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Legislative Programme and Budget Statement (Wales)

I assure the right hon. Gentleman that there has been a great deal of contact with the Welsh Assembly Government. I am meeting the First Minister yet again on Monday. I am also meeting the Cabinet of the Welsh Assembly Government. I asked whether it was suitable for the First Minister to allow me to have that meeting. Jane Hutt, the Minister for Business and Budget in the Welsh Assembly Government, has already met the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. The Prime Minister, of course, chaired the Joint Ministerial Committee and the Foreign Secretary chaired the Joint Ministerial Committee on Europe. The right hon. Gentleman will find that there has been a great deal of effort from the Government to engage in a mature fashion so that we can move forward constructively on matters that are of interest to Wales. However, if the right hon. Gentleman has any more suggestions about the frequency with which we should meet, I would be very willing to look at those representations. I think that he will find that the amount of contact that we have had in just a few weeks is almost unprecedented.