English: Thank you very much, acting Deputy Presiding Officer. As Chair of the Finance Committee, I'm very pleased to be opening this debate today in relation, of course, to our inquiry into a legislative budget process. I would like to thank all of those who contributed to our inquiry and, of course, to the Minister, too, for her response to our report. Now, the Wales Act 2014 gave the Senedd powers over stamp duty land tax and landfill tax, the power to vary the rates of income tax in Wales by up to 10 per cent, as well as providing the Welsh Government with wider borrowing powers and new powers to borrow for capital expenditure. At that time, the Senedd and the Welsh Government worked together to create a new budget process that considered the best way to alter the existing budget process to accommodate the new powers. Now, as six years have passed and as our Parliament has evolved in the meantime, we felt it was the right time to undertake an inquiry to establish whether the Senedd now needs to move to a legislative budget process. Now, due to the global pandemic caused by COVID-19, work on this inquiry was halted and our evidence session with the Minister for Finance was cancelled. The Minister has subsequently provided us with written evidence, and we're very grateful to her for that information. As it will be for the next Senedd and the next Welsh Government to take work forward on a legislative budget process, we took the decision, as a committee, to push ahead and to publish our report rather than take oral evidence from the Minister. We have made 20 high-level conclusions, and we hope that these would form the basis for any future work on a legislative budget process. And given the time available to me today, I will focus my comments on the main issues.
Welsh: Diolch yn fawr iawn, Dirprwy Lywydd dros dro. Fel Cadeirydd y Pwyllgor Cyllid, dwi'n falch iawn o allu cael y cyfle i agor y ddadl yma heddiw mewn perthynas, wrth gwrs, â'n hymchwiliad ni i broses ddeddfwriaethol ar gyfer y gyllideb. Hoffwn ddiolch i bawb a gyfrannodd at ein hymchwiliad ni, ac, wrth gwrs, i'r Gweinidog hefyd am ei hymateb i'n hadroddiad ni. Nawr, mi roddodd Deddf Cymru 2014 bwerau, wrth gwrs, i'r Senedd yma dros dreth dir y doll stamp a'r dreth dirlenwi, y pŵer i amrywio cyfraddau treth incwm yng Nghymru hyd at 10 y cant, yn ogystal â darparu pwerau benthyca ehangach i Lywodraeth Cymru a phwerau newydd iddi fenthyca ar gyfer gwariant cyfalaf. Bryd hynny, bu'r Senedd a Llywodraeth Cymru yn cydweithio i greu proses newydd ar gyfer y gyllideb a oedd yn ystyried y ffordd orau i newid proses y gyllideb bryd hynny i ddarparu ar gyfer y pwerau newydd. Nawr, gan fod chwe blynedd bellach wedi mynd heibio ers hynny a chan fod ein Senedd wedi esblygu yn y cyfamser, mi oeddem ni fel pwyllgor yn teimlo ei bod hi'n bryd inni gynnal ymchwiliad er mwyn penderfynu a oes angen i'r Senedd symud yn awr i broses ddeddfwriaethol ar gyfer y gyllideb. Nawr, yn sgil pandemig byd-eang COVID-19, fe gafodd y gwaith ar yr ymchwiliad hwn ei atal, ac fe gafodd ein sesiwn dystiolaeth gyda'r Gweinidog Cyllid ei gohirio. Yn dilyn hynny, fe ddarparodd y Gweinidog dystiolaeth ysgrifenedig i ni, ac rŷn ni'n ddiolchgar iddi am y wybodaeth honno. Gan mai mater i'r Senedd nesaf a Llywodraeth nesaf Cymru fydd bwrw ymlaen â'r gwaith a'r broses ddeddfwriaethol ar gyfer y gyllideb, fe benderfynodd y pwyllgor gyhoeddi ein hadroddiad yn hytrach na chymryd tystiolaeth lafar gan y Gweinidog. Rŷn ni wedi cyhoeddi 20 casgliad lefel uchel, a'n gobaith ni yw y bydd y casgliadau hyn yn sail i unrhyw waith yn y dyfodol ar y broses ddeddfwriaethol ar gyfer y gyllideb. O ystyried yr amser sydd ar gael heddiw, mi fyddaf i, yn fy sylwadau, yn canolbwyntio ar y prif faterion.