, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - evidence session 2: Minister for Finance and Local Government
Indeed. And I wanted to talk about transformation and legislation. Obviously, in your programme for government, you've mentioned strengthening the autonomy and effectiveness of local government to make them more successful in delivering services. I wanted to…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - evidence session 2: Minister for Finance and Local Government
Thank you, Chair, and it's good to see that we've got an audience now just watching us debate local government finance—the exciting world of local government finance.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - evidence session 1: Welsh Local Government Association
Thank you, Chair, and thanks ever so much for coming in this morning. Actually, I wanted to talk about social care, which is what we've just been discussing about now. Specifically, I wanted to talk about the social care workforce grant. Obviously, there's a…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
First Minister, as you may be well aware, and as you've just mentioned, even though RCT council have financial reserves of a staggering £270 million, they now intend to end home-to-school transport for those children living within two miles of primary schools…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
2. Will the First Minister make a statement on the provision of home-to-school transport in Rhondda Cynon Taf? OQ60502
, Petitions Committee
Updates to previous petitions
Thank you, Chair. I'll be honest, I would love to see this come to debate, actually; I think it would be quite an exciting discussion taking place. But, ultimately, I agree with my colleague Peredur here. There are so many other petitions waiting to be…
, Petitions Committee
Updates to previous petitions
Thank you, Chair. I'm conscious that this is probably the second time we've had a petition come in expressing concerns about NRW and its tree felling, and how that links with red squirrel management, really. What I'd like to try and do, if it's okay, is to…
, Petitions Committee
Updates to previous petitions
Thank you, Chair. I've got to admit that I'm actually quite disappointed with this petition. Obviously it came in back in 2021, and we've been debating it for some time. I know that in 2022 the Welsh Government said that they'd make direct contact with the…
, Plenary
Topical Questions
I'd like to start by thanking my colleague Jack Sargeant for raising such an important topical question. The Horizon scandal is nothing more than a national tragedy, and it's appalling that postmasters and sub-postmasters and mistresses have been subjected to…
, Plenary
Statement by the Deputy Minister for Social Partnership: South Wales Fire and Rescue Service review of culture and values
Can I thank you, Deputy Minister, for your statement today? As you have mentioned in your statement, the report makes for some very alarming reading, and it is disappointing that south Wales fire and rescue, which I believe, until recently, had such a…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Local Government Finance (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Brilliant, thank you.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Local Government Finance (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Okay. Perfect. You mentioned there that it is going to be a huge logistical exercise, but then, obviously, there's a cost to that—and the explanatory memorandum highlighted it—of about £18 million, so that's just under £20 million. That's a big chunk of money…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Local Government Finance (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Okay, thank you for that, Minister. I suppose the last couple of questions I have are then on the compilation of the revaluation lists. Obviously, it's intended for it to be every five years, and I just wanted to know about the practicalities of that. Because…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Local Government Finance (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
With that in mind, then, as you highlight, councillors can still raise council tax and everything. Is there scope, then—? Because I know you've been asked this loads of times in the Chamber, Minister, about the amount of money that councils have in their…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Local Government Finance (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Perfect. And that actually brings me on to my second question there, because you mentioned there that this is meant to be a revenue-neutral exercise rather than a revenue-raising exercise, and the IFS highlighted that there's a concern, then, that local…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Local Government Finance (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Thanks, Chair. I've got a couple of questions, if I can, about the IFS report. One of the things it highlighted is, for example, in the Valleys communities, they've seen house prices rise, but income not necessarily rise in comparison, and there's a concern…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Local Government Finance (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Okay, perfect. Thanks for that clarification.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Local Government Finance (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
So, obviously, with section 17, it allows you to change the labelling of the band structure, but some would argue that you can already do that under section 5 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, something like that. If that's the case, why hasn't that…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Local Government Finance (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Okey-dokey, then, perfect. If I'm okay, Chair—a few other questions.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Local Government Finance (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Okey-dokey, because I know with those three approaches you've highlighted, then—so in your consultation phase 2 you mentioned that approach 1 is fairer, but 2 and 3 are more progressive. Does that mean that being progressive is seen as better, being fairer…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Local Government Finance (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
And what was the rationale behind keeping the banding structure, then? Because you mentioned about the IFS report, and they've basically said they would have liked to have seen you move away from the banding element, in the sense there's an element of…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Local Government Finance (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Okay. Because also one of the points is to try and change the referencing, so to move from that band D referencing. How would that make, then, the whole system fairer, if that makes sense, if you change that referencing? And under those three approaches that…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Local Government Finance (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Thank you, Chair. Thanks ever so much for coming in this morning. As John said, I want to talk about the council tax changes and the calculation of it. I wanted just to touch upon—. In the phase 2 consultation, you've highlighted three possible approaches. I…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Social Justice and Chief Whip
Finally, as we know, Minister, children in care and care leavers are, unfortunately, vastly over-represented in the criminal justice system, and it is estimated that over 24 per cent of the adult prison population has previously been in care. From this, we…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Social Justice and Chief Whip
Thank you, Minister. But I hope you agree with me that we need to ensure that this study is robust and that it does not just cherry-pick the data to meet the political agenda of the Welsh Government and those actively advocating for universal basic income. I…
