, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Llywydd, citizens in Wales, including South Wales East, have benefitted from initiatives such as the £150 cost-of-living payment, the fuel support scheme and our Wales-only discretionary assistance fund. The Welsh Government will continue to support the most…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
I thank the Member for the question, Llywydd. Welsh Government presence at Qatar allowed us to amplify knowledge of Wales across the World and to speak up for the values that matter to us. Cultural—[Interruption.]
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
The difference between us, Llywydd, is not philosophical at all; it's simply practical. He wants to take £120 million out of activity that the NHS in Wales is committed to undertake, and would use that money to pay people. That's a practical choice; our…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Well, I'm afraid that's a deeply confused question, Llywydd. It is the Scottish Government itself that published figures that showed that it had taken £400 million out of plans that it otherwise had to spend on NHS services and had transferred that into pay…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Well, let me just make two points: we know how the Scottish Government has been able to make that offer, and it's a decision for the Scottish Government to make. They have made it by taking £400 million out of the NHS and transferring that money into pay…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Well, I'm afraid, Llywydd, that shouting at me does not disguise for a moment the emptiness of the points that the leader of the opposition has made this afternoon. He urges me on the one hand to use the money we've had from the UK Government to pay staff in…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
The leader of the opposition, Llywydd, is utterly shameless—utterly without shame. He comes to the floor of the Senedd here when his Government in Westminster ended a meeting in acrimony with the Royal College of Nursing only last night, because they refused…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
There is no money in the Welsh Government budget from his Government in London to allow us to make a better offer than funding in full, as we have, the pay award proposed by the independent pay award body.
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Of course, I agree with the comments made by Raymond Williams, and that's why, having seen the figures in the census, we are still confident about the future of the language here in Wales, and that's important. I acknowledge what Delyth Jewell said about…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Well, Llywydd, the identity question in the census is a very interesting one, and the results that it shows, I think, are definitely worth proper exploration. Now, why do we see some of the changes that the Member referred to? Well, we know that the number of…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
I thank the Member for that. Llywydd, results from the 2021 census have started to be released, but key information, such as that on housing tenure, is yet to be published. The full picture will be used, for example, into strengthening the next 'Future…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Llywydd, I thank Ken Skates for that question. I remember very vividly a visit that he and I made to the headquarters of the Development Bank of Wales in Wrexham, and it has been one of the outstanding success stories of the last decade. The half-year…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Well, the phosphates issue is a genuine one, Llywydd. I was able to meet the major players in this area at the Royal Welsh Show earlier this year, and there's a follow-up meeting with all of those players planned for early in the new year. That is to make…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Well, Llywydd, to be threatened with homelessness at any time of the year is enormously stressful, as anybody in this Chamber who does casework regularly will know. But to be faced with that over the Christmas period, when you're fearful that services may not…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
I thank the Member for that question, Llywydd. The Welsh Government's commitment to ending homelessness remains unwavering at all times of the year. Our total investment in homelessness prevention and housing support is over £197 million this year, helping…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Ministerial scrutiny sessions—the co-operation agreement
Thank you, Chair. I'll start off on that if I can. There are two aspects, as colleagues will know, to the work on building safety. We have an existing stock, and we have to make sure that we address fire safety issues in it. We've already done that…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Ministerial scrutiny sessions—the co-operation agreement
Chair, to be clear, the consultation says that the purpose of a levy is to reinvest in those conditions that make a success of tourism. How we do that is part of the conversation with the sector. But the point of the levy is to make sure that those places…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Ministerial scrutiny sessions—the co-operation agreement
Thank you for that second question. We don't have time, Chair, but, of course, I could explain, for example, why it was important to have the Act on single-use plastics before the Senedd during this year. Regarding the legislation to put in place things to…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Ministerial scrutiny sessions—the co-operation agreement
Yes, I guess so, Chair. Well, look, I’ve never known the Minister for Climate Change not bid strongly for anything that she is involved in. The legislative programme is a bidding process, and there are always more bids than there are spaces in the programme…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Ministerial scrutiny sessions—the co-operation agreement
Well, Chair, we haven't changed the priorities in the agreement. They were hammered out in a lengthy period of negotiations, and they remain the key things that we are committed to working on together. But that doesn't mean that we don't keep them regularly…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Ministerial scrutiny sessions—the co-operation agreement
Thank you, Chair. So, with me for this session, I have Rachel Garside-Jones and Rebecca. They both work in the co-operation unit, which draws together civil servants to help us make the progress that we need to on the 47 items [correction: 46 items] contained…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Equality and human rights
Well, children in Wales have a right to an education. In the youth justice ambit, one of the reasons I think we have succeeded as we have in that radical reduction in the number of young people from Wales who end up in custody is that it was a very early…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Equality and human rights
Chair, thank you. I'm happy to help as much as I can, because the Cabinet has had a paper from Vaughan Gething, as the Minister responsible for the young person's guarantee, which has looked at the different strands in it. And what I think you will hear from…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Equality and human rights
Chair, my recollection of what the auditor general said was that what he called for was an update of the existing child poverty strategy, and that's the way in which we are taking forward that recommendation. So, in that sense, it will definitely answer Jack…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Equality and human rights
Well, again, thank you for the question. I wasn't able to be in the Chamber during that debate, but I will definitely be reading the transcript of it and discussing with my ministerial colleagues what more we can do to uphold the rights of the Deaf community…
