Peter Black and South Wales West Liberal Democrats

Peter Black: I welcome the fact that this budget is being presented by way of an oral statement. It gives gravitas to the statement and highlights the importance of this budget to the Assembly, whereas in previous years that was not the case, as it was given to the press outside the Chamber. It is important that we get the first chance to comment on the budget. We have five weeks to scrutinise this budget in some detail, therefore I will not go through it in detail, even if I had had enough time to work my way through the tables that I was given half an hour or so ago.

My first impression of this budget is that it is not very different to last year's budget, except for a few minor changes that were in the Labour manifesto. The question therefore is: as last year's budget did not deliver jobs or growth, why will this budget be any different? There is no extra money for the funding gap, beyond what was promised last year, and the £27 million that you referred to was for the third year of this budget. Therefore, although some progress is being made on that issue, no additional money is going into that, beyond what has already been pledged by the First Minister.

On the PCSO's, the First Minister said in the television debates during the National Assembly elections campaign that the money for this was already in the budget. We know now, from what we have in front of us, that that was not the case. In fact, on page 32 of the booklet that I have here, it says that an additional £5 million has been allocated in 2013-14 and 2014-15. Clearly, there is no money in next year's budget for those extra PCSOs that you have promised. So, why is this funding not being provided straight away and why is the money not already in the budget, which was the First Minister's undertaking to voters during the Assembly elections? We could do with some answers on that issue.

On protection for education, which I have referred to already, can the Minister say whether, in addition to that, the previous pledge to protect social services is also in this budget? That was very important for children's services in particular and to address the growth in the number of vulnerable adults. I would be grateful if the Minister could confirm whether that is being pursued in this budget, as it was in the previous year.

Minister, in your statement, you refer to the Adapt programme, which, as you pointed out, targets people who have lost jobs in the public sector. Why has that been limited entirely to the public sector? I understand that people in the public sector will be losing their jobs, but, of course, people in the private sector will also be losing jobs. In fact, in Wales, there is a clear trend that the private sector is effectively shrinking in comparison to the public sector, and that has not been turned around. We will also be looking at using your Adapt programme across all sectors to try to support people and help them to retrain if they lose their jobs.

I notice that you have £75 million in the budget for the Jobs Growth Wales scheme. I would be interested in some more detail on how this will work. Can you explain why this is targeted only at those not in education, employment or training rather than across the board? Will it be sector-oriented in relation to the economic development plan? As it is funded by Europe, is it available outside the Objective 1 areas, or is it limited to those areas identified as being in need of European aid?

On capital funding, again, you made a very strong point. Of course, other Ministers have made the point that they would like to see those who can borrow money doing so to try to bolster the capital spend that is available in Wales. As you are in negotiations with the UK Treasury on that issue-something that I think has the support of all parties in the Chamber-can you say whether you have considered supported borrowing for local councils to enable them to make up some of the gap, particularly in relation to the twenty-first century schools policy, which has now moved to a 50:50 basis and for which local councils now have to find more money? If you could provide supported borrowing in relation to that, we might be able to get that programme back on track. As things stand, I think that many school building projects are going to fall behind.

My penultimate point relates to the national infrastructure plan. Can you confirm whether that includes all departments of the Welsh Government, or is it limited just to highways and transportation? For example, will you be including the education capital spend in that? How will that be directed and who will be in charge of directing that infrastructure programme? I think that we all understand that infrastructure is more than just transport infrastructure-it also relates to community infrastructure, schools and communications infrastructure. It would be useful if you could confirm the points on that issue.

Finally, I would be grateful, Minister, if you could give an indication of what you will be doing with the £40 million Barnett consequential from the announcement by Eric Pickles on the council tax freeze. The Welsh Liberal Democrats will not be pushing this on you. Given that there are elections next year, we are not expecting very high council tax rises. However, we would like to see some or all of that money being put towards the priorities that we, as Welsh Liberal Democrats, have and which you say you have in terms of training and education, getting people back to work and equipping them with the education and skills to enable them to take advantage of job opportunities as they arise.