, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Regenerating Town Centres: Roundtable Session 2
Thank you, Chair. Good morning, gentlemen. I'd like to focus a little bit more on non-domestic rates, if that's okay, in relation to town-centre initiatives and taxes, going forward. As we all know, Welsh town centres and high streets are subject to…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Regenerating Town Centres: Roundtable Session 1
Thank you so much, gentlemen. Chair, that's my questioning done for the time being. Thanks, again.
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Regenerating Town Centres: Roundtable Session 1
Thank you, Phil. Richard, what about you? What's your view on this?
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Regenerating Town Centres: Roundtable Session 1
Thank you, Richard. I know that we've all heard the term, and I know it's been everywhere in the news in the past week to 10 days, but the levelling-up and shared prosperity funds—. Wales was lucky enough to secure, I think, £208 million in round 2 of the UK…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Regenerating Town Centres: Roundtable Session 1
Great. Thank you so much, Phil. Richard, how about yourself?
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Regenerating Town Centres: Roundtable Session 1
Thank you so much. I'm going to ask you some questions now, if that's okay, on the impact of Welsh and the UK Government funding on town-centre regeneration. Over the years, obviously, in your experience, I'd really like to know, do you think the funding of…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Regenerating Town Centres: Roundtable Session 1
Thanks, Phil. What about you, Richard?
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Regenerating Town Centres: Roundtable Session 1
Thank you, Richard. One of the major issues—and I know I mentioned this earlier—or hurdles against the retailers on the high street is online. It's prevalent, it's huge, it's growing every day. And I wanted to know: do you think that online retailers should…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Regenerating Town Centres: Roundtable Session 1
Thanks, Phil. Richard, what's your perspective on this?
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Regenerating Town Centres: Roundtable Session 1
Thank you. What other options, based on your experience—? The Welsh Government were looking to progress—. Obviously, we all, collectively, want to see regeneration of our high streets going forward, but what could the Welsh Government consider or do going…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Regenerating Town Centres: Roundtable Session 1
Thank you so much, Phil. I think I speak on behalf of the committee, who I saw nodding as you were saying you'd like to share the findings with us—we'd really, really appreciate it, going forward. Richard, do you want to add anything to what Phil—
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Regenerating Town Centres: Roundtable Session 1
Thank you so much, Chair. Good morning, gentlemen. I'm going to be asking you a few questions about non-domestic rates, particularly relating to town-centre initiatives and taxes, going forward. You've mentioned a lot, and thanks for the information, but…
, Plenary
Debate on the Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee Report: 'The future of bus and rail in Wales'
I welcome this report. As the Chair began with saying, I note that, of its 26 recommendations, only one was rejected by the Welsh Government. I'd also like to address my remarks this afternoon to some of the recommendations that it contains. Recommendation 7…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Minister, RWE Renewables has given notice that they intend to apply to the Welsh Government for planning permission in respect of a development of national significance. They wish to construct and operate a wind farm, a battery energy storage system and…
, Plenary
Business Statement and Announcement
Minister, could I ask for a statement, please, from the health Minister about the detrimental effect the Welsh Government's failure to recruit a sufficient number of GPs is having on my constituents in Monmouthshire? I know my colleague Delyth Jewell raised…
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into Lobbying: Evidence Session
That's fine. Thank you so much. Chair, those are my questions completed. Thank you so much, Rachel, for answering them.
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into Lobbying: Evidence Session
Fine. And there is obviously that question of cooling-off periods as well. So that, you feel, stands for the majority of Ministers as well, across the board?
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into Lobbying: Evidence Session
You mentioned two years, the two-year ban; in Ireland, they have a 12-month restriction on their designated public officials, who need to, obviously, apply for permission, going forward. In a perfect world, which system do you think would be better, the 12…
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into Lobbying: Evidence Session
Thank you so much, Rachel. I just want to talk to you a little bit about the revolving door. Often, we see politicians who lose their seats, they retire, they decide they want to have a bit of a career change, so sometimes they adopt new careers, and often…
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into Lobbying: Evidence Session
Okay, fantastic. Thank you so much for answering that. I'm going to fly the flag for our civil servants, now, if that's okay, with my next question. If this was a perfect world and we did have that facility, there may be an argument saying that it would add…
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into Lobbying: Evidence Session
Rachel, I know that you mentioned about time frames and having a time duration to register things. Some people have 28 days. Some others have quarterly update requirements. In a perfect world, if you were in charge, what would be the ideal time frame that you…
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into Lobbying: Evidence Session
No, no, no—please feel free to join in at any time. Rachel, obviously with COVID and the way it's gone, meetings can be defined in many different ways. Obviously, prior to COVID, a face-to-face, one-to-one would have been what we all deemed as 'a meeting'…
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into Lobbying: Evidence Session
And just since, obviously, COVID—. Oh, sorry. Pred wants to come in, so—
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into Lobbying: Evidence Session
You touched upon the publication of meetings in different other areas and Parliaments and I know you're interested in that as well. But going forward, we obviously publish our meetings retrospectively, as you mentioned, on a quarterly basis. So, going…
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into Lobbying: Evidence Session
I'll talk to you a little bit about publication of meetings, if that's all right.
