Concise Minutes - Finance Committee

Meeting Venue: Hybrid - Committee

room 4 Tŷ Hywel and video conference

via Zoom

Meeting date: Thursday, 20 November 2025

Meeting time: 09.30 - 13.52
This meeting can be viewed
on Senedd TV at:
http://senedd.tv/en/15421

Hybrid

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Attendance

Category	Names
Members of the Senedd:	Peredur Owen Griffiths MS (Chair) Mike Hedges MS Rhianon Passmore MS Sam Rowlands MS
Witnesses:	Julie James MS, Counsel General and Minister for Delivery Will Whiteley, Deputy Director, Senedd Reform, Welsh Government Ryan Price, Head of Senedd Policy, Welsh Government Professor Arnab Bhattacharjee, Regional Modelling and Microsimulation, National Institute of Economic and Social Research Professor Melanie Jones, Academic Lead, Wales Productivity Forum Marc Strathie, Devolved senior policy advisor, Institute of Directors Sara Jones, Head of the Wales Retail Consortium Josh Miles, Head of Wales, Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) Wales
Committee Staff:	Owain Roberts (Clerk) Sian Giddins (Second Clerk) Georgina Owen (Second Clerk) Mike Lewis (Deputy Clerk) Joanne McCarthy (Researcher) Peter Davies (Researcher) Owen Holzinger (Researcher) Božo Lugonja (Researcher)

<AI1>

Registration

</AI1>

<AI2>

Private pre-meeting

</AI2>

<AI3>

1 Introduction, apologies, substitutions and declarations of interest

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

</AI3>

<AI4>

2 Paper(s) to note

2.1 The papers were noted.

</AI4>

<AI5>

2.1 PTN 1 - Letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning: Local Growth Fund - 7 November 2025

</AI5>

<AI6>

2.2 PTN 2 - Letter from the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs: Independent Intergovernmental Relations (IGR) Secretariat Annual reports for 2022-23 and 2023-24 - 11 November 2025

</AI6>

<AI7>

2.3 PTN 3 - Letter from the Welsh NHS Confederation - Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2026-27: Inflationary pressures - 11 November 2025

</AI7>

<AI8>

2.4 PTN 4 - Letter from the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) - Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2026-27: Inflationary pressures - 12 November 2025

</AI8>

<AI9>

2.5 PTN 5 - Senedd Commission response to the Finance Committee's report on the Senedd Commission Budget 2026-27 - 11 November 2025

</AI9>

<AI10>

3 Welsh Government Draft Budget 2026-27: Evidence session 6

3.1 The Committee took evidence on the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2026-27 from Professor Melanie Jones, Academic Lead, Wales Productivity Forum; and Professor Arnab Bhattacharjee, Regional Modelling and Microsimulation, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.

</AI10>

<AI11>

Break

</AI11>

<AI12>

4 Welsh Government Draft Budget 2026-27: Evidence session 7

4.1 The Committee took evidence on the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2026-27 from Marc Strathie, Devolved senior policy advisor, Institute of Directors; Josh Miles, Head of Wales, Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) Wales; and Sara Jones, Head of the Welsh Retail Consortium.

</AI12>

<AI13>

5 Motion under Standing Order 17.42 (ix) to resolve to exclude the public from items 6, 7, 8 and 10

5.1 The motion was agreed.

</AI13>

<AI14>

6 Welsh Government Draft Budget 2026-27: Consideration of evidence

6.1 The Committee considered the evidence received.

</AI14>

<AI15>

7 Public Services Ombudsman for Wales - Annual Report and Accounts 2024-25, and Estimate 2026-27: Consideration of draft report

7.1 The Committee considered its draft report and agreed it with no changes.

</AI15>

<AI16>

8 Annual scrutiny of the Wales Audit Office and the Auditor General for Wales: Consideration of draft report

8.1 The Committee considered its draft report and agreed it with no changes.

</AI16>

<AI17>

Break

</AI17>

<AI18>

9 Financial implications of the Senedd Cymru (Member Accountability and Elections) Bill: Evidence session

9.1 The Committee took evidence on the financial implications of the Senedd Cymru (Member Accountability and Elections) Bill from Julie James MS, Counsel General and Minister for Delivery; Ryan Price, Head of Senedd Policy, Welsh Government; and Will Whiteley, Deputy Director, Senedd Reform, Welsh Government.

</AI18>

<AI19>

10 Financial implications of the Senedd Cymru (Member Accountability and Elections) Bill: Consideration of evidence

10.1 The Committee considered the evidence received.

</AI19>

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