, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
1. How is the Welsh Government monitoring the management of health inequalities across Wales? OQ59758
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Economy
It's worth remembering, obviously, that productivity isn't an abstract concept of significance only to economists; it's a fundamental measure of how the labour of a workforce is valued. I think of what Paul Krugman said: 'Productivity isn't everything, but in…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Economy
Diolch, Llywydd. Last week, the ONS published data on sub-regional productivity across the UK as well as the performance of city or regional growth deals within this context. On the basis of current price output per hour worked, not one of Wales's local…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Social Justice and Chief Whip
Following the publication of the June ONS statistics showing a pattern of declining Welsh employment rates and economic activity, I asked the Minister for Economy last week whether we need a far more candid and brutally honest assessment of the state of the…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Social Justice and Chief Whip
Thank you for the answer, Minister.
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Social Justice and Chief Whip
9. What discussions has the Minister had with the Minister for Economy regarding cross-cutting measures for inclusion in the refreshed child poverty strategy? OQ59710
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Thank you. Great. Diolch.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
—but there's concern around if you were looking to improve those standards, then there might be some interference.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
So, confident, essentially, in the maintaining of standards—
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
So, how do you see it affecting your ability to perhaps improve or maintain food and agricultural standards? Are you confident that you’ll be able to improve, for example, without any interference? How do you see it affecting?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
—I'm just wondering what conversations are you having or have you had with UK Ministers, given that the Bill itself will give them powers to, essentially, interfere in devolved matters.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Diolch, Gadeirydd. Moving on to the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, I'm sure the highlight of your job at the moment—[Laughter.]
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Economy
—so I imagine, when the Chair called me, you were expecting some questions that were going to, potentially, delve a bit more into the process. I'm just wondering, because it doesn't fill me with confidence when we see what goes on in places like Teesside, for…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Economy
Thank you, Minister. One final question. I have been consistent in my criticism of free ports—
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Economy
Okay, it was 'could', but you still repeated that claim, and the reason I'm asking these questions is because there's been some analysis in the Financial Times by Peter Foster that has basically said that there's no concrete evidence between any of the data…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Economy
In the statement you made to the Senedd, you repeated the claim that a Celtic free-port bid would create 20,000 jobs.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Economy
Granted, the Government never guaranteed x amount of jobs being created, but it was happy enough to parrot those lines in talking about free-port bids, and how much they were saying they were going to create. I mean, the reason I'm asking this—
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Economy
Specifically on job creation, then, because I think the bids here promised quite a lot to very low-income communities, essentially—. What was it? The Celtic free-port bid said they could create upwards of 20,000 jobs. What I'm trying to get at is what did the…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Economy
Diolch, Gadeirydd. Coming back to Sam's first question on free ports around the next steps in implementing some of these bids, I'd be really interested to understand what sort of work the Government have done in fact checking and assessing some of the claims…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Economy
Great. Thank you, Minister. Thank you, Chair.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Economy
I think it’s fair to say it’s broadly accepted now in terms of the investment that’s needed in the steel sector, as well as then tackling some of those energy issues, so a lot of that has to come from the UK Government, but to what degree do you see the Welsh…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Economy
Great. If I could move on then to steel. I'm sure you were expecting some questions on steel. The BBC recently reported that Tata have warned of uncertainty within the sector not just in Wales, but in the UK. I'd be interested just to see if I can get an…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Economy
So, you'll be taking a keen interest—
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Economy
Just finally on the skills element, obviously I've been raising concerns around retention of students in both the college setting and the university setting, and we have now the education Minister committing to reviewing education maintenance allowance. How…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Economy
On that second point that I wanted to touch on, on the net-zero skills action plan, the Climate Change Committee also recommended that the action plan itself needed to be firmer now, with specific actions within the plan as well. How do you respond to that?
