, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Evidence Session: Cardiff Airport
Thank you for that. I was in Morriston working men's club last night, and they said, ‘Why haven't we got Jet2?’ I flew from Birmingham in the summer to Verona airport. That was a very full plane going from Birmingham. In fact, it was a completely full plane…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Evidence Session: Cardiff Airport
Thank you for that answer. You talked earlier—or somebody did—about the importance of TUI. I absolutely accept that; it's one of the two major mass holiday transporters. But you haven't got Jet2. And this is not giving any secrets away: Jet2 is the other…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Evidence Session: Cardiff Airport
Diolch, Cadeirydd. The first question to the Welsh Government: what has triggered the discussions with the airport and the longer term strategy, given the rescue and restructuring plan was for five years, to March 2026, with targets set for the airport beyond…
, Finance Committee
Financial Transactions Capital: Evidence session 3
That's a question for us to ask to them not to you.
, Finance Committee
Financial Transactions Capital: Evidence session 3
One priority is providing housing. Registered social landlords do fall into the financial transactions capital, yet they haven't been a major recipient of it, as far as I can understand. I'm happy for you to tell me I'm wrong. And also, it fulfils a social…
, Finance Committee
Financial Transactions Capital: Evidence session 3
Thank you.
, Finance Committee
Financial Transactions Capital: Evidence session 3
The good news is, this is finally from me: we’ve had people tell us—and, as we all know, when people tell you things, they’re not necessarily true, so I’ll start off with that—that the timescale was longer in accessing FTC loans through the development bank…
, Finance Committee
Financial Transactions Capital: Evidence session 3
Will you lengthen the time? It's well known, it's in the public domain, that Carmarthenshire council, for example, have lengthened the length of time over which the Scarlets rugby team have got to pay back their loan. Do you do similar things?
, Finance Committee
Financial Transactions Capital: Evidence session 3
But it would be useful. You've got to pay 80 per cent back. If 25 per cent were failing, then you're not going to be able to pay the 80 per cent back. I don't want to know that company X has failed, but I think knowing what level of failure is there. And what…
, Finance Committee
Financial Transactions Capital: Evidence session 3
Yes. Have companies failed, as in they've ceased to exist and that they've gone into receivership and they've not been taken out of receivership?
, Finance Committee
Financial Transactions Capital: Evidence session 3
And in how many of the investments have the companies failed?
, Finance Committee
Financial Transactions Capital: Evidence session 3
Thank you, that would be very helpful. At project level, I don't think we want to know that company X has had £10,000. I think we perhaps want to know the companies in the green energy sector who've had £200 million. I think that's the sort of information…
, Finance Committee
Financial Transactions Capital: Evidence session 3
Okay. Can I just say that it would help the committee and, I'm sure, the greater Welsh public with an interest in this if there's disaggregated data on allocation, both by the development bank and others, so they can be seeing what good it was doing?
, Finance Committee
Financial Transactions Capital: Evidence session 3
Thank you very much. The Welsh Government allocated £1.4 billion of financial transactions capital, as of 2023-24, with the Development Bank of Wales having £1.1 billion of it. What's the other £300 million being spent on?
, Finance Committee
Financial Transactions Capital: Evidence session 3
Yes. So, just to clarify: it doesn't count against a public sector borrowing requirement.
, Finance Committee
Financial Transactions Capital: Evidence session 3
But isn't the advantage to the Treasury of FTC that it doesn't count against public sector borrowing requirement, because it's both on the debit and credit side of their accounts?
, Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: Winter fuel payment
I can explain it to you, if you can't understand.
, Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: Winter fuel payment
Certainly, I will reflect on what they say. What do people use their winter payment for? Some donate it very kindly to a foodbank; others use it for winter breaks. Data the ONS collected between 2016 and 2018 shows that more than one in five households in…
, Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: Winter fuel payment
Certainly, Darren. I did give you a mention.
, Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: Winter fuel payment
I'll answer the last bit, because I can, and the rest of it's coming up in the speech. We don't know how many people are going to die this winter. You can't know how many people are going to die this winter, because you don't know what the weather's going to…
, Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: Winter fuel payment
Can I remind Members of the time that the Conservatives called for the end of free prescriptions for all? To quote Darren Millar, it's providing free prescriptions for paracetamol to millionaires. He was completely opposed to universal provision, saying it…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip
Thank you for that response, and I agree entirely with it. In 2015 an offence was brought into law making coercive and controlling behaviour a crime. Coercive control is a pattern of behaviour in which an abuser controls their victim's life, systematically…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip
2. What action is the Welsh Government taking to reduce coercive behaviour? OQ61496
, Plenary
Statement by the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs: Cleaning up our rivers, lakes and seas
I really welcome this opportunity to discuss river and sea pollution. It has previously been reported that nearly one in five rivers in Wales is polluted with sewage. This then goes into the sea. It does not disappear, which seems to be a view that water…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Thank you for that answer. Releasing large volumes of untreated wastewater laced with microplastics and sewage severely compromises water quality and poses distress to freshwater habitats, marine life, and ultimately humans themselves. While Natural Resources…
