, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
The year began with the candidates to be the next Labour leader in Wales setting out their stalls. All sorts of plans, including one five-point plan. I'm sure the First Minister winced at that. Maybe it's okay for his own side to come up with five-point…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Thank you very much, Llywydd, and may I start by wishing everyone a very happy new year? And may I pay my own tribute to J.P.R. Williams, a true icon of my childhood, one of my first rugby heroes? And we remember him today, as we remember the journalist…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Of course the wider context is important. I didn't object to having a UK inquiry; the question was around that forensic investigation of what happened and why, at what time, and decisions taken by who in Wales, so that we could learn lessons for future…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Diolch yn fawr iawn, Prif Weinidog. I began by wishing people a merry Christmas; I should also add a happy new year. It's certainly planning to be an eventful new year politically, with a general election being one of two elections on the way. The problem…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
I was going to ask today for the First Minister to refer, under the ministerial code, an investigation into the accounts given around the actions of the Deputy Minister. My question, quite simply, now: given that the conflict in the accounts of Tonia…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Thank you very much, Llywydd, and I'd also like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas in this final session before Christmas.
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Ministerial scrutiny session - the co-operation agreement
There are elements of these discussions where it is on public record that there is disagreement on where we would precisely like to be, but there has to be an element of compromise in this. Why? Because Wales is currently democratically short-changed and we…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Ministerial scrutiny session - the co-operation agreement
Absolutely.
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Ministerial scrutiny session - the co-operation agreement
This is a view rather than something that is within the co-operation agreement, and the First Minister might have a different take, but to me, the closer those two bodies work together—because it is essentially a single mission for us on net zero and energy…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Ministerial scrutiny session - the co-operation agreement
Thank you for the question. I'm, again, particularly excited that Ynni Cymru was established as promised under the co-operation agreement. You've mentioned that there are 11 schemes currently committed. I think that we see this as just the beginning, and that…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Ministerial scrutiny session - the co-operation agreement
And of course the money would be forthcoming were HS2 consequential funds to be given to Wales, then we could make those investments, of course.
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Ministerial scrutiny session - the co-operation agreement
And in addition, my understanding also is that the work that has been done highlights what I certainly have long believed is that we have a major problem, especially on that west corridor, of linking Wales together, and this is part of that. It's a priority…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Ministerial scrutiny session - the co-operation agreement
And I would add, if I could, the health aspect too. I was reading a paper last night making the case for free school lunches in general—in England, I believe, the report was—and looking at the savings made for the health service through the element of…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Ministerial scrutiny session - the co-operation agreement
Briefly, I'm not going to sit here and give you a date today. Important steps have been taken in this area. We are agreed that we need to move towards the devolution of broadcasting. Excellent work was done by the expert group established under the…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Ministerial scrutiny session - the co-operation agreement
Without doubt, that is one of the problems that we've stated we want to resolve. It's a difficult thing to resolve and where the steps that we are putting in place will be mapping out, hopefully, how we can reach that point. You have to bear in mind, of…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Ministerial scrutiny session - the co-operation agreement
Perhaps I'll answer, if I may. I was health and care spokesperson for Plaid, and I was very pleased to see the commitment made to this, because I truly believe that this is an ambition that we must strive towards, and I was pleased that we were able to come…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Ministerial scrutiny session - the co-operation agreement
Yes, I think so. Yes.
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Ministerial scrutiny session - the co-operation agreement
It's an interesting question. This is a specific set of policy delivery areas that does not relate to the core work of the Government, which I am not in. I continue to hold the Welsh Government to account on the delivery of health, on improving standards in…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Ministerial scrutiny session - the co-operation agreement
It's not so much a keeping in the loop; this is something that we are developing and proposing to put forward together. Let's strip this right back to what we're trying to achieve here, and there is agreement between us that this is something that should be…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Ministerial scrutiny session - the co-operation agreement
The agreement is the agreement that was settled two years ago.
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Ministerial scrutiny session - the co-operation agreement
It's an interesting question and, of course, a decision was made—again, outside the co-operation agreement—that because of the acute problem of the removal of those vouchers for meals in school holidays, we considered it appropriate to use an underspend at…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Ministerial scrutiny session - the co-operation agreement
School meals in school holidays, of course, lie outside, again, the co-operation agreement. So, it's up to you how much you want to look at that. It's not something that we can discuss in relation to the co-operation agreement because it's not in it. It was…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Ministerial scrutiny session - the co-operation agreement
It's a fair question to ask, but, as I said, they're priorities for different reasons. Issues around free meals for schoolchildren relate to an acute problem that we have of a cost-of-living crisis and the relief that has been provided to families…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Ministerial scrutiny session - the co-operation agreement
Again, at the risk of repeating, we look at the 46 commitments as a whole and as commitments that deliver for Wales, either acutely or as an investment in the long term, that we are looking to continue to deliver within the three-year programme of this…
, Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister
Ministerial scrutiny session - the co-operation agreement
Again, what the autumn statement told us was that it was a confirmation of how difficult the overall financial situation is, but, as we've already stated, we are talking here about a very small part of overall spending that, even if used to its maximum, would…
