, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Welsh Government Workforce Planning: Evidence session (part 2)
This is for Andrew Goodall, and he's probably going to consider this to be an unfair question, because he may say that it goes back before his time. But, should the Welsh Government not previously have had a formalised workforce strategy?
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Welsh Government Workforce Planning: Evidence session (part 2)
ICT contractors can be incredibly expensive. How do you balance that—bringing people in at £500 a day, £1,000 a day, which are pretty standard rates for ICT contractors—against, actually, full-time recruitment?
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Welsh Government Workforce Planning: Evidence session (part 2)
Can I talk about key, long-term skills deficits? I know there's an ICT shortage, generally. I know about ICT, so I'll concentrate on that. Do you have problems with skills deficit within ICT, of actually recruiting people who are qualified in ICT? Or do you…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Welsh Government Workforce Planning: Evidence session (part 2)
Thank you very much. If I can move on to strategic workforce planning. Can you give an update on developing the workforce strategy and initial action plan, and when will it be published?
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Welsh Government Workforce Planning: Evidence session (part 2)
I'll just make a comment here. I had a very nasty cold over Christmas and the first week we came back, which I had great difficulty in getting rid of. If I had been doing a job that involved me doing lots of travel and lots of difficult things, I may well…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Welsh Government Workforce Planning: Evidence session (part 2)
Thank you for that. I now want to explore the sickness and absence area. You know what sickness and absence is, but these high-level numbers, going back to what you just said, give you data but not necessarily information. That's how I would describe it. If…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Welsh Government Workforce Planning: Evidence session (part 2)
Can you correlate those areas where you've had a poor response in terms of the staff survey, where people tend to be unhappy or indicate they're not happy, with staff turnover? Are the unhappy areas the areas where you're having the biggest turnover, and are…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Welsh Government Workforce Planning: Evidence session (part 2)
I want to talk about staff welfare and the staff survey. You had a staff survey in autumn 2021, which we've seen. How did the 2022 results differ from it?
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Papers to note
Unusually, Natasha and I are disagreeing on this. I don't want to bring the date forward. I think there are an awful lot of things that could happen in the airport industry and in holiday flights and such, low-cost flights. We've seen what's happened to…
, Plenary
Statement by the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution: Interim Report of the Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales
We have to move away from piecemeal devolution, with Plaid Cymru believing we can salami-slice to independence, the Conservatives that we can stop it going any further, and many looking to move devolution backwards. An example is policing: devolved to…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Economy
We cannot overestimate the importance of lottery funding to individuals. For the major team sports, such as football and rugby, player development is carried out by amateur and professional clubs, with professional football clubs having academies. Where…
, Plenary
Business Statement and Announcement
Carrying on the energy theme, I'm requesting a Government statement on progress being made by the Welsh Government on ending standing charges on days when no energy is used. When people have their first hot meal for days, which is likely to be a tin of soup…
, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Education and Welsh Language: Census 2021—Welsh Language Results
I ticked the ‘speak Welsh’ box, but could have ticked the ‘do not speak Welsh’ box. Does the Minister agree with me that, in future censuses, after ‘Do you speak Welsh?’, you should have a question of, ‘How often? Is it daily, more than once a week or more…
, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Education and Welsh Language: Census 2021—Welsh Language Results
I'm not confident speaking Welsh.
, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Education and Welsh Language: Census 2021—Welsh Language Results
The census is a very poor measure of the number of Welsh speakers. Of course, in the early censuses, the question was ‘Welsh, English or both’. It is self-choosing. Parents also make a decision on behalf of their children, so it’s not an accurate method of…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
Could you write to us—through you, Chair—and tell us which health boards have taken them up?
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
This is definitely for you—invest-to-save. Will invest-to-save money be made available to health boards so that they can control, using a thermostat, the temperature in hospitals, they can bring in LED lighting, which has previously been used, and so that…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
If no additional money comes from Westminster, are local authorities on their own, which means schools are on their own, or will there be an opportunity to dip into reserves in order to partly fund it? I know health has its own reserve, which is bigger than…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
I'm not pushing you on how much it's going to be—
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
The concern is recruiting bus drivers per se, as, again, you know from our neck of the woods. I did ask about teachers' pay award.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
Finally from me: education and schools. The education budget's coming under pressure from increasing costs of home-to-school transport. That's not just in our back yard in Swansea, it's right across Wales. Prices have gone up considerably. I'm sure you're…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
All I was going to say is that CIPFA are quite happy to have a view on it, and really, all I'm asking you to do is endorse CIPFA's view. Now, I'm sure that you and Andrew will have to go away and have a look at what CIPFA's view on it is, but can I ask you to…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
Thank you, Peredur. It almost sounds like stating the obvious. Local authorities have been affected by inflation, they've been affected by a massive increase in energy prices, they've had pay awards, and all local authorities reported overspends in the…
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
It's a decision that's not your decision, it's a political decision, but £3.5 million in a whole lot of other places might be money better saved.
, Finance Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24: Evidence session 8
Much as I would like it to go up to £45, I think everybody in the room would, for a 10 per cent increase, which would take it in line with inflation, from the figures you gave me, would that be around £3.5 million?
