12 Gorffennaf 2024 , Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cymunedau gwledig
Our challenge is, though, Russell, that, as we sit here, with all the challenges and the strains we've had, we know we do have issues to resolve in rural Wales as well, and the commitment of the Government is that we're serious about doing that.
12 Gorffennaf 2024 , Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cymunedau gwledig
We need to be able to deliver ‘A Healthier Wales’, and, if we do that, we'll deliver for rural and for urban Wales, because the models of care we look at need to take account of where and how people live. That's our big challenge, and it's not just a rural…
12 Gorffennaf 2024 , Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cymunedau gwledig
On the challenges of recruiting and retaining a workforce, we have a Wales-wide and UK-wide challenge on recruiting and retaining staff, and it's about how we both deliver incentives to try to persuade people to come to Wales, or to stay in Wales, and we also…
12 Gorffennaf 2024 , Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cymunedau gwledig
Bore da, Russell. It's good to see you here, after your transport challenges. I'm aware that there was an accident earlier on.
12 Gorffennaf 2024 , Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cymunedau gwledig
Alacrity. The Alacrity Foundation—the work that we've joint funded. And one of the projects that I think is genuinely exciting is one of those projects that looked at, in different parts of Wales, not just generally, talking about the coverage that an…
12 Gorffennaf 2024 , Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cymunedau gwledig
And she is intending to be back in work come September, I hope. Everyone wishes her well following her recent operation and recovery through the summer. Look, on the other two broad points, I think there was a point around the superfast programme and also…
12 Gorffennaf 2024 , Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cymunedau gwledig
I'll deal with the last series of points, first, which is essentially a repeat of—from a different perspective—the point around what's the balance that we get for housing need in different parts of Wales and housing use, the balance between permanent…
12 Gorffennaf 2024 , Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cymunedau gwledig
Although Wrexham is fabulous. I should make that clear, in case anyone thinks there's a—[Inaudible.]—absolutely not.
12 Gorffennaf 2024 , Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cymunedau gwledig
This is about the balance, isn’t it? Thinking about your first question about the balance of what is possible to do, and where and how we do it and what our reserved and devolved responsibilities are, and I agree with you, actually, that we can help to…
12 Gorffennaf 2024 , Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cymunedau gwledig
Yes, digital connectivity is one of the essential enablers, not just for economic life, but for lots of things we now take as standard. So, it’s not just about the economy and public services, it is about how people expect to live their lives in their own…
12 Gorffennaf 2024 , Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cymunedau gwledig
We have got a different picture depending on the regional partners we’ve got. The new Cabinet Secretary for the economy has set out again how to take that forward. There's the work that we need to do with those partners. What I would say is, even since 2023…
12 Gorffennaf 2024 , Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cymunedau gwledig
There is work that’s being done about what those could look like. Some of it depends on rail infrastructure, some of it depends on what we’re doing on buses as well, to make sure there’s a properly integrated approach. Again, it’s the regularity and the…
12 Gorffennaf 2024 , Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cymunedau gwledig
[Inaudible.]—that it disadvantages rural Wales. What we're doing is we're trying to deliver a significant investment programme in the areas that we are responsible for, and you're starting to see that in real terms with not just the money we've spent, but…
12 Gorffennaf 2024 , Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cymunedau gwledig
If I talk generally, and then I'll come to you, Tracey. On what we're looking to do, the franchise you'd run for Newport would probably look different to the franchise you'd run for Powys. And so there's an understanding of what works for the market in those…
12 Gorffennaf 2024 , Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cymunedau gwledig
Our challenge is how we maintain a bus network. The grant we have has been hugely important in maintaining the current bus network. It is then the ambition that I set out on Tuesday in the legislative programme statement about making sure that we deliver on…
12 Gorffennaf 2024 , Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cymunedau gwledig
The policy is the policy, and I think part of our challenge has been the report from the road review panel is not Government policy. We've been clear about what that is. We have these twin challenges, these twin challenges of the reality that our former roads…
12 Gorffennaf 2024 , Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cymunedau gwledig
I haven’t seen the figures or the nature of Professor Cole's statement, and we've been upfront about wanting to improve transport priorities, when it comes to private use that's active travel and others. It’s also about what we want to do when it comes to…
12 Gorffennaf 2024 , Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cymunedau gwledig
No, no, but that—. So, if you accept that, you then need to have a conversation with the regulators and the enforcement authorities about what it's practical to have done, and that's a conversation that we've set out needs to take place. That's what I've…
12 Gorffennaf 2024 , Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cymunedau gwledig
There'll need to be a conversation with the regulators and the enforcement authorities. What you can't do, I think, is you can't say that nothing applies to anyone.
12 Gorffennaf 2024 , Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cymunedau gwledig
I'll come to Gian Marco, but I think we need to understand what really has happened and where the challenge lies about ability and willingness to meet the regulations, because we've made these through our legitimate law-making processes. We know there's a…
12 Gorffennaf 2024 , Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cymunedau gwledig
We'll make the best possible case for funding for Wales within the envelopes that we all know the whole of the UK has to work within, and more than that, though, I think we can have—. The 25-year celebration of devolution has been brilliant from a number of…
12 Gorffennaf 2024 , Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cymunedau gwledig
What you can do is you can have a sense of purpose and stability, which has been a real issue for us in a whole range of areas, and that directly affects people's confidence, both people who are here, people who look to invest in a business here, whether…
12 Gorffennaf 2024 , Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cymunedau gwledig
There's a case to be made about funding for Wales, about what it is possible to do. What I don't think there is is a case to say that all of this money that, we know, in the last 14 years, has been taken out of Wales—the promises that have not been kept can…
12 Gorffennaf 2024 , Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cymunedau gwledig
We're not going to be able to put right the last 14 years in the next 14 weeks, and I think that's a wholly unrealistic demand. In fact, over the last few months, I've actually had people look me in the eye on their doorstep and say, 'Don't tell me you can…
12 Gorffennaf 2024 , Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cymunedau gwledig
But the carbon sequestration group, to have met a couple of times over 90 minutes—. It's all the work that goes into it before the meeting and between them as well. And on the round-tables, as I said, they're going to have met three times before the end of…
