31 January 2024 , Plenary
Debate on petitions P-06-1359 and P-06-1362 concerning support for childcare costs
The petitioners need to realise that, from April, working parents in England will be entitled to 15 hours a week of free childcare, if they have a two-year-old. That does not mean that they will actually get that entitlement, because the provision isn't…
31 January 2024 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Annual scrutiny of the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales
Okay, and—
31 January 2024 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Annual scrutiny of the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales
I just want to probe you a bit further on this business that, if we could get metal recycling improved and to clear out things that contaminate it, whether you are saying that, in theory, we could be reusing recycled steel even to do the things where the most…
31 January 2024 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Annual scrutiny of the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales
I'm sure we all agree. Thank you.
31 January 2024 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Annual scrutiny of the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales
One of your recommendations on renewable energy is the devolution of the Crown Estate to Wales—good luck on that one, because people on the other end of the M4 don't seem to be playing ball. So, how could you justify pursuing something that, at the moment…
31 January 2024 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Annual scrutiny of the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales
Okay. So, it's difficult to assess whether you're providing value for money at the moment, because you haven't got the response to your renewable energy report. But how do you—? Are you still able to assert that you're, in the end, going to save Wales more…
31 January 2024 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Annual scrutiny of the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales
Do you then spend the majority of your money next year on the topic that you're planning to concentrate on next year?
31 January 2024 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Annual scrutiny of the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales
Okay. How have you allocated the money from the last financial year and the current one in terms of—? Presumably, this year you've allocated a lot of money around your renewable energy research and report.
31 January 2024 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Annual scrutiny of the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales
Okay. So, you have the same £400,000 in the current year. Have you any idea what you're going to get in the next year, based on the draft budget?
31 January 2024 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Annual scrutiny of the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales
Just going on to budget, really, you didn't spend all your budget last year. Were you allowed to roll over the £25,000 that wasn't spent?
30 January 2024 , Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Social Justice and Chief Whip: Holocaust Memorial Day
Thank you to Darren Millar for getting Eva Clarke to come here and give us such an extraordinary account of her mother’s ability to survive. On Sunday, I attended a performance of 'Stumbling Stones', which on the one hand was a vibrant group of musicians…
30 January 2024 , Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Climate Change: White Paper for a proposed Bill on environmental principles, environmental governance and biodiversity targets
What levers do you envisage in these regulations for tackling the water pollution that's absolutely one of the key serious issues that we face?
30 January 2024 , Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Climate Change: White Paper for a proposed Bill on environmental principles, environmental governance and biodiversity targets
Thank you very much for your work as being both the custodian of combating the climate emergency as well as the biodiversity emergency. I'm very pleased that we are now setting in stone the environmental protection we need moving forward. Clearly, this is…
25 January 2024 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - part 2
Okay.
25 January 2024 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - part 2
So, the windfarm income still comes to the Government, but the timber—
25 January 2024 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - part 2
I just want to ask about NRW. I understand that you've maintained the £18.2 million of funding in the NRW budget that was to cover the funding gap in this current year’s budget. But obviously, that is a cut, given inflation, and given the crucial role that…
25 January 2024 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - part 2
I just want to ask you about waste. The £16 million decrease in the overall budget for resource efficiency and circular economy—what's the impact of that, and are you using it as a way of driving out any perverse incentives to use things like gardening waste…
25 January 2024 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - part 2
Lastly from me: is there enough money in the draft budget to conduct a Wales housing survey, so that we know exactly where the horror stories are to enable us to decarbonise all homes?
25 January 2024 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - part 2
Okay. So, what I'm looking for is how we're going to actually persuade more people who can afford to do this to take the plunge and do it.
25 January 2024 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - part 2
I agree with that, but these are the people who own their homes outright, or the buildings that they're renting out.
25 January 2024 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - part 2
Obviously, the concentration of the most inefficient homes is in the private sector, either owner-occupied homes or private landlords. Forty per cent of those are owned outright. So, what levers does the draft budget enable you to use to encourage households…
25 January 2024 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - part 1
But you're not the only game in town. What about the community funds that have been generated from windfarms in areas that are quite hilly, for obvious reasons? What is being done to ensure that people who are in that beneficial area are using that money to…
25 January 2024 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - part 1
I'd like to see this as a hub-and-spoke problem, because, particularly in rural areas, you're clearly not going to have a bus passing everybody's doorstep. So, I just wondered what use you're going to make of electric bikes to enable secondary school children…
25 January 2024 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - part 1
Is the budget sufficient, really, to actually progress this important social justice—
25 January 2024 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - part 1
It’s the finances and the planning.
