, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Many children are living in poverty not caused by parental indolence or wastefulness; many parents are working two or three jobs, but at minimum wage, on irregular hours. The expansion of free school meals to a universal provision of meals is very welcome…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Scrutiny of Accounts—Welsh Government 2020-21
I do. The Welsh Government's got a commitment to 30 per cent of staff working from home at any one time. Are you meeting that, and, if you are, what reduction in office space are you going to have, and how are you going to go about it?
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Scrutiny of Accounts—Welsh Government 2020-21
Very briefly, this was in the middle of a pandemic. It was a time when local authorities were under huge pressure, when businesses were under huge pressure. Do you agree with me that local authorities did a phenomenally good job in getting this money out to…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Scrutiny of Accounts—Welsh Government 2020-21
Thank you. That's me finished, Mark.
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Scrutiny of Accounts—Welsh Government 2020-21
And you could put income in as well, because income is becoming more and more important as we have more tax-raising powers in Wales.
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Scrutiny of Accounts—Welsh Government 2020-21
Are you precluded from producing an income and expenditure account—not necessarily as part of the accounts for the auditor general, but for the benefit of the people of Wales and people like myself who find it easier to understand income and expenditure than…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Scrutiny of Accounts—Welsh Government 2020-21
Please can you give us a written answer, then? I make these statements on what I think is true, and I then ask you to clarify and tell me why I'm wrong. I think that makes life easier, but if you could give us a written statement through the Chair, I'm quite…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Scrutiny of Accounts—Welsh Government 2020-21
Sorry; I did ask another question in the middle—I was trying to get it over quickly. The £158 million was either not drawn down or paid back to the Treasury, which equates to about two thirds of 1p on income tax.
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Scrutiny of Accounts—Welsh Government 2020-21
Can I just carry on with this for the moment? The first two bits are statements; tell me if I'm right or wrong. The Treasury treats Wales as another department, no different to defence or health in England. That's what you appear to have said regarding what…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Scrutiny of Accounts—Welsh Government 2020-21
Thank you.
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Scrutiny of Accounts—Welsh Government 2020-21
Which is one of the points I've been raising. But is it usual—because in my experience it isn't—when somebody is at the top of an organisation, for people lower down the organisational structure than them to give advice relating to them? I've always seen it…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Scrutiny of Accounts—Welsh Government 2020-21
Just two very brief questions, and the answers will either be 'yes' or 'no' to both of them: did you take external legal advice, as opposed to internal legal advice, and did the Cabinet Office approve?
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Scrutiny of Accounts—Welsh Government 2020-21
Okay, thank you.
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Scrutiny of Accounts—Welsh Government 2020-21
Sorry, just to clarify, if only for me: you no longer have a substantive post at Aneurin Bevan University Health Board.
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Scrutiny of Accounts—Welsh Government 2020-21
Sorry, you've confused me even more now, so I hope that you can unconfuse me. My experiences of secondments are that you're seconded from the post you currently have into a new post, but the old post is your substantive post. You now no longer have a…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Scrutiny of Accounts—Welsh Government 2020-21
Just to clarify this—and if I've got this wrong, please correct me—your substantive post is chief executive of Aneurin Bevan University Health Board. You had a secondment to be chief executive of health in Wales, and now you're on a second secondment to being…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Papers to note
Thank you.
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Papers to note
But, if we can ask them how they calculate that high cost.
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Papers to note
On recommendation 8 that they rejected on high-cost grounds, could we ask them if they could identify what the costs are? They say, 'We reject this because of the high cost'. I don't believe that there's any cost at all, because the data is there anyway and…
, Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: Business rates
As I said to Janet Finch-Saunders earlier, why can't we charge the online sellers in their big warehouses as if they were on the high street?
, Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: Business rates
Perhaps one way forward would be to charge online retailers as if they were on the high street.
, Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: Business rates
Will you take an intervention?
, Plenary
Debate on the Public Accounts and Public Administration Report: Care Home Commissioning
This investigation by the Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee is, in my opinion, timely. Care homes play a major role in the provision of care to mainly older people, but not exclusively older people. It involves a large number of providers…
, Plenary
Legislative Consent Motion on the Energy Prices Bill
Of course, if the Government came forward with legislation, you and the Conservatives would vote against it, and it would go down. I think that this is a means by which to achieve, meaning that it will happen. If you and the Conservatives could start voting…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Climate Change
I also believe that the views of local people are important. I more importantly believe that it is important to protect our national parks, areas of outstanding natural beauty and green belt—we all benefit from them. Does the Minister agree with me that it is…
