English: Diolch, Llywydd. I appreciate the huge difficulties that the Welsh Government is under trying to engineer a budget that doesn't enable the population to fall into even more poverty and inequality at this difficult time, with the cost-of-living crisis that has really taken off in the last couple of months. The Minister for Social Justice pointed out, in evidence to our committee, that low-income households will face a £290 cut in terms of their fall in their benefit income, just simply because the Treasury has decided to link next year's rise in benefits to the inflation rate in September, rather than in December, and that's just a really clear-cut example of some of the problems that I'm sure the Welsh Government is facing. We had some very useful training on equality-sensitive budget scrutiny, but due to time constraints, this year we decided not to adopt innovative methods such as gender budgeting or poverty-proofing policy proposals in this budget round, but we hope we may be able to come back to that in future years. We like the fact that there is considerable evidence that the Welsh Government is using the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 as a starting point to frame the shape of its budget, but we also were concerned at the lack of detail provided in the strategic integrated impact assessments that need to be addressed. And I don't think that the Welsh Government has picked up on the fact that Chwarae Teg in particular, in their evidence, said that it really isn't fit for purpose, the strategic impact assessment, because it reads as an acknowledgement of issues faced by specific groups, but it's decoupled from any substantive commitments or actions. This is something that is not new, as the finance, equality, and local government committees, along with the children and young people's committee in the fifth Senedd, did a joint assessment of all this, and really did conclude that the strategic impact assessment did not provide an affective analysis of spending decisions. So, I think there's considerable work to be done on that. We applaud very much the setting up of the Welsh Government's new equality evidence and data unit. This was also echoed by the well-being of future generations commissioner, because we seriously do need to know exactly how far we are away from the challenges ahead, otherwise we have no idea where we need to put the resources and effort. For example, we don't know how many ethnic minority staff we employ in the childcare sector and in which communities and, without that, we can't really asses how far away we are from having a childcare workforce that reflects its population. We know that the gender pay gap has widened. We just had a publication yesterday from Chwarae Teg that delivered this evidence. If we really want a more equal Wales, we really do need to know where the under-represented groups are, and in which employment sectors, and what we need to do about it. It is noticeable that, nearly 100 years after universal suffrage for women, it's unacceptable that only 26 per cent of local government councillors are women, and I hope that political parties will pay attention to that matter. The cost of living is clearly a major consideration, but we really are very pleased at the way in which the Government has addressed the single advice fund and the discretionary assistance fund. I think they've been very useful tools. We heard evidence of the way in which they have driven a rise in benefit uptake by those who are entitled to it, which obviously has brought more money into the Welsh economy. And so that's a real Welsh Government success, and therefore we're very pleased with the increase of £1.7 million in the single advice fund, which is money well spent. Since our report on the draft budget was published, we've had the opportunity to do our annual scrutiny of the future generations commissioner. So, I just want to briefly speak about some important issues, and pick up on some other issues by Russell George, Mike Hedges and Alun Davies. First, preventative spend is crucial. I appreciate that performance frameworks in the middle of a pandemic are very difficult to conduct, but we have to think about the costs involved in not having addressed a greater focus in the performance frameworks on preventative spend on healthcare. Otherwise, the increase in health budgets could just not reap the rewards that we need. We know we need to recover from COVID, but if we'd acted earlier on prevention we might have had a lower mortality rate. So, this is a particular important issue.
Welsh: Diolch, Llywydd. Rwy'n gwerthfawrogi'r anawsterau enfawr y mae Llywodraeth Cymru yn eu hwynebu wrth geisio creu cyllideb nad yw'n gadael i'r boblogaeth syrthio i fwy byth o dlodi ac anghydraddoldeb ar yr adeg anodd hon, gyda'r argyfwng costau byw sydd wedi dechrau cynyddu, a dweud y gwir, yn ystod y misoedd diwethaf. Nododd y Gweinidog Cyfiawnder Cymdeithasol, mewn tystiolaeth i'n pwyllgor, y bydd aelwydydd incwm isel yn wynebu toriad o £290 o ran y gostyngiad yn eu hincwm budd-daliadau, dim ond oherwydd bod y Trysorlys wedi penderfynu cysylltu'r cynnydd mewn budd-daliadau y flwyddyn nesaf â'r gyfradd chwyddiant ym mis Medi, yn hytrach nag ym mis Rhagfyr, ac mae hynny'n enghraifft glir iawn o rai o'r problemau yr wyf i'n siŵr bod Llywodraeth Cymru yn eu hwynebu. Cawsom ni hyfforddiant defnyddiol iawn ar graffu ar gyllideb sy'n sensitif i gydraddoldeb, ond oherwydd cyfyngiadau amser, eleni gwnaethom ni benderfynu peidio â mabwysiadu dulliau arloesol megis cyllidebu ar sail rhywedd neu gynigion polisi prawfesur tlodi yn y cylch cyllideb hwn, ond gobeithiwn y gallwn ni ddod yn ôl at hynny yn y dyfodol. Rydym ni'n hoffi'r ffaith bod tystiolaeth sylweddol bod Llywodraeth Cymru yn defnyddio Deddf Llesiant Cenedlaethau'r Dyfodol (Cymru) 2015 fel man cychwyn i lunio ffurf ei chyllideb, ond roeddem ni hefyd yn pryderu ynghylch y diffyg manylion a gafodd eu darparu yn yr asesiadau effaith integredig strategol y mae angen ymdrin â nhw. Ac nid wyf i'n credu bod Llywodraeth Cymru wedi sôn am y ffaith bod Chwarae Teg yn benodol, yn eu tystiolaeth nhw, wedi dweud nad yw'n addas i'r diben mewn gwirionedd, yr asesiad effaith strategol, oherwydd o'i ddarllen mae fel pe bai'n gydnabyddiaeth o faterion sy'n cael eu hwynebu gan grwpiau penodol, ond mae wedi'i ddatgysylltu o unrhyw ymrwymiadau neu gamau gweithredu sylweddol. Mae hyn yn rhywbeth nad yw'n newydd, gan fod y pwyllgorau cyllid, cydraddoldeb a llywodraeth leol, ynghyd â'r pwyllgor plant a phobl ifanc yn y pumed Senedd, wedi gwneud asesiad ar y cyd o hyn i gyd, gan ddod i'r casgliad nad oedd yr asesiad effaith strategol yn darparu dadansoddiad effeithiol o benderfyniadau gwario. Felly, rwy'n credu bod cryn dipyn o waith i'w wneud ar hynny. Rydym ni'n cymeradwyo'n fawr sefydlu uned dystiolaeth a data cydraddoldeb newydd Llywodraeth Cymru. Mae hyn wedi'i ategu hefyd gan gomisiynydd llesiant cenedlaethau'r dyfodol, oherwydd mae angen i ni wybod o ddifrif pa mor bell yr ydym ni i ffwrdd o'r heriau sydd o'n blaenau, neu fel arall nid oes gennym ni syniad lle mae angen i ni roi'r adnoddau a'r ymdrech. Er enghraifft, nid ydym ni'n gwybod faint o staff o leiafrifoedd ethnig yr ydym ni'n eu cyflogi yn y sector gofal plant ac ym mha gymunedau a, heb hynny, ni allwn ni asesu pa mor bell i ffwrdd yr ydym ni o gael gweithlu gofal plant sy'n adlewyrchu ei boblogaeth. Rydym ni'n ymwybodol bod y bwlch cyflog rhwng y rhywiau wedi ehangu. Cawsom ni gyhoeddiad ddoe gan Chwarae Teg a wnaeth gyflwyno'r dystiolaeth hon. Os ydym ni wir eisiau cael Cymru fwy cyfartal, mae gwir angen i ni wybod ble mae'r grwpiau heb gynrychiolaeth ddigonol, ac ym mha sectorau cyflogaeth, a'r hyn y mae angen i ni ei wneud yn ei gylch. Mae'n amlwg, bron i 100 mlynedd ers y bleidlais gyffredinol i fenywod, ei bod yn annerbyniol mai dim ond 26 y cant o gynghorwyr llywodraeth leol sy'n fenywod, ac rwy'n gobeithio y bydd pleidiau gwleidyddol yn rhoi sylw i'r mater hwnnw. Mae'n amlwg bod costau byw yn ystyriaeth bwysig, ond rydym ni'n falch iawn o'r ffordd y mae'r Llywodraeth wedi mynd i'r afael â'r gronfa gynghori sengl a'r gronfa cymorth dewisol. Rwy'n credu eu bod wedi bod yn adnoddau defnyddiol iawn. Gwnaethom ni glywed tystiolaeth o'r ffordd y maen nhw wedi arwain at gynnydd yn nifer y bobl sydd â hawl i gael budd-daliadau, sydd yn amlwg wedi dod â mwy o arian i economi Cymru. Ac felly mae hynny'n llwyddiant gwirioneddol gan Lywodraeth Cymru, ac felly rydym ni'n falch iawn o'r cynnydd o £1.7 miliwn yn y gronfa gynghori sengl, sy'n ddefnydd da o'r arian. Ers cyhoeddi ein hadroddiad ar y gyllideb ddrafft, rydym ni wedi cael cyfle i wneud ein gwaith craffu blynyddol ar gomisiynydd cenedlaethau'r dyfodol. Felly, rwyf i eisiau siarad yn fyr am rai materion pwysig, a sôn am rai materion eraill gan Russell George, Mike Hedges ac Alun Davies. Yn gyntaf, mae gwariant ataliol yn hanfodol. Rwy'n sylweddoli bod fframweithiau perfformiad yng nghanol pandemig yn anodd iawn eu cynnal, ond rhaid i ni feddwl am y costau sy'n gysylltiedig â pheidio ag ymdrin â mwy o bwyslais yn y fframweithiau perfformiad ar wariant ataliol ar ofal iechyd. Fel arall, ni allai'r cynnydd mewn cyllidebau iechyd roi'r budd sydd ei angen arnom ni. Gwyddom ni fod angen i ni wella o COVID, ond pe byddem ni wedi gweithredu'n gynharach ar atal, efallai y byddem ni wedi cael cyfradd is o farwolaethau. Felly, mae hwn yn fater pwysig iawn.