, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
6. Will the Minister provide an update on procurement work being undertaken by the Welsh Government to support local authorities with their energy costs? OQ59490
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Post-EU regional development funding: Local Authorities
Thank you. I take it that you've had the same kind of experience in Gwynedd, Dyfrig.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Post-EU regional development funding: Local Authorities
Thanks for that, Rob. I saw that James's hand went up briefly. Unless there are any additional things to add—I'm conscious of time, Chair—I'll stick with Rob and Dyfrig for a moment. I'm trying to also understand the sort of impact that the new funding…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Post-EU regional development funding: Local Authorities
Rob, do you mind if I come over to you?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Post-EU regional development funding: Local Authorities
No problem. What I was trying to ask here is whether there is any desire in terms of the UK Government to be open to be more flexible, or is there no flexibility at all? Have they just said, flat out, 'No'?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Post-EU regional development funding: Local Authorities
Diolch, Cadeirydd. I just wanted to start my line of questioning around some of the operational issues with something, actually, that Dyfrig had picked up on earlier, around the pressures that are on local authorities in terms of meeting deadlines around…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Post-EU regional development funding: Academics and think tanks
Joe, I don't know if you want to come in on this.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Post-EU regional development funding: Academics and think tanks
In terms of simplifying all the funds and bringing them all together, in your opinion, then, it would be a mistake. Is that purely because Wales might miss out?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Post-EU regional development funding: Academics and think tanks
Diolch, Gadeirydd. I think we might have inadvertently touched on a lot of this in previous answers, but when we think about the UK Government's missions around levelling up, to what extent does post-EU funding actually meet any of those missions as set out?…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Post-EU regional development funding: Academics and think tanks
And you've touched on the capacity issue around local authorities, would you say that there is also an issue in terms of the projects themselves not being joined up and that there is no sort of joined-up thinking around the funding itself and what it actually…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Post-EU regional development funding: Academics and think tanks
Yes. Diolch, Cadeirydd. I understand that I'm just skipping ahead, actually, to a set of questions that I had. I think there's an opportunity just to maybe build on one of those questions now, given the conversation we're having. I mean, I'm really…
, Plenary
Statement by the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution: The Coronation of HM King Charles III
Diolch, Llywydd, and I was umming and ahing about whether or not I'd speak to this statement today, but I'm glad I am. There is a significant constituency of us within society that would ask a number of questions around this ceremony, and an important moral…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
I'll declare an interest, Dirprwy Lywydd, as member of Baobab Bach, a network of community food pantries in Bridgend. The current situation is hand to mouth for community pantries in my region and surplus food shortages are acute. One community pantry that…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Thank you for that response, First Minister.
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
7. What action is the Welsh Government taking to tackle food insecurity in South Wales West? OQ59457
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Decarbonisation of the steel industry in South Wales - evidence session with Trade Unions
A key point, of course, would be the monitoring, though, once those jobs have been established.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Decarbonisation of the steel industry in South Wales - evidence session with Trade Unions
Diolch, Gadeirydd. Coming back to free ports, I've been fairly consistent, I hope, in terms of my unease—well, opposition, really, to the free port concept. We've talked about some of the opportunities that could be identified around a just transition. We've…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Decarbonisation of the steel industry in South Wales - evidence session with Trade Unions
I think this is exactly what we're trying to pull out here with the Redcar example. I will hand back to you, Chair, because I know there are some other questions before we go into detail on that.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Decarbonisation of the steel industry in South Wales - evidence session with Trade Unions
There are a couple of points there in terms of free ports and the net-zero skills action plan I know that other colleagues will want to come back on. But we mentioned the example of Redcar earlier and I think I'll come to Charlotte, if that's okay, just as…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Decarbonisation of the steel industry in South Wales - evidence session with Trade Unions
Just thinking about a just transition now, what would a just transition look like for the Tata Steel workforce? I understand it's quite a broad question, but I suppose what I'm trying to get out of you today is what are the sort of key components or key…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Decarbonisation of the steel industry in South Wales - evidence session with Tata Steel
And do you feel that the Welsh Government is clear on its direction around the skilling agenda within your sector?
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Decarbonisation of the steel industry in South Wales - evidence session with Tata Steel
And in terms of that you've mentioned a lot of the internal work around the reskilling and skilling agenda within the sector, would you be expecting further support from Welsh Government as we move to further decarbonisation around reskilling?
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Decarbonisation of the steel industry in South Wales - evidence session with Tata Steel
And to what extent is a programme of reskilling the current workforce involved in that, because, again, coming back to that just transition element, there will be a number of people who potentially need to reskill who are in the current workforce?
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Decarbonisation of the steel industry in South Wales - evidence session with Tata Steel
Okay. You mentioned in terms of being the anchor point for the green industrial revolution here in south Wales. We're seeing skills gaps emerge across several different sectors now when it comes to the green agenda. Have you identified skills gaps within your…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Decarbonisation of the steel industry in South Wales - evidence session with Tata Steel
So, in terms of that report on Sky News, you wouldn't have any idea where that would have come from? The report on Sky News, for example, said that it was 'internal estimates'—the job losses from 4,000 to 1,000. So, you wouldn't have an idea of where that…
