, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cost of living
Well, actually—. Andrew will come in, I'm sure, but actually I think I challenge the premise of what Sam has just said. I think one of the ways in which we have managed to survive a decade of austerity is because we've seen inflation at historically low…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cost of living
Well, it makes the position even more difficult than it otherwise would be. The first thing we do, of course, is to try and persuade the Chancellor, because all the public services that he is providing in England, for example, face exactly the same dilemma…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cost of living
I think there are a very wide range of things. We had a good discussion—or I had a discussion, at least, with Laura Anne Jones on the floor of the Senedd not that long ago, about mental health first aid and how we can make that more widely available in Wales…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cost of living
Yes, I do very much, Chair, agree with what Jack has said. Look, I think it's one of the real lessons from the pandemic and finding ways of reaching young people, because you couldn't reach them in the way you normally would have done, because they're not at…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cost of living
Okay. Well, I thank Jack Sargeant for that, Chair. So, on the suicide point for a moment, we are very fortunate in Wales to have one of the big centres of expertise in terms of evidence gathering and evidence understanding in Swansea University and linked to…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cost of living
Well, the 20,000 new homes for social rent—low-carbon homes—remains the ambition of the Government. I think it was challenging in the beginning, and I think the challenge has got greater. I think there are a whole series of reasons, but here are three of…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cost of living
Yes. So, the Member has anticipated exactly the next point I was going to make. So, it's a very fair point. So, having said that sometimes it's a commercially driven decision, in other places, it is because land supply could be accelerated. So, the stalled…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cost of living
Of course.
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cost of living
Well, I'm relying slightly on what I'm told by others, because I've not had those direct discussions myself. Look, frankly, I think companies want to operate where they think the returns for them are greater. So, there's no problem in getting private house…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cost of living
Well, the Welsh Government's own support for house building directly is higher than it's ever been, so the reduction is in the private provision of it, and I think that there are complex reasons there. I don't myself believe that the major reasons are in…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cost of living
Well, I'll give you another example. It's a new idea. It won't be new by the time the White Paper is published, because we're doing it already, but it's part of that wider repertoire. So, the leasing scheme Wales. Some Members will be familiar with it…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cost of living
Probably on this one, Chair, I'm going to have to suggest that Members are going to have to wait a bit for the White Paper. Sorry, I've been trying to answer questions as fully as I can this afternoon, but the commitment is to a White Paper. The White Paper…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cost of living
Yes.
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cost of living
Well, Chair, I suppose it depends on the question that's being asked, doesn't it? Are we confident it makes a difference? Yes, we are, definitely. Can we be confident that the actions of the Welsh Government alone can eradicate or eliminate child poverty?…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cost of living
Well, Chair, the Minister for Social Justice took a paper on all of this to the Cabinet at the start of March. She is following that up with a series of bilateral meetings with every Minister in the Welsh Government because it was very clear from the paper…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cost of living
Sure. Just for the record, Chair, I should say that what that research showed was that six out of seven people did get a free breakfast and of the one out of seven who said they couldn't, over half of them said that they wouldn't use it anyway. So, it's not…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cost of living
Two hundred million pounds, the director of the Welsh Treasury reminds me. Because it isn't just money; it is staff and it's premises, and it's the quality of the provision as well. I took a press conference yesterday with the leader of Plaid Cymru, and we…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cost of living
Well, Chair, I am focused, first and foremost, on delivering the commitment in the co-operation agreement. That's got to be my first responsibility, and it is challenging, as Jenny Rathbone has said, and that is that we will provide a free meal for every…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cost of living
So, we'll start with the youngest children in school, so reception age children will be where we will begin in September, and we are finalising plans with local authorities, but we are confident that we will be able to have reception age children throughout…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cost of living
Chair, I probably don't have in my head the detail of the help that's been, but the general point is a really important one, and we didn't mention it earlier. But, in terms of fuel poverty, the other great piece of a jigsaw is to insulate homes so that less…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cost of living
Thank you to John Griffiths for that. You will know that the Minister for Social Justice recently announced an extension of grant funding for the single advice fund, to the end of March 2024. So, that by itself has been an important decision, to provide…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cost of living
Well, Chair, I think significant progress has been made, but that is definitely not to say that there isn't more we should try to do to simplify the system and make it easier for people to use. So, amongst the areas that we have been addressing with our local…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cost of living
No, we haven't, Chair. Our analysis has focused on economic need rather than protected characteristics. That is not to say that we will not do some analysis of the differential impact, for example by age, on the population in Wales, but our real efforts so…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cost of living
I thank John Griffiths for that, Chair. What our distributional analysis showed was that around 75 per cent of households in Wales will benefit in one way or another from the extra help that we have mobilised in the face of the cost-of-living crisis, but that…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Cost of living
Well, Chair, I'll take the first question—. I'll take them in the order they were asked. So, on fair work, first of all, I agree with what Russell George said in opening: most businesses in Wales want to do their best by their employees, as well as by their…
