AUTUMN is always a busy time at the Assembly with the publication of the Welsh Government's draft budget.

It's the time for the government to quite literally put its money where its mouth is and identify its spending priorities for the coming year.

This year's priority must be delivery. After 17 years of devolution, the public expects to see the fruits they were promised back when the Assembly took it's first tentative steps blinking into the light.

The Welsh NHS is always understandably a hot topic. Hopefully the next few weeks will see the ongoing concerns surrounding the fate of the proposed Specialist Critical Care Centre at Llanfrechfa resolved so work can commence on this long-awaited project.

Our transport infrastructure is also awaiting something of a reboot.

The Welsh Government's M4 improvement plans have been dramatically delayed in the wake of new traffic modelling concerns. Meanwhile the proposed South Wales Metro of improved rail, tram and bus services around the developing Cardiff City Region promises a brave new world for commuters but as of yet it's still just an attractive vision of the future yet to materialise.

The UK Government's programme of electrification of the South Wales mainline is an opportune time to breathe some new life into our transport infrastructure and get on with delivery.

It's not been well-publicised but this will be the last Welsh Government budget to cover a period in which the Assembly does not have tax powers.

Stamp Duty Land Tax is the first tax due to be handed over to the Assembly in April 2018. This is when the UK tax will be "switched off" in Wales, the block grant funding mechanism reduced accordingly and the new Welsh Revenue Authority will take over collecting the new Welsh Land Transaction Tax.

Land Transaction Tax may be one of the smaller taxes but the legislation needed to establish it is complex. It needs to be as simple as possible for practitioners whilst guarding against tax avoidance and having the scope to deal with the complexities of cross border transactions in areas like Monmouthshire. Needless to say it's vital Wales gets it's tax legislation right.

We are certainly entering a brave new world of greater financial accountability for Wales with opportunities but also a number of uncertainties.

Whatever the future holds, at the end of the day it all still comes down to one thing - delivery.