Diolch yn fawr, Lywydd. Fe gafodd cyllideb ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ei chyflwyno i'r Cynulliad ym mis Hydref, ac roedd rhaid ei llunio o dan amgylchiadau heriol iawn. Cafodd datganiad yr hydref Llywodraeth y Deyrnas Unedig, a oedd yn addo ailosod y polisïau cyllidol, ei gyhoeddi ychydig o wythnosau ar ôl cyflwyno'r gyllideb ddrafft. Yn y gyllideb derfynol, a gafodd ei chyhoeddi ar 20 Rhagfyr, roedd yn rhaid ystyried effaith y datganiad ar Gymru. Mae'r gyllideb ddrafft a'r gyllideb derfynol yn cynnwys mesurau sy'n ganlyniad i drafodaethau gyda Phlaid Cymru. Rwy’n hynod ddiolchgar i Adam Price a’i dîm am sicrhau eu bod ar gael i weithio o fewn yr amserlenni tyn sy'n rhan o'r broses o lunio cyllideb. Rwy’n edrych ymlaen hefyd at weithio gyda'n gilydd ar yr agenda sylweddol sydd wedi ei chytuno ar gyfer y pwyllgor cyswllt ar gyllid dros y misoedd nesaf.

Lywydd, nid wyf yn bwriadu ailadrodd manylion y gyllideb ddrafft heddiw. Mae'r Pwyllgor Cyllid wedi crynhoi'r mesurau hyn yn fedrus ac yna wedi craffu arnyn nhw yn ei adroddiad. Rwy’n ddiolchgar i'r pwyllgor am ei waith ar gyllideb ddrafft 2017-18 ac am ei argymhellion adeiladol. Ddoe, fe wnes i ysgrifennu at Gadeirydd y Pwyllgor Cyllid yn ymateb i'r argymhellion yn yr adroddiad. Heddiw, rwy’n bwriadu canolbwyntio ar ddwy agwedd. I ddechrau, byddaf yn nodi'r prif newidiadau rhwng y gyllideb ddrafft a'r gyllideb derfynol. Byddaf yn canolbwyntio'n benodol ar effaith datganiad yr hydref. Yna, byddaf yn edrych i'r dyfodol, gan ystyried y broses o baratoi’r gyllideb y flwyddyn nesaf a'r angen i sicrhau bod ein proses ar gyfer y gyllideb yn addas ar gyfer ein cyfrifoldebau cyllidol newydd.

Let me begin then, Llywydd, with the main changes that lay between the draft and the final budget. The final budget includes an additional sum of £337 million-worth of capital over four years, allocated to key priorities. This includes £136 million for affordable housing developments, flood prevention schemes and regeneration projects across Wales. Of this, £33 million of the extra capital funding will support the work of Natural Resources Wales and local authorities on priority flood-risk management schemes over that four-year period. This is over and above the £150 million-worth of innovative coastal risk management money that will begin from 2018.

Fifty-three million pounds of the extra capital has been allocated to accelerate the delivery of the Welsh Government’s core commitment to deliver 20,000 affordable homes over the course of this Assembly term. In total, this brings our total capital investment in housing to £1.413 billion over the next few years. Fifty million pounds of the additional capital will be invested in regeneration programmes that focus on our most disadvantaged communities.

In rural Wales, we are investing £20 million in a small capital grant scheme for farmers, bringing with it match funding of a further £20 million from the Welsh Government’s rural development programme. The £40 million will help farmers to reduce carbon emissions and improve their resilience and competitiveness, including through diversification.

Wales’s transport system is boosted under the final budget by an extra £15 million capital over four years to relieve transport pinch points across the country, and an extra £50 million in capital funding will accelerate the delivery of the A483 Llandeilo bypass. And both of these allocations form part of our budget agreement with Plaid Cymru.

In health and social care, an additional capital funding of £40 million is allocated to improve Wales’s health estate, particularly targeted at the development of our primary care buildings in a further demonstration of this Government’s determination to invest at the interface of health and social care. Indeed, Llywydd, this is a budget that continues to prioritise the needs of the social care sector. In the draft budget, an additional £25 million was allocated for social services. Now, in the final budget before the Assembly this afternoon, a further £10 million of recurrent funding will be made available as part of a tripartite agreement between the Welsh Government, local government and social care employers to meet recognised costs in that sector.

Finally, as far as capital is concerned, this final budget provides an extra £40 million over four years for energy efficiency measures. It will, among other things, help a further 25,000 households heat their homes at a more affordable cost and support other green growth initiatives.

Llywydd, I turn now, briefly, to the main revenue changes contained in the final budget, primarily as a result of allocation from reserves. In 2017-18, £15.5 million in extra revenue funding will be made available for apprenticeships. This is in addition to the £111 million announced in the draft budget for apprenticeships and traineeships.

Llywydd, I’ve listened carefully to representations made directly during the consultation period. As a result, an extra £10 million revenue will be provided for a targeted rate relief grant scheme to help small businesses on the high street and in hospitality sectors with their business rates next year. And we've agreed the mechanism for distributing this £10 million with Plaid Cymru, and it will be in place by April this year. That is over and above the £10 million transitional rate relief scheme included in the draft budget.

Where local authorities are concerned, we have also allocated an additional £6 million, reflected in this final budget, which will go into the revenue support grant to help tackle the particular problems around preventing homelessness.

Finally, Llywydd, as far as revenue changes are concerned, I am especially pleased to draw attention to the additional £500,000 revenue to provide new help to children in our most vulnerable communities during the long summer holidays. This is a clear example of where applying the lens of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 has directly influenced budget making.

Recommendations 4, 5 and 6 of the Finance Committees report focus on the interplay between the Act and the budget process, and I’ve undertaken in my response to do more to reflect the Act in budget preparations and outcomes in the next budget round.

Llywydd, let me turn now, in closing, to budget preparedness for next year. The budget this Assembly will consider for 2018-19 will be the first to exercise our new fiscal responsibilities and to do so within the new fiscal framework agreed with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury in December. I will answer questions on the details of the fiscal framework in front of the Finance Committee tomorrow and will make a statement on it in this Chamber next week. All of this will require changes to both the Government’s own internal budget preparations and to its scrutiny by the National Assembly. I look forward to further discussions with both the Commission and the Finance Committee to put these new arrangements in place as we respond to the recommendations in this area set out in the committee’s report.

Let me end, then, where I began in October. The budget in front of the Assembly today combines stability and ambition. It provides a relatively short period in which to prepare for tougher times and harder choices that face us later in this Assembly term. It nevertheless invests in our future and lays the foundation for the new fiscal responsibilities that lie ahead. I look forward to this afternoon’s debate and commend this final budget to Members as a budget to take Wales forward.