Concise Minutes - Finance Committee

Meeting Venue: Hybrid - Committee

room 5 Ty Hywel and video conference

via Zoom

Meeting date: Thursday, 3 October 2024

Meeting time: 09.30 - 12.08
This meeting can be viewed
on Senedd TV at:
http://senedd.tv/en/14896

Hybrid

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Attendance

Category	Names
Members of the Senedd:	Peredur Owen Griffiths MS (Chair) Peter Fox MS Mike Hedges MS Rhianon Passmore MS
Witnesses:	Hefin David MS, Commissioner for Budget and Governance, Senedd Commission Manon Antoniazzi, Chief Executive and Clerk of the Senedd, Senedd Commission Ed Williams, Director of Senedd Resources, Senedd Commission Simon Hart, Interim Chief Finance Officer, Senedd Commission Adrian Crompton, Auditor General for Wales, Audit Wales Dr Ian Rees, Chair of the Wales Audit Office, Audit Wales Kevin Thomas, Executive Director of Corporate Services, Audit Wales Anne-Louise Clark, Executive Director for Communications and Change, Audit Wales
Committee Staff:	Owain Roberts (Clerk) Georgina Owen (Second Clerk) Mike Lewis (Deputy Clerk) Owen Holzinger (Researcher) Martin Jennings (Researcher) Ben Harris (Legal Adviser)

<AI1>

Registration

</AI1>

<AI2>

Private pre-meeting

</AI2>

<AI3>

1 Introductions, apologies, substitutions and declarations of interest

1. 1 The Chair welcomed Members to the meeting of the Finance Committee.

1.2 Mike Hedges MS declared that he is Chair of the Public & Commercial Service Union cross-party group in the Senedd.

</AI3>

<AI4>

2 Paper(s) to note

2.1 The Committee noted the papers.

</AI4>

<AI5>

2.1 PTN 1 - Letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Welsh Language: Finance: Interministerial Standing Committee Meeting (F:ISC) - 26 September 2024

</AI5>

<AI6>

3 Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session

3.1 The Committee took evidence on the Senedd Commission’s Draft Budget 2025-26 from Hefin David MS, Commissioner for Budget and Governance, Senedd Commission; Manon Antoniazzi, Chief Executive and Clerk of the Senedd, Senedd Commission; Ed Williams, Director of Senedd Resources, Senedd Commission; and Simon Hart, Interim Chief Finance Officer, Senedd Commission.

</AI6>

<AI7>

Break

</AI7>

<AI8>

4 Audit Wales – Scrutiny of the Annual Report and Accounts 2023-24 and the Annual Plan 2024-25: Evidence session

4.1 The Committee took evidence on Audit Wales’s Annual Report and Accounts 2023-24 and the Annual Plan 2024-25 from Adrian Crompton, Auditor General for Wales, Audit Wales; Dr Ian Rees, Chair of the Wales Audit Office, Audit Wales; Kevin Thomas, Executive Director of Corporate Services, Audit Wales; and Anne-Louise Clark, Executive Director for Communications and Change, Audit Wales.

</AI8>

<AI9>

5 Motion under Standing Order 17.42 (ix) to resolve to exclude the public from the remainder of this meeting.

5.1 The motion was agreed.

</AI9>

<AI10>

6 Audit Wales – Scrutiny of the Annual Report and Accounts 2023-24 and the Annual Plan 2024-25: Consideration of evidence

6.1 The Committee considered the evidence received.

</AI10>

<AI11>

7 Scrutiny of the Senedd Commission Draft Budget 2025-26: Consideration of evidence

7.1 The Committee considered the evidence received.

</AI11>

<AI12>

8 Reviewing the Public Audit (Wales) Act 2013

8.1 The Committee noted the response from the Auditor General for Wales (AGW).

8.2 The Committee agreed to write to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Welsh language, seeking the Welsh Government’s views on the AGW’s priorities for changes to the 2013 Act and other audit legislation.

</AI12>

<AI13>

9 Changes to the Budget Process Protocol

9.1 The Committee noted the letter from the then Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office on the proposed changes to the Budget Process Protocol and related budget procedures.

9.2 The Committee agreed to write to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Welsh Language on the changes to the Budget Process Protocol and related budget procedures.

</AI13>

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