth i lywodraethu yn fwy effeithiol yma yng Nghymru, i greu twf economaidd a diogelu dyfodol ein gwasanaethau cyhoeddus.
Llywydd, we have to get to the heart of the weaknesses of the current arrangements. Our national commission, the new commission, will engage with the public in a national conversation about the constitutional future of Wales and will strengthen the evidence base for further reform. That means, and has to mean, fiscal reform too. It will look further at the powers, resources and the tools that we need as a Government to govern more effectively in Wales, to create economic growth and to safeguard the future of our public services.
So, in conclusion, the more, as I say, Wales speaks with one voice in favour of what's best for our nation, the harder it will be for Westminster to ignore us—[Interruption.] Just in time.
If we look at the simplicity of this motion in front of us today, to make sure that we need to make sure that we as a Parliament, that we as a nation—. Frankly, it strikes me as worrying that that is something that the Member believes there needs to be work to find consensus on. This is the fundamental of what we are here as a Senedd to do. This is the fundamental of us being able to speak with one voice as a nation. So, the more Wales speaks, as I say, with that one voice in favour of what's best for our nation, the harder it will be for Westminster to ignore us. As much as the Member perhaps wants Westminster to ignore us, this Senedd has voted unanimously in favour of fairer funding for Wales before. It's my sincere hope that we can do so once more today, in the interest of the well-being and prosperity of our people. And this is bringing to the Senedd that pursuit of consensus right here in our national Parliament today.
Is the Member aware that the Treasury insists on discussions on Barnett being bilateral between the Treasury and individual nations, that there is no mechanism for the discussion—
Will you take an intervention? I would refer to the statement made by the IFS in March this year saying that available needs assessments are nearly 20 years old and need updating, which is exactly what we're calling for.
Diolch yn fawr iawn, Lywydd. There's a straightforward question at the heart of this debate. Should we always seek to stand up for Wales and stand up for fairness—and I'm grateful to the Green Party Members for standing with Plaid Cymru on that side of the debate—or do you believe Westminster is being generous to Wales and we should be grateful for what we get? That is clearly Reform's position. To seek fairness for Wales is to hand out a begging bowl. That is their level of respect for Wales. They are happy for Wales to languish. Pitching people against each other is what they do, creating divisions within our communities that deepen the challenges that face us as a nation, and blaming some of the most vulnerable people, rather than being willing to stand up against the deep inequalities within the UK.
Now, their lack of understanding of how a review of funding and fiscal frameworks works is proof of the fact that—. This is not a party that is focused on Wales. But their position is not one that surprises me. Labour's is a position that disappoints me greatly. It represents a remarkable, if I might say, shift in tone. And the great—[Interruption.] I'm afraid I have very little time. The great Labour leader Rhodri Morgan—[Interruption.] The great Labour leader Rhodri Morgan would shudder. In a debate on funding Wales, they take the side of UK Government, reading from the Conservatives' playbook of recent years on the benevolence of Westminster towards Wales. And I have to ask: what has happened to Welsh Labour? What has happened to the so-called party of devolution? I ask you to focus on what it is that we are here to achieve.
This is a simple motion asking for the Senedd's support. This is a simple motion asking for the Senedd's backing to improve the fiscal arrangements within which the Welsh Government acts, including increased borrowing powers and reforming the Barnett formula to deliver fairer funding for Wales. And then we are told that Welsh Government should be lobbying Scottish Government, to get, presumably, UK Government off the hook. It is not the position of Welsh Government versus Scottish Government that is important here. And I'll say it again: since 2015, the Treasury has insisted on negotiating bilaterally and has agreed separate reforms to the fiscal frameworks of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. That means there are now key differences in each country in the way the Barnett formula is applied, in the degree of control over taxation and the methodologies for calculating corresponding block grant adjustments, and the restrictions and limits on the use of reserves and for borrowing. And I'll say this: it is not Scottish Government that will block the devolution of rail or will block the devolution of the Crown Estate, which is essential to bringing about fair funding for Wales. It is not Scottish Government that is blocking Wales from being able to get the consequentials of HS2 that can transform our infrastructure and lead to the improvement in Welsh productivity that we should all strive for.
Llywydd, we need a modern funding system that is fair, that is transparent and reflects our needs. We need fair treatment on major investments. We need greater flexibilities, including capital borrowing and further tax devolution. We need the tools to build our future. We need a Government that is willing to always stand up for Wales—and we have that in this Plaid Cymru Government—and that wants to work with other parties on issues of fair funding. And we need the Senedd with a clear and consistent voice in standing up for and seeking what is right for Wales. So, that is why I ask again: support this motion—let's speak with that unified voice.
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