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Plaid Cymru Debate: Wales and the next UK Government
Formally.
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
To just begin by reassuring my colleague that I am absolutely giving this the priority it deserves within my portfolio, one of the first things that I did was to seek those meetings with the former co-chairs of the commission, Professor Laura McAllister and…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
Having endorsed the commission's recommendations in full, we allocated additional resources to this important agenda in the 2024-25 budget. Preparatory work is well under way, and I will keep the Senedd updated on key developments.
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
Yes. So, we continue to make the case for prudential borrowing. We think it's not only important to give us the flexibility that we need to invest in infrastructure, but also to give this Senedd the opportunity to take a view and to vote through and to agree…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
I continue to make the case to the UK Government for increased borrowing powers for Wales. The Welsh Government has long supported a move to prudential borrowing. This would provide a more appropriate level of flexibility and enable this Senedd to approve the…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
So, I look forward to having those further discussions in relation to the future devolution of justice here in Wales, and I think that the absence—as it is at the moment—of funding for legal aid certainly demonstrates one of the reasons. However, given the…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
The Commission on Justice in Wales identified that access to justice is, as you suggested, really severely compromised following the cuts that were introduced under legal aid, and, of course, UK Government is responsible for legal aid, but we recognise the…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
We agree with the commission's finding that legal aid funding cuts threaten the existence of traditional high-street law firms, and that people are now forced to represent themselves in civil and criminal courts. This often results in unjust outcomes…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
This is a really important issue, and I've taken a lot of interest in grant administration since I came into portfolio. We of course now have our Welsh Government grants centre of excellence, which is always looking to support officials here to find ways to…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
As part of developing and delivering any Welsh Government grant scheme, grant managers consider how schemes would be administered to ensure the purpose of the grant funding is effective and as efficient as it can be. Administration arrangements should be…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
Well, the first thing to do is to recognise the concerns of the sector, particularly the Wales Tourism Alliance. And, as I say, I've met with them. I'm in frequent correspondence with the WTA, but they are also very much engaged with the monthly meetings that…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
I have met with the Wales Tourism Alliance and other stakeholders on several occasions about the visitor levy, through consultation events and the visitor economy forum. Officials meet monthly with stakeholders from the tourism industry, including the Wales…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
So, again, that would probably be a question best asked to my colleague the Minister for housing, but I'll absolutely recognise the important messages that you've given there in respect of the importance of understanding neurodiversity and the importance of…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
We are committed to ending all forms of homelessness and are investing almost £220 million in homelessness prevention and support services this year. This includes over £7 million specifically targeted at early identification of youth homelessness and…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
I don't think anyone's under any illusions—any new Government is going to be inheriting an extremely difficult situation, and still dealing with the fallout of Liz Truss's disastrous mini-budget, for example. That's one of the reasons I'm so pleased to see…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
I had the opportunity to meet with the shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury this morning and we were talking about what happens following a potential change in the UK Government. What are the top priority areas that we want to have really early discussions…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
My understanding is that which the leader of the UK Labour Party presented to our Welsh Labour conference, when he said powers would be restored to the Senedd and to the Welsh Government. So, we absolutely expect to be taking the decisions in respect of the…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
So, just to be clear, the purpose of council tax reform is not about hiking bills for people across Wales, it's about making sure that council tax is fairer. Council tax at the moment is based on property values from decades ago, and I think that all of us…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
So, the approach to discounts, disregards and exemptions, as set out in the Bill, in terms of the powers for local authorities, just simply restates the existing position in terms of the ability for authorities to make changes. Equally, a local authority can…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
The first thing to do is to recognise the importance of the single-person discount, and just to reassure anybody who takes an interest in the Welsh Conservatives' social media or, indeed, is watching this afternoon, the single-person discount isn't going…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
Well, our policy and our strategy for the disposal of surplus property is clear that, when a property is no longer required to deliver against a policy area, it should be offered to other departments and then more widely to public sector partners before being…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
Thank you for the question this afternoon. Perhaps it helps give me an opportunity, then, to clarify my role in relation to the acquisition, management and disposal of property assets. So, my role is very much in terms of the corporate asset management…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
We have a clear policy and strategy for acquiring, managing and disposing of property assets. The principal aim is to maximise overall value from our assets. Our property portfolio is an important resource for supporting economic growth, health and…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
So, this would be a matter for my colleague the Minister for housing. She would have more access to the particular detail that you require. But I think the point that you made about land for housing was very pertinent. In 2023-24, loans of nearly £40 million…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
Apologies if I wasn't clear in my original answer. I think there might have been something lost in translation there in the sense that the Welsh Government borrows and we always look to borrow the maximum amount, but we look to borrow towards our overall…
