, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Governance of fire and rescue services: evidence session with the Deputy Minister for Social Partnership and Chief Fire Adviser
Yes, please do.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Governance of fire and rescue services: evidence session with the Deputy Minister for Social Partnership and Chief Fire Adviser
I appreciate that.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Governance of fire and rescue services: evidence session with the Deputy Minister for Social Partnership and Chief Fire Adviser
Very good. Thank you very much. I spent the weekend having a refresh of the Williams commission report, which was published just over 10 years ago, which clearly stated that there was a need to revisit the governance structure of fire and rescue services…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Governance of fire and rescue services: evidence session with the Deputy Minister for Social Partnership and Chief Fire Adviser
We'll now move on to the first substantive item of our business today, which is the governance of fire and rescue services, and I'm very pleased to welcome the Deputy Minister for Social Partnership, Hannah Blythyn. I wonder if your officials would like to…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Papers to note
There are, I think, eight papers to note. Are Members content to note these papers? Thank you. I can't see any dissent on that. Those papers are noted.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Introductions, apologies, substitutions and declarations of interest
Bore da. Welcome to the Equality and Social Justice Committee. All Members are present. Are there any declarations of interest from any Members that they need to make in relation to either of the issues we're discussing today? No. Thank you for that. This…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Group 17: Part 5 – Deciding applications: Timetable and decision (Amendments 199, 63, 19, 20, 21, 22, 64)
I thank the Minister for her remarks. I think that this would bring us in line with the efficiency with which the English legal framework is operating, and will ensure that we will be determining applications within the 12-month period, unless there are…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Group 17: Part 5 – Deciding applications: Timetable and decision (Amendments 199, 63, 19, 20, 21, 22, 64)
Thank you. I move amendment 199, bearing in mind what has already been said by Adam Price and others that the purpose of this Bill is to streamline the process so that it obtains the certainty that stakeholders seek that if they tick all the boxes, comply…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Group 15: Part 5 – Deciding applications: Function of deciding (Amendment 61)
Yes, I'd just like to say that I think that section 52 provides the flexibility needed for ensuring that, where something is an important but technical matter, the Minister doesn't need to be involved, because where it is contested and there are people in…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Group 13: Part 4 – Examining applications: Choice of inquiry, hearing or written procedure (Amendments 146, 165, 125, 18, 57, 147, 148)
I just feel that the amendments that are coming from the other side of the room are designed to be too specific, when this is intended to be a framework for all the potential significant infrastructure projects, which could include laying a cable from a point…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Group 11: Part 3 – Applying for Infrastructure Consent: Application procedure (Amendments 197, 198, 54, 7, 162, 163, 164, 8, 123, 55, 9, 10, 143, 56, 144, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
Thank you. I just want to probe Adam Price's two amendments on collaborative benefits. Because, obviously, the policy consideration is something I think is important, but the whole point of the deadlines for examining applications is that most of the heavy…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Group 7: Part 2 – Requirement for Infrastructure Consent (Amendments 156, 157, 47, 48, 49, 158, 50, 51, 1)
I will resist amendments 47, 48 and 49. It seems to me that the Minister has already mentioned the idea of a developer gaming the system, and I think it's really important that we have section 22, 23 and 24 to ensure that developers aren't simply putting in a…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Group 3: Part 1 – Significant Infrastructure Projects: Energy (Amendments 192, 96, 37, 193, 194, 196, 139, 140)
I agree with my colleague Huw Irranca-Davies that amendment 196 does seem to set up a tension between those areas considered to be desirable areas and the rest—communities that just have to put up with what we've got. I specifically wanted to probe the…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Group 2: Part 1 – Significant Infrastructure Projects: Local ownership of energy projects (Amendments 191, 195)
Certainly, I completely agree with your policy objectives. It's not something that we've really discussed at Stage 1, because it's complicated. I was on the environment committee that, in 2015, went to have a look at what was going on in Germany, and there…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Introductions, apologies, substitutions, and declarations of interest
Yes. My partner is an adviser to Bute Energy, as is recorded on my declarations. I also want to draw Members' attention to the fact that, during the Stage 1 scrutiny of the Infrastructure (Wales) Bill, I was a shareholder in the Renewables Infrastructure…
, Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: Housing supply
Are you suggesting that we should simply allow the house builders to go on building homes that are not carbon neutral, which we've then got to retrofit? Because that's an utter waste of money, and it's just dumping the problem onto the hard-pressed people who…
, Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: Housing supply
Sam, will you take an intervention?
, Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: Housing supply
Okay. The limits of people's ability to pay. It is essential that we use the local development plans to ensure that they aren't simply endeavouring to breach all the planning regulations we have to avoid more congestion, more air pollution, a lack of public…
, Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: Housing supply
Sorry?
, Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: Housing supply
No, no, I'm not at all; you weren't listening. I said 'many'; I didn't say 'all' at all. I absolutely agree that there are some landlords who are providing affordable, warm housing in the private rented sector, but in Cardiff Central, they are like a needle…
, Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: Housing supply
Yes, happy to. Yes.
, Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: Housing supply
I'm delighted to take part in this debate. It's a very serious issue, affecting people right across Wales. So, it's very important we get the detail right, because only then can we successfully use the powers and the limited resources available to Welsh…
, Plenary
Debate: The Draft Budget 2024-25
I want to emphasise the risks we're taking by reducing preventative spend. This is something that the future generations commissioner has warned us. Reducing preventative spend will have the potential to increase demand on services in future years, and…
, Plenary
Statement by the Deputy Minister for Social Partnership: South Wales Fire and Rescue Service review of culture and values—Next steps
Well, I applaud you, Deputy Minister, for biting the bullet on this one, because we have known about this problem since 2014, when the Commission on Public Service Governance and Delivery reported and said that the fire and rescue authorities do not and…
, Plenary
Business Statement and Announcement
I just want to follow up on the remarks of Sam Kurtz, because they have to be seen in terms of both the impact of Brexit on our ability to ensure we have food security, as well as climate change, where we've seen Barcelona declaring a drought this month, and…
