English: I warmly welcome the statement made by the committee Chair, and, as he said, I think it's important, as we consider the changes that are to happen over the next few years, that the work of the Finance Committee isn't restricted to that committee but is part of a national debate even outside the Welsh Parliament. Unfortunately, I didn't have the opportunity and the honour to visit our colleagues north of the border with the committee, but as a former Scottish citizen, I follow developments there very closely. It's clear, having spoken to fellow committee members who did go on that fact-finding mission, that the visit had been very worth while. My questions today will focus mainly on participatory budgeting. Now, perhaps it's an area that Scotland hasn't been in the vanguard on, on the international level. As part of the agreement between Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Government on the budget, the Government did commit to carrying out research on participatory budgeting and looking at other models and, also, as I understand it, to have a pilot scheme following on from that. Unfortunately, as a committee, we can't make decisions on behalf of Government - I'm sure that's not unfortunate for the Government, however - in terms of the process that they use in drawing up their budgets. We can only make recommendations for improvements. I am very grateful that the Cabinet Secretary is open to new ideas. In terms of our work as a committee, we can adopt the principle of participative budgeting in terms of our scrutiny process of Government budgets, and this is perhaps something that the committee Chair might be eager to look at. As part of our scrutiny process of the budget, we as a committee already invite organisations and stakeholders to provide evidence and there's also an opportunity for organisations, businesses and individual citizens to provide written evidence. But we could be more proactive in including citizens in the process more and more effectively. So, my question to the Chair is: how can we enhance the opportunities for individual citizens, and communities too, to participate in that process of drawing up budgets in a more proactive way? In terms of good practice from other committees in the Assembly, for example, the Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee held a survey into what they should inquire into, with 2,700 people participating and voting for their preferred option from a list of different options. This is important, because given the pressures that we face in terms of the Assembly's budgets because of the way Wales is funded at the moment, there are some major questions that we as a nation will have to face in terms of prioritisation of the block grant. Even with the partial devolution of some taxation, that block grant is central and there are restrictions in terms of the options. Perhaps the model of participatory budgeting gives us an opportunity to have a real debate with the people of Wales on what the reality is, because many of them perhaps don't consider that once the funding has been passed from Westminster to the Welsh Government. Also on this issue, the Scottish Government is funding Glasgow Caledonian University to lead on an evaluation process over a period of two years to look at the impact of participatory budgeting on communities and democracy, with a specific focus on the relationship between these budgets and equality. Now, would the Chair consider carrying out a similar study through the Finance Committee, perhaps looking at legislation in Wales related to equality and the well-being of future generations, perhaps? Just to echo what Nick Ramsay has said on the importance of data, as the nation matures as a democracy and as new powers are accrued and new fiscal powers are accrued, then it's crucial that we do have economic data in order to consider the link between fiscal policy and economic policy. So, I'd appreciate the Chair's view on how we can enhance the data available at the moment.
Welsh: Rwy'n croesawu'n fawr iawn y datganiad gan Gadeirydd y pwyllgor, ac, fel mae'n dweud, rwy'n meddwl ei bod hi'n bwysig iawn, wrth ystyried y newidiadau sydd i ddod yn y blynyddoedd nesaf, fod gwaith y Pwyllgor Cyllid ddim yn cael ei gyfyngu i'r pwyllgor yna, ond yn rhan o drafodaeth genedlaethol, hyd yn oed tu fas i Senedd Cymru. Yn anffodus, ni chefais i'r cyfle a'r anrhydedd i ymweld â'n ffrindiau ni i'r gogledd gyda'r pwyllgor, ond fel cyn-ddinesydd yr Alban, rwy'n dilyn yn agos iawn y datblygiadau yn y wlad honno. Ac mae'n amlwg iawn, wrth siarad â chyd-aelodau'r pwyllgor a oedd wedi mynychu'r daith, fod y daith wedi bod yn un gwerth chweil dros ben. Mae fy nghwestiynau i heddiw yn canolbwyntio yn bennaf ar gyllidebau cyfranogol - hynny yw, 'participatory budgeting' - ardal efallai nad yw'r Alban cweit wedi arwain y gad arno ar lefel ryngwladol. Ond fel rhan o'r cytundeb ar gyfer y gyllideb rhwng Plaid Cymru a Llywodraeth Cymru y flwyddyn yma, fe gytunodd y Llywodraeth gomisiynu ymchwil ar gyllidebau cyfranogol, drwy edrych ar fodelau gwahanol, ac hefyd, rwy'n deall, i gynnal cynllun peilot yn dilyn hynny. Yn anffodus, fel pwyllgor, nid ni sydd yn gallu gwneud penderfyniadau ar ran y Llywodraeth - rwy'n siŵr nad yw'n anffodus i'r Llywodraeth - ynglŷn â'r broses maen nhw'n ei ddefnyddio er mwyn creu'r gyllideb. Dim ond argymell ffyrdd gwell o weithredu allwn ni ei wneud. Ond rwy'n ddiolchgar iawn bod yr Ysgrifennydd Cabinet yn un sydd yn agored i syniadau newydd. Ond yn ein gwaith fel pwyllgor, gallwn fabwysiadu'r egwyddor o gyllidebau cyfranogol er mwyn helpu gyda'n proses ni o graffu ar gyllidebau y Llywodraeth, ac efallai y byddai hyn yn rywbeth y byddai Cadeirydd y pwyllgor yn awyddus i edrych arno. Fel rhan o'n proses graffu ni ar y gyllideb, rydym ni fel pwyllgor eisoes yn gwahodd mudiadau ac yn y blaen i roi tystiolaeth, ac mae cyfle hefyd i fudiadau, busnesau a dinasyddion unigol gyflwyno tystiolaeth ysgrifenedig. Ond mae'n bosib i ni fod yn fwy rhagweithiol er mwyn cynnwys dinasyddion yn y broses yn fwy, yn fy marn ni. Felly, fy nghwestiwn i'r Cadeirydd yw: sut allwn ni ehangu'r cyfle i ddinasyddion unigol a chymunedau hefyd gymryd rhan yn y broses o lunio'r gyllideb mewn ffyrdd mwy rhagweithiol? Fel arfer da, gallwn ni ddysgu oddi wrth bwyllgorau eraill yn y Cynulliad. Er enghraifft, cynhaliodd y Pwyllgor Diwylliant, y Gymraeg a Chyfathrebu arolwg barn i benderfynu beth ddylent ymchwilio iddo, gyda 2,700 o bobl yn cymryd rhan a phleidleisio ar gyfer eu dewis gorau nhw o nifer o bynciau gwahanol. Ac rwy'n meddwl bod hynny'n bwysig achos, wrth gwrs, gyda'r gwasgiad sydd gyda ni ar gyllideb y Cynulliad oherwydd y ffordd mae Cymru'n cael ei ariannu ar hyn o bryd, mae cwestiynau mawr yn mynd i ddod i ni fel cenedl ynglŷn â blaenoriaethu'r 'block grant'. Hyd yn oed gyda datganoli rhannol o rai trethi, mae'r 'block grant' yna yn ganolog ac yn gyfyng iawn ar yr opsiynau. Mae model o 'participatory budget' efallai yn rhoi cyfle i ni gael trafodaeth go iawn gyda phobl Cymru ar y realiti yna, achos efallai nad yw nifer ohonyn nhw ddim yn ystyried hynny ar ôl i'r arian gael ei roi i Lywodraeth Cymru o San Steffan. Ac hefyd ar y testun, mae Llywodraeth yr Alban yn cyllido Prifysgol Glasgow Caledonian i arwain ar raglen werthuso dros gyfnod o ddwy flynedd er mwyn asesu effaith cyllidebau cyfranogol ar gymunedau, gwasanaethau a democratiaeth, gyda ffocws benodol ar y berthynas rhwng cyllidebau cyfranogol a chydraddoldeb. A fuasai'r Cadeirydd yn ystyried cynnal arolwg tebyg drwy'r Pwyllgor Cyllid, efallai yn edrych ar ddeddfwriaeth yng Nghymru sy'n ymwneud â chydraddoldeb a llesiant cenedlaethau'r dyfodol? A jest i ategu yr hyn mae Nick Ramsay wedi'i ddweud ynglŷn â phwysigrwydd cael data, wrth i'r genedl yma aeddfedu fel democratiaeth, ac wrth i bwerau newydd ddod, a phwerau ariannol newydd ddod, maen hanfodol bod gennym ni ddata economaidd er mwyn ystyried go iawn y linc rhwng polisi 'fiscal' a pholisi economaidd. Felly, byddwn yn gwerthfawrogi barn y Cadeirydd ar sut allwn ni ehangu ar y data sydd ar gael ar hyn o bryd.