Plenary

The next item is questions to the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language, and the first question is from Delyth Jewell.

The Minister for Climate Change and I met recently to discuss the findings of the internal review of the learner travel Measure and a statement will be made on the outcomes in due time.

Thank you, Minister. Two years have passed since the publication of the report on the 2021 review of the learner travel Measure. At the time, it was noted that the Government wanted to develop the programme more widely and improve provision. Since then, there have been more challenges. A number of local authorities have reduced their school transport provision as a result of general funding challenges. In the area that I represent, the catchment areas of Welsh-medium schools are much larger than those of English-language schools, and if the school is far away, there is no school transport available from the council. That can add another layer of barrier for those parents who can't speak Welsh themselves, but who decide that they should make the leap of sending their children to a Welsh school. That could mean, I do believe, that fewer parents will take that plunge.

So, what actions are you taking, along with the Minister for transport, to monitor the impact of these changes on the number of non-Welsh speaking families who are likely to send their children to Welsh language schools, and what impact do you think this could have on the confidence of those parents who can't speak Welsh themselves, but who are on the verge of making that vital decision to give their children that valuable opportunity?

Thank you to Delyth Jewell for that important question. It is a good question. One of the challenges is the data on the reasons for parents choosing Welsh-medium education for their children, but there is a broader challenge that the Member has referred to, and that's fair enough.

The Deputy Minister for Climate Change will announce the outcomes before the end of this week, so that's timely in the context of the question. What I would say, in terms of the changes being made by some councils as a result of budgets, is that that is part of the pressures that we have discussed in a number of different contexts recently. None will fall below the minimum required by the Measure, of course, but we have come to the conclusion that it's not currently possible to review the Measure, but it is possible for us to look at statutory guidance related to the Measure, and the statement from the Deputy Minister will have more to say on that.

I think it's also important to see this in the context of the broader reforms in train in terms of the bus Bill, and I think there is an opportunity, as a result of that, for us to establish a network of bus services that serve schools in the way that the Member mentioned. I do recognise that that needs to be done. So, I hope that, between the two of us, we will be able to make progress in the near future.

Minister, my question is very much in the same vein as Delyth Jewell's question. So, my concern with the current learner travel Measure as it stands currently is, of course, that there are many children who do not receive free transport to their nearest English-medium school because there's a Welsh-medium school that comes first. And there are some very unusual cases where you've got an English and a Welsh-medium school almost next door to each other, but the Welsh-medium school is slightly closer to a family that might be living 10 miles away, and they're not receiving—that family—they're not being able to receive free school transport to their nearest English-medium school. Then, often, having to get behind a car in the morning and travel behind the school bus, which is going to that very location. So, can I ask, Minister, is this something that you recognise and is this something that we will see rectified? Because at the moment Powys County Council are saying—I'm sure other local authorities across Wales will be saying the same—'We can't make adaptions to this because we're waiting for the outcome of the learner travel Measure being updated.'

I thank Russell George for that. I do think it's a much less likely scenario than that which Delyth Jewell outlined, but what we want to do—and you'll see this when the review is published in the coming days—is that there's an acknowledgement that it won't be possible in the short term for us to amend the legislation that underpins learner travel, but the opportunity to update the statutory guidance over the course of the next year we hope will enable us to address the kind of points that he has made, as well as other feedback from stakeholders. And, importantly, we want to create an opportunity for stakeholders generally, of course, but especially children and young people themselves and school communities, to contribute to that piece of work and help shape it in a way that I hope will be able to address some of the points that the Member has made.

Certainly. The provision of nurses in schools is determined in line with local population health needs by the local health board.

Thank you, Minister. I have been contacted by several residents in my region who are deeply concerned about changes in the way medication is administered in local special educational needs schools in Rhondda Cynon Taf. Whereas previously on-site special school nurse teams were responsible for administering medication, medication is now being administered by teaching assistants. This understandably concerns many parents and carers whose children have very complex care needs, not only regarding the training and competency of teaching assistants to be able to administer medication, but also regarding what protections are in place for the teaching assistants themselves. I think we can all recognise the important and invaluable work that teaching assistants do in a classroom, and taking on this extra role will further add to the burden that they are under, at the disadvantage of pupil engagement and learning. And as the Minister will know, school nurses will have occupational protections that teaching assistants simply will not have. With this in mind, do you, Minister, recognise these concerns that parents, carers and teaching assistants have and the overall negative impact they will have on learning in the class, and what steps can be taken to address them? Thank you.

I should say at the outset that, for the record, the responsibility for school nursing rests with the Minister for Health and Social Services, but I'm happy to respond to the question tabled today, although I think any similar questions or follow-ups might be better directed to the Minister for health in future.

Just to say that the arrangements for school nursing and the important work that they do to provide that link between school and home and the community is obviously particularly important in the context of providing medicine in the kind of situations that the Member has just outlined in his question. He will want to know that in April this year, NHS Wales will start the implementation of a new operating model to underpin the existing school nursing frameworks in Wales. It's a nurse-led model, which has been co-produced by the NHS and the Welsh Government, and it will set out some planned contacts that children and their families can expect from school nursing services. It will set out very clear guidance on the role of the school nursing service, and the involvement in relation to safeguarding, and to ensure provision of well-being contacts as well. So, I hope that the Member will welcome that progress during the course of this year.

Questions now from the party spokespeople. Conservative spokesperson, Samuel Kurtz.

Diolch, Llywydd. Weinidog, the consultation into changing school term times ended a month ago, with the suggestions in it gaining widespread disapproval from teaching unions, families, and young people too. This co-operation agreement idea between Labour and Plaid Cymru jeopardises one of the pinnacle events in Wales's cultural calendar, potentially costing the Royal Welsh Show over £1 million, with possible other knock-on effects to eisteddfodau and other summer show events, directly impacting the Welsh language and our culture. Now, while it is likely that a different education Minister will be tasked with taking the findings of the consultation forward, are you able to confirm today that the Royal Welsh Show will continue to be held during the school holidays and will not be required to move its dates to another point in the year?

Well, the consultation has closed. The responses are being considered. It's a very much more mixed response than the Member suggests in his question. I've met myself with the Royal Welsh Show. I heard from them, at first-hand, their concerns about their position, but also discussed with them options around the dates for the show. The purpose of the reform, just to be clear, is to make sure that our young people get the best possible education and that we are doing something proactive in relation to the learning loss that many of our young children face over the summer holiday. It is absolutely not a holiday for all our families in Wales—just to be clear. Some regard it with fear and anxiety. It also seeks to address the concern that staff and pupils and many parents talk about, which is the length of the autumn term. So, it's a complex set of reforms. It has many facets. That's why it's been important to hear the voices of a range of people, one of which is the Royal Welsh, but there will be a number of perspectives, and they will all be taken into account before any announcements are made.

[Inaudible.]—confirmation there that the Royal Welsh will be able to continue during the school term and it won't have to be moved into another part of the school holidays, affecting potentially the National Eisteddfod, the Urdd Eisteddfod, and other cultural events in Wales. I'm sure a lot of people will be slightly disappointed with that response, education Minister.

But in recent weeks, a report of a school in my constituency experiencing violence from pupils towards teachers has appeared in the press. I've reached out to the school to offer my support, and was impressed with the response from the headteacher. Unfortunately, however, incidents such as this are on the rise, and my colleague Laura Anne Jones has highlighted this issue on a number of previous occasions. In January of this year, teachers at a high school in the Vale of Glamorgan went on strike to demand action, following more than 50 serious incidents of verbal and physical abuse towards staff between September and early January. Teachers have described how they have to lock themselves and pupils into classrooms to, and I quote, 'Protect them from being used like punch-bags.' It is vital that we attract new teachers to the profession, but with the rise in violent disruption, the profession isn't as attractive as it might well be. So, what action are the Welsh Government taking to address these issues and provide schools with the resources to make both teachers and pupils feel safe whilst in school? And have you given any consideration to the five-point plan brought forward by my colleague Laura Anne Jones to help in this regard?

Just on the Member's first supplementary comment on my first answer, I don't think those organisations will be disappointed by my response. I think they will be pleased to hear a Government taking a range of considerations into account before announcing a large policy change in accordance with our expectations on Governments everywhere.

In relation to your second point, I'm aware of the circumstances in the particular school to which the Member refers and I was distressed to hear the circumstances of the incident there, as we will all have been. There has been a change in society and there have been consequences to the way in which we have had to respond to COVID and other pressures in recent years. This is not a challenge unique to Wales, but that doesn't make it any less important for us here. And it has created additional pressures and complexities in our school system. Right across Wales, there are schools trying to navigate these new challenges day in, day out. Our role as a Government is to support them in doing that, in often very challenging circumstances.

What we are doing specifically in relation to this is making sure that we are supporting schools with additional resources to assess the challenges that they can face, to set out strategies that we feel can help prevent some of those behaviour issues from occurring, dealing with them when they do happen, and preventing problems, crucially, from being entrenched or escalating to a stage where exclusion is being considered, because that, actually, isn't the solution either. I have considered the five points in the plan that Laura Jones put forward. Practically, all of them are things we're already doing, but it's nevertheless helpful to get confirmation that that is something that she supports as well.

So, finally, Minister, as it is likely that this will be our final set of questions on education and the Welsh language, I wanted to thank you for your responses—naturally, I haven't always agreed with you—and for the way that we can work together on issues related to the Welsh language.

However, I do want to refer back to a question that I've asked a number of times in the past, which has always had a weak response in my view. I and my fellow Members of the Welsh Conservatives are supportive of the 'Cymraeg 2050' target, and we do understand the importance of ensuring that learning Welsh at school provides a firm foundation in the language for the next generation. But there's uncertainty as to whether there will be enough teachers with good enough Welsh language skills to meet the needs of teaching Welsh to pupils in all schools across Wales.

Can you tell us where we are at the moment in terms of providing adequate Welsh language training and what targets are in place to ensure that training of this kind can continue and increase? Thank you.

I thank Sam Kurtz. Could I just say that I agreed with the first part of the question and his very kind remarks about that? It has been nice to collaborate with him, and also to have a Conservative spokesperson who is so supportive of the Welsh language is something to celebrate, so I appreciate that. The challenge and the point that he makes are very important in terms of ensuring that we have adequate numbers of staff to meet the needs and to provide the service that we want for all those wanting to learn through the medium of Welsh.

In terms of training, it's a varied picture within the partnerships that provide initial education, and, certainly, there's more to do to ensure that recruitment for Welsh-medium teachers specifically is more consistent among those partnerships and that that is strengthened generally. Of course, there are targets for all of them. This is part of the 10-year plan that we have as a Government to increase the numbers coming into the Welsh-medium teaching workforce, and we'll be completing a progress report on that before long.

And it's also important—. Although we talk a lot about, for valid reasons, the challenges facing those who choose to go into teaching, it's also important that we remember the scale of the opportunity to change the lives of young people and the privilege of doing that. It's one of the few opportunities available for somebody to be able to affect the lives of so many people, so it's also a profession to be celebrated. And I know teachers who go into work every day, who are inspired and who are very eager and proud to do that work, and I'm very grateful to them for what they do.

Plaid Cymru spokesperson, Heledd Fychan.

Thank you, Llywydd. Minister, like Sam Kurtz, I was reflecting on the fact that this may be our final scrutiny session with you in this current role, and I wanted to thank you for the constructive relationship we've had. One thing that stood out to me was the issue of RAAC—there was a lot of misinformation and uncertainty out there, and you did take the time to brief me personally at that point. And I think the fact that we have been able to work constructively together is very important, and to get the messages out there when there's a great deal of misinformation out there. So, thank you for that. I also wanted to welcome the investment in the Urdd Eisteddfod and the National Eisteddfod announced for this year, and I very much hope that this will be something that the Government can also support in the future, so that every area benefits from that.

Clearly, when it comes to the end of one’s ministerial role, possibly, then one does reflect on the Minister’s legacy and record. One of the things that we have certainly seen is that we are further from reaching the target of a million Welsh speakers by 2050 than we were when you became Minister, and there are many reasons for that. But why do you think that’s the case, and what needs to happen to change that if we are to achieve that target?

I thank Heledd Fychan for the way that she opened her question. It has been a pleasure to co-operate with her. I hope that I can continue to co-operate with you, whatever comes over the next few weeks. And it really is important that we do find ways to collaborate on the things that we see as common ground. So, I’m grateful for the opportunity to be able to do that.

In terms of progress against the target, can I just say that I’m not certain that we can say that clearly that we do know what the progress is against that target? It is increasingly clear, I think, that there are restrictions on what the census can tell us, and other sources of data show quite a different picture. So, a lot of work is happening at present to tackle how we make that consistent. And also, looking to the future, there is a possibility that there won’t be a census held in the future. So, we need to look at more creative ways perhaps of assessing progress against the target, and being able to respond to changes in a way that perhaps is more flexible and more nuanced than a 10-year census. In terms of the 2050 target, perhaps that isn’t frequent enough for us to be able to make the changes to the strategy that will ensure that we meet that target. So, the important thing, I think, is to ensure that we do understand what the data is telling us.

But, in terms of the response and what more we can do, I am very confident and I am very optimistic that the Bill that we’re working with Plaid Cymru on, in terms of ensuring Welsh-medium education for everyone in Wales—in the sense that everyone who leaves school, in whatever medium, can be confident in their Welsh language skills—is going to be more ambitious in one way than the 1 million Welsh speakers target. It’s going to be a catalyst for the system in a broader way, and tackles somewhat the question that Sam Kurtz asked about what we can do to ensure that more teachers are brought into the system. So, I’m very optimistic that what we have in the offing in that Bill is going to be an important contribution towards the target.

Thank you, Minister. To be clear, I wasn’t talking directly about the census, but looking at all the targets involved with ‘Cymraeg 2050’. For example, with targets in terms of training new teachers, it’s 30 per cent, and it’s remained below that and has been below that since 2019. We’ve also seen a reduction in the number of students taking A-level Welsh, which, of course, is a pathway for the recruitment of teachers, but also the range of jobs that need to be filled beyond education in reaching that target. So, I wanted to ask you specifically—we have a number of plans in place and there are targets: do you think that we need to review those targets? I accept your point in terms of monitoring, but how are we then going to ensure that we don’t have these targets—? For example, 1,000 people were meant to be taking Welsh A-level by 2021—we’re further away from that now. So, there are a number of targets that we’re not achieving. How do we then ensure that these aren’t just words or a strategy, that we achieve those targets, and what do you think needs to happen, if there is a successor in your role, in order to ensure that that does change on the ground?

Well, I accept that the targets in themselves aren’t enough, of course. We need to ensure that we are creative and continue to be creative in terms of how we approach this. But that’s part of the plan, of course, that we have in terms of the plan—. Well, we do have two plans in this area: the teacher recruitment plan—and the targets that you mentioned are a part of that as well—but also we have to look at the trajectory again, to ensure that what we are doing is adequate in order to meet that target. So, that work has started. It’s significant work, of course, but I’m very happy to be transparent about what we’re taking into consideration. At the end of the day, one of the things that is most encouraging is that there is cross-party support for this policy across the Senedd. So, from my perspective, I think an open, co-operative way is the best way to approach this, and so, as we take this forward in terms of the trajectory, I'm happy to discuss that, again, in an open way.

The Welsh Government has made a commitment to undertake a review of the healthy eating in schools regulations to consider the latest scientific research and recommendations concerning nutritional standards, including consideration of ultra-processed food. Preparation work to support this review is now under way.

Thank you. And, Minister, I thank you very much for all the discussions that we've had on this important issue. But the recent analysis of the extent of the evidence in the BMJ last month just adds to the body of evidence on this major public health concern. This is a failure of regulation and labelling of food for human consumption, which, in light of the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 and other matters, is principally a matter for the UK Parliament to resolve as a matter of urgency. The issue for us in Wales is how quickly and at what cost we can remove ultra-processed foods from public procurement. With the obligation to the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Act 2023 in mind, as well as the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, and bearing in mind the work under way in places like Carmarthenshire and Monmouthshire, what steps should the incoming Government take to engage with procurers and providers to excise these ultra-processed chemicals from school meals?

I thank Jenny Rathbone for her question and for her consistent and passionate advocacy of this cause, and I have a great deal of sympathy with the arguments that she makes, as she will know from our discussions in other contexts. I had an opportunity to look at the BMJ article in relation to this, and, whilst it's quite complex from a technical perspective, I was very, very struck by something, which, I'm afraid, I hadn't myself seen quite as central as some of the other elements to this, which is the relationship between, as they describe in the article, greater exposure, as it were, to ultra-processed foods and the high risk of prevalence of adverse sleep-related outcomes, as well as anxiety outcomes and other mental health concerns. I think the debate is often focused around the physical health implications of ultra-processed foods, so I think it's a broader discussion in some ways than that.

So, I think procurement has a role to play. There are existing pieces of work that we are undertaking within the Government already to pilot more local approaches to the school food system, which can then be more broadly applicable to food in public services more broadly, and there is a mix of local authorities, food wholesalers and growers being supported at the moment to focus on how we can localise school food supply, which I think is part of the answer to the challenge. That will, inevitably, mean that there is a lowering of exposure, as it were, to ultra-processed food. One of the pieces of work that the BMJ article refers to is some work which the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition—the SACN—has been doing, and the expert work that they are doing will inform the review that we are undertaking of the regulations. So, the work they're already doing on ultra-processed food will be taken fully into account in the way in which we review the regulations. And, of course, there's a clear connection between what the regulations require to be provided in schools and the process of procurement, so aligning those, obviously, is critical.

It's a really interesting question and it's something I take a great interest in, because, when I was working in the NHS, I used to have the same arguments in that context, from a rehab background, in saying, 'Well, how can we expect patients to make a full recovery without locally grown nutritious food?', and it's equally the same for children and children's development as well. Specifically, the UK Government has proposed a healthy schools rating scheme in England, something that the vast majority of parents are in favour of, where a rating is made of the nutritional value of a school's lunches that is made publicly available in a rating system available to parents. So, I'd just like to ask the Minister whether the Welsh Government would consider investigating something similar, where a rating is made based on the nutritional value of school food that is provided to pupils. Thanks.

So, our approach, as I mentioned in the answer to Jenny Rathbone, is to do a review of the regulations in their entirety to make sure that standards are driven through the regulatory change that we're planning to bring forward. So, we hope that will make the difference that we all prioritise.

We've committed over £1.6 million for STEM learning initiatives for the next financial year. This recognises that STEM is essential in preparing our children and young people for a fast-changing technological world.

Thank you for that response. Last week, I attended the launch of the sustainable power, renewables and construction alliance, or SPARC as it's better known, at Pembrokeshire College. The initiative is supported by Blue Gem Wind, Floventis Energy, Ledwood Mechanical Engineering, the Port of Milford Haven, RWE renewables, local secondary schools and, indeed, Pembrokeshire College, and it aims to promote gender diversity in these under-represented industries. So, Minister, will you join with me in welcoming this initiative, and can you tell us what the Welsh Government is doing to support schemes like this and what you are doing to replicate these sorts of schemes across Wales?

That's great to hear. I was actually at Pembrokeshire College quite recently talking to them about—. They're very much leading the way, I think, in terms of renewables education more broadly. I was able to talk to some apprentices, and some of the apprentices were women apprentices, and I thought it was fantastic to see a gender mix in the work that they were doing. We do take it very seriously in Wales, as the Member will know. It is, in fact, built into our education programmes for STEM. One of the initiatives that we have is the Engineering Education Scheme Wales's Girls into STEM programme, and the Institute of Physics whole-school inclusion and equity programme. So, there are many initiatives which we prioritise because I think it's really important that we present STEM as an opportunity, whether you're a boy or a girl, that is equally available to you. I think things are changing. I think we can see that already, can't we? But, as the Member has said, it's really important that we draw on the best practice that particular colleges and, often, schools themselves are doing and then universalise that throughout the system. My sense of it is, in particular in the context of renewables, that the appreciation of the scale of the opportunity which that now represents to economies right across Wales, including the Member's constituency, will support that work, because I think everybody can see that it's an opportunity for everybody.

As one of the very few Members of the Senedd who is an applied scientist and who studied A-level pure mathematics, physics and chemistry, I look forward onto a Government with four legally qualified Members, as two of them, including you, Minister, compete to become First Minister. If we want more school pupils to study STEM subjects, does the Minister not agree we need society to value scientists and engineers as highly as solicitors and barristers?

Well, I'm not sure about the divisive tone of that question, Mike Hedges. [Laughter.] But, in all seriousness, I think the Member is right. We can have as many initiatives as we like, as I've just talked about with Paul Davies and we've discussed in the Chamber many, many times before, but I think it's partly about how we describe the aspirations for young people as to the kind of careers they should be aspiring to. Whilst I do think we are doing a lot of that in relation to scientists and engineers, I would say we should probably be valuing them more highly that solicitors and barristers given the contribution that they can make to our future prosperity, and I say that, as Mike recognises, as a solicitor myself. But I do think there is an important point, which is that we don't limit the range of ambitions for our young people and that we are as encouraging of fields and professions that we may not ourselves have as much exposure to. It's incumbent on us at all parts of the school and education system to help open the minds and expand the horizons of young people, and I entirely agree with what he has said.

The Welsh Government has a zero-tolerance approach to any form of bullying in the Welsh education system and we expect the same from schools. We provide a range of resources and support to schools so they can prevent and tackle bullying, including our statutory anti-bullying guidance.

I'm very grateful to the Minister for his answer this afternoon. I'm sure the Minister will agree with me that there is no place for bullying in our society, and certainly not in our schools and education system. Minister, I recently met with a parent whose son is being bullied in a school in my constituency. Do you agree with me and my constituent that school leadership should use all the resources and powers available to them to stop bullying both in and outside of schools, and, if so, will you use your office in the Welsh Government to encourage school leaders to do just that? Diolch.

Well, I'm grateful to Jack Sargeant for bringing this issue to the Chamber. It is a very, very important issue. We are in the course of updating our statutory guidance on anti-bullying for schools and, as he will know, schools are required to have regard to statutory guidance. I do agree that there is no place in either schools or in our wider society for bullying, and I think that we would all acknowledge that it is sometimes challenging for schools to be able to tackle issues that take place outside of schools. I would encourage schools not only to intervene when problems start to emerge, but to try to promote respectful relationships in that broader way within the school community. And I think making sure that we are providing that support, providing that guidance, is a significant part of the work that we can do. So, free and bilingual materials to support anti-bullying initiatives and, more broadly, to support respectful relationships are currently available to schools and education settings via Hwb. And, as I just mentioned, we are in the course of quite a significant refresh of our anti-bullying guidance, which I hope will support school leaders even further.

I thank Jack for raising this issue. Minister, over the past few days, I have been inundated with tales of the bullying of children at a school in my region. Many young people have had their lives dramatically impacted by persistent bullying at Brynteg School. Parents have told me about the severe mental trauma their children are subjected to or the physical abuse that is occurring on an almost daily basis, and how, through it all, they don't believe that their concerns are being seriously addressed. Minister, how can we say that there is a zero-tolerance approach to bullying when young people are regularly subjected to abuse and their bullies are treated with kid gloves and the victims are forced to look for alternative schools? Is it right that parents are left with no alternative but to remove their children from a school because their child is afraid to walk the halls or use the bathrooms? Minister, what more can your Government do to stamp out bullying at schools in Wales?

Well, I won't comment on the specific example that the Member has given because I have no personal knowledge in relation to the incidents that he, I think, is alluding to, but, just to say, in the way that I answered the question from Jack Sargeant, we as a Government take it seriously. In my experience, schools generally take it seriously. There may be particular challenges in some schools, obviously, but we need to make sure that there is an anti-bullying culture in all schools and, as I was saying earlier, that starts with schools promoting more broadly respectful relationships. So, I hope that the resources that we provide, the priority that we attach to this and the further work that we have planned to renew our statutory guidance will make a difference in supporting school leaders to make sure that schools have anti-bullying cultures and promote those respectful relationships more broadly.

There is statutory guidance—. No, forgive me; I turned too many pages.

Question 6.

Yes. Diolch yn fawr.

I am committed to ensuring there is a relentless focus on continuing to improve attendance. That's why I established the national attendance taskforce in January to drive improvements in attendance and to re-engage our learners.

Thank you very much, Minister. The year before the pandemic, roughly one in 20 secondary school pupils in Wales was classed as being persistently absent, but, as of November 2023, that had increased to one in six. Now, that's obviously not just a Welsh problem; the pandemic has released an epidemic of persistent absence across the western world, and different governments are taking different approaches. In England, the UK Government has taken a suite of measures, including opening up 18 attendance hubs, led by schools with great attendance records, to share ideas and best practice to drive up those attendance figures across the board. Meanwhile, as you said, Minister, you've launched the national attendance taskforce to tackle persistent absence. When I spoke to one local authority education officer in Wales, I heard a lot about the good work that schools are doing on an individual basis to drive up attendance in their schools and in their area, but when I asked about the advice and support given to them by the Welsh Government and this taskforce, they said they'd not had any support from either yet, and that schools were broadly left to their own devices to deal with the problem. Now, I did have a look at the national attendance taskforce terms of reference, and it says that board meetings will occur bimonthly, subject to Ministers' diary commitments. That doesn't seem to me like a Welsh Government that is taking this problem with the seriousness that it deserves. So, are you confident that schools across Wales are being supported enough, centrally, by the Welsh Government and by this attendance taskforce, to give them the best practice to tackle persistent absence in Wales?

Well, the Member will know that we've reviewed the definition of persistent absence in Wales, I think, from the statistics that he's citing, so it no longer is defined as missing school at 20 per cent. It's now reduced to 10 per cent, so that the support can go in deeper and sooner. So, we expect that will enable us to make a difference, not least given the funding we're making available to family liaison officers and education welfare services to support this important priority.

The hubs that he talks about in England, I think—. I can't vouch for whether they are based on the work we do here in Wales, but we have attendance fora at local authority level both for primary and secondary schools. I'm not sure which particular authority the Member is talking to, but if he wants to let me know separately, I'd be happy to point him in the direction of the work that will be happening.

The work of the taskforce is a national strategic taskforce. It isn't there to solve challenges in individual schools, as I'm sure the Member will appreciate, and it was established at the end of last year and has met twice already, so its work—it's actually met three times—is progressing well. It's helping us understand what strategies we can put in place at a national level to better support schools and local authorities, and it is bearing fruit. The work it's doing is telling us very specific things about additional data that would be helpful in the system, but also how school leaders can use that data more consistently to develop effective strategies. And one of the crucial things it's able to do at a national level is identify best practice existing in schools and help us spread that throughout the system. But it's been established for a matter of weeks, it's met three times already, and I'm confident that it will help us solve the challenges.

There is statutory guidance in place that sets out the Welsh Government's policy on children missing education. This is available on the Welsh Government website.

Diolch. Currently, the issue of the Children Act 2004 (Children Missing Education Database) (Wales) Regulations 202X is under consultation. This states that a local authority must establish and operate a children-missing-education database, and that the database must include a child who is not a registered pupil and it appears to the local authority that the child is not, or may not be, receiving a suitable education. The vast majority of children missing education are registered school pupils, and many of those are children in the care system. These are not home-educated children. Why, therefore, are these regulations directly targeted at home-educated children rather than children who are genuinely children missing education? And why has the Welsh Government recently issued a consultation under the title 'children and young people on the margins', in which it describes children not enrolled in mainstream education as at risk of criminal exploitation, when evidence shows that home-educated children are not at such risk?

Well, as the Member says, there's a consultation on these matters, which he's welcome to respond to. I'd be grateful for any thoughts that he has in relation to it, as I'm sure there will be many responses. The consultation closes on 25 April.

I don't accept the characterisation, which the Member gives to this, that this an elective-home-education database. I think the proposals are both proportionate and reasonable. They're there to help local authorities effectively carry out their functions. If a local authority has been unable to determine that a home-educated child is in receipt of a suitable education, then that child is potentially missing education and will then be included in the database. That seems to me a reasonable step to take in the context of the challenge that the database regulations are there to solve. We've committed to undertaking a targeted consultation with children and young people themselves to ensure that their views are heard, and we'll be doing that in a child-friendly fashion so that we can engage the widest audience possible. It is important that we hear all the voices, and I'd encourage people to contribute to the consultation.

Finally, question 8, Siân Gwenllian.

Thank you, Llywydd. In Wales, only Cardiff University provides—

You need to ask—

Yes. I need to ask the question.

You need to ask the question on the order paper first and then you'll have another opportunity.

It's a comfort to me that the Member did that, because I gave the wrong answer to the previous question, or I started to do so at least. [Laughter.]

Educational psychologists play an important role in the education system in north Wales. We have committed over £2.6 million between 2022 and 2025 to train and retain new educational psychologists in Wales.

In Wales, only Cardiff University provides the doctorate required to qualify as an educational psychologist, and this poses particular problems for the north-west of Wales. Prospective educational psychologists have to travel or relocate to Cardiff, and there's no certainty that they will return to north Wales. There are also other challenges in this area. I don't have the time to pursue those today, but I will ask four specific questions. Do you agree that we need a training pathway that's located in north Wales, to ensure equal opportunities for local authorities in north Wales, to promote candidates who can work through the medium of Welsh, and, finally, to look at the level of the bursary for educational psychologists in training?

I thank the Member for those questions. In terms of the bursary, we do pay the education costs for the people on that scheme and we ask them, as a response to that, to commit to the system here in Wales for two years. In terms of attracting people who are Welsh speakers, in terms of the bursary, there is a requirement that a minimum number of people can train through the medium of Welsh in that sense, and in the last year that I have the figures for, a greater number than the target was reached. So, that, at least, is encouraging, I think, but I do accept that there is a challenge in attracting people into the profession in the north-west in particular, it appears, and attracting candidates to study in Cardiff has proven to be challenging. So, Cardiff University is working closely with councils across Wales to look at what they could do in order to secure training places for students in those areas, and maybe there's more to do to build on those links to attract students into the system in the first place. So, I think that, in this area, we do have a good plan; we have a level of commitment and a level of support that is significant, and it does appear that progress has been made in terms of the numbers coming through the system, specifically to work through the medium of Welsh, but I do accept that we do need specific work to ensure that progress is made and that the benefit of that will be felt in north-west Wales.

Thank you, Minister.

The next item is item 3, a debate on the second supplementary budget 2023-24, and I call on the Minister for finance to move the motion. Rebecca Evans.

Thank you. This supplementary budget presents the Welsh Government's final spending plans for the current financial year. It increases our fiscal revenue and capital spending plans by £429 million—a 1.9 per cent increase on the position set out in the first supplementary budget, published in June 2023.

This budget reflects the changes agreed in the in-year savings exercise in October. As a result of that work, we provided additional funding of £425 million to the NHS, and £125 million to Transport for Wales to help meet increased cost pressures.

Additional changes of a further £215 million revenue and £40 million capital have been made in this supplementary budget. We have made further allocations to the health and social services main expenditure group: £59 million has been allocated on a one-off basis to reflect the forecast deficit of the MEG, and an allocation of £95 million is regularised in this budget in respect of the backdated recovery payment element of the pay offer made to 'Agenda for Change' staff on 20 April 2023. Ten million pounds of capital has been provided to support a range of equipment and digital requests across the various health boards and trusts.

Thirty four million pounds of capital to support the core Valleys line has been allocated to the climate change MEG, and £15 million for maintenance and other capital works within the Wales trunk road network. The education and the Welsh language MEG has been allocated £12.56 million capital to address RAAC mitigation works, and to support capital maintenance and associated health and safety pressures across schools and colleges in Wales.

This supplementary budget also regularises funding received through Barnett consequentials, arising from changes to UK Government department spending. Only on 13 February did I receive confirmation of additional funding of £231 million revenue and £8 million capital, arising from Barnett consequentials. Due in part to the lateness of this notification, our spending plans for 2024-25 agreed last week, in our final budget, make use of £180 million of funding carried forward from this financial year.

I thank the committee for its consideration of this budget and the publication of its report. We will provide a detailed response to its recommendations in due course. I ask Members to support the motion.

I call on the Chair of the Finance Committee, Peredur Owen Griffiths.

Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. I'm pleased to speak in this debate today on behalf of the Finance Committee. The committee scrutinised the second supplementary budget on 29 February, and I'd like to thank the Minister for her attendance.

First, the committee is pleased to see increased funding being given to the Welsh Government as a result of the UK supplementary estimates. We welcome additional transfers always, however, we recognise that it was only at the last minute that the Minister knew their true value, and we note that this has caused difficulties. In our view, this leads to needless uncertainty and makes it challenging for the Minister to plan for the long term.

The committee are also disappointed that the Minister’s request, in the autumn, to switch funding from revenue to capital budgets was declined by the Treasury. We therefore ask the Minister to provide further information to explain the rationale for the decision and the impact it will have on the Government’s funding position. That said, we are pleased that the Treasury has allowed flexibility for the Government to use this funding in the next financial year and to waive draw-down limits on the Wales reserve, in recognition of how late in the day the announcements were made. However, as we discussed in the Senedd only a few weeks ago, it is not appropriate for these arrangements to be made at the whim of the Treasury and on a case-by-case basis, and we call again for such powers to be formalised.

Dirprwy Lywydd, the committee notes that this supplementary budget puts into effect what was announced by the Minister’s financial update, issued in October. Although we recognise the value of this exercise, we remain of the view that the Minister should have brought forward an additional supplementary budget to aid transparency, and this should be the case in future should the Minister make significant in-year changes. While we appreciate the Minister appearing before the committee to discuss these issues in November, we want to make it clear that we expect this to happen as a matter of course when significant changes are announced.

Turning now to specific portfolio allocations made in this supplementary budget. Of course we welcome the additional funding given to the health service, but have concerns about the sustainability of this approach, given that it comes so soon after allocations made in October. We have similar fears regarding the allocations given to Transport for Wales. The number of health boards that have not met their target control totals this year is of particular interest, especially as information on their performance in relation to these targets will not be available until the summer. As a result, we call on the Minister to provide details of progress in this area, so we can understand the financial position of health boards as soon as possible.

We also welcome the assurances given by the Minister that reductions in the resource allocations for mental health policies and legislation will not result in cuts to front-line services. Nonetheless, we found it difficult to understand what these changes relate to, and have asked the Minister to explain their practical impact.

Dirprwy Lywydd, I would like to mention two other areas to finish. In relation to the additional allocations made to Transport for Wales, we have recommended that the Minister undertakes an impact assessment to ensure that the Welsh Government’s approach provides value for money. In addition, despite assurances by the Minister that the reduction in the central services and administration MEG will not impact on Welsh Government staff levels, we ask the Minister to provide an update on whether these changes will impact capacity within the Welsh civil service.

Finally, we welcome the fact that the Minister has robust processes in place to monitor in-year spending. That said, we want her to go further, and we have recommended that forecast outturn information is published at regular intervals within the year, to enable the committee to look at governmental spending in real time.

As ever, we welcome the Minister’s continued engagement with us on these issues, and we ask her to press ahead with the areas that we have identified in our report. Thank you very much.

I know we've had many debates on Welsh Government funding recently. Each one of these, while seemingly quite technical, is important and they all have a story to tell. Let's not forget the context of this supplementary budget. Much of this, we know, regularises the budget changes that happened following the surprise budget announcements we saw following the First Minister's warning of projected deficits during the summer recess. Those knee-jerk decisions were made in October due to poor forward planning by this Labour Government, who had clearly failed to acknowledge the inflationary indicators that were known about in advance of setting this year's final budget. This poor management created huge unrest and concern to many areas as their funding was withdrawn.

The supplementary budget provides additional money for the delivery of NHS core services, which is welcome, but it can't disguise the results of years of underfunding of our health service as a direct result of Welsh Government's policy agenda. As I've said time and time again, if the Welsh Government had been using all the full force of the funding made available for Welsh health services, then our Welsh NHS would have been more resilient, and our health boards would have been better prepared to manage today's challenges.

This set of funding decisions also saw cuts to the apprenticeships of £17.5 million, cuts that were carried forward in the 2024-25 draft budget. Now, whilst the 2024-25 final budget reinstates £5 million, this decision to cut that budget will, of course, lead to a reduction in the number of apprenticeships that will be delivered this Senedd term. This is a crying shame as these courses allowed the next generation of tradesmen, farmers, engineers and many other professions to access training and development opportunities that could help grow the Welsh economy. The cutting of these apprenticeships will do nothing but ensure Wales continues to fall behind the rest of the United Kingdom when it comes to average earnings and economic activity.

The Welsh economy is something this Government just doesn't focus enough on. Our small businesses, which make up the vast majority of business and employment opportunities for people across Wales, are the economy's lifeblood and should be Government priority. The Welsh Government needs to create an economic environment in which businesses can thrive, not one where businesses struggle to survive. This supplementary budget saw non-domestic rate relief cut by £31 million, which is drastic considering businesses in Wales pay the highest rate of business rates in Great Britain. To make matters worse, funding was provided by the UK Government to enable a cut in business rates for the hospitality, retail and leisure sectors, but this support was not passed on here in Wales. This decision punishes businesses here, with businesses in the sector paying almost double the amount in rates as they would if they were on the other side of the border.

As we've already heard from the Chair of the Finance Committee, this supplementary budget relates mainly to the process of reprioritisation that was held back in October. It's taken almost seven months—over half of this current financial year—to get a full picture of the Welsh Government's spending plans. Once again, we're in a situation where fiscal issues in Wales are presented to us as a fait accompli, without much time, if truth be told, to scrutinise them. And I echo the calls made by the committee Chair for a review to see whether the protocol we currently have does give us that level of accountability that we should expect from a national Government.

But to turn to the specific content of the supplementary budget, it is a cause of concern that the plans are mainly putting sticking plasters over large budgetary holes that have been allowed to develop over many years. As we mentioned back in October, we do have to provide that £425 million of additional funding for the health service in the context of the fact that there’s a cumulative deficit of £648 million across the seven health boards in Wales in the current year. Although I do note that the Welsh Government has set targets to reduce that deficit, they have had to provide another £59 million to account for the fact that three health boards are to fail to meet those targets.

It’s difficult to come to any conclusion other than that we, in terms of our health service, are on a totally unsustainable path under this Government. We’re constantly seeing lengthy waiting lists, we are seeing target after target being missed, and despite the commitment of the incredible staff we have across our health service, we’re seeing levels of healthcare that still fall short of what we should be able to expect. Without an urgent change of course we are going to be stuck in a vicious circle where an increasing amount of the Welsh budget is thrown at health without seeing that fundamental improvement that we should expect as a result of that in terms of service standards.

Unfortunately, we’re seeing a similar theme in the case of transport—£125 million allocated to Transport for Wales being used to fill gaps in revenue rather than to improve the performance of a rail operator that’s reached the bottom of the league recently in terms of customer satisfaction in the Transport Focus survey of passengers. We of course recognise that the pandemic had a very significant impact and an inevitable impact on the number of passengers, but one can only have so much sympathy knowing that many rail operators across the UK have already managed to reach and get beyond passenger levels before the pandemic. And passengers in Wales have to accept another increase in ticket prices from April onwards.

This is a strange debate. This supplementary budget regularises allocations to and from reserves, transfers within and between portfolios, and includes adjustments to the Wales budget to reflect the impact of UK Government fiscal events. In the second supplementary budget, the money, or almost all the money, has been spent. It has all been allocated. It has almost all been physically spent. I'm not sure what would happen if a supplementary budget is rejected. Are you going to take money off people, off the health service, because you shouldn't have spent it?

I have a number of points. The movement of revenue to capital or capital to revenue should be the decision of the Welsh Government, not the decision of the Treasury. The money has been allocated to Wales. How we spend it should be the decision of the Welsh Government supported by the Senedd, not being decided by the Treasury, which doesn't seem to grasp the fact that this is not another Government department; it's a devolved institution, and it's a Government in its own right.

I'll ask the Minister some questions. Can the finance Minister assure us that no money will be paid back to the Treasury? If that assurance cannot be made, can I suggest that the money is spent? I will suggest giving it to local government, which always has a need for additional money. Why can't updates on expenditure be given more regularly, even if only in written form to the Finance Committee?

And finally, an additional £59 million has been allocated in the supplementary budget to reflect the forecast deficit of the health and social services main expenditure group. Current forecasts from NHS bodies indicate that although there are significant improvements, with four of the seven local health boards forecasting to hit their target deficit, the other three will fall short of the target set in November, when they were given extra money in November. Why are health boards overspending? Can the health Minister provide a written statement on overspends, identifying the areas of overspending and the reasons for that overspending? Health seems to be given a free pass on overspending—it's health money; it must be good. And I think that some financial discipline and, dare I say, productivity needs to be brought into the health service.

I hesitate to contradict Mike Hedges, who's obviously the expert on financial matters, hearing what he's saying that there isn't actually any extra money as we've already allocated it. But I want to probe with the finance Minister the allocation of additional money into the core budget of health boards, which I welcome, because I acknowledge the financial challenge they face in light of both increased costs and increased demand. We'd already recognised just what a challenging situation it was for them to endeavour to break even under the current circumstances. I want to understand where it leaves us on being able to resolve the junior doctors and consultants pay dispute, because we have rehearsed earlier just how much lack of clarity there's been from the Treasury as to what consequential we can get from the apparent resolution of pay disputes in the English NHS, which seems to be an absolutely crucial issue.

But I also wanted to just put in a plea, if there were to be any extra money, if Mike Hedges's analysis isn't quite as gloomy as it appears to be, for the social justice budget, which has suffered some of the most severe cuts, and wasn't a beneficiary of any of the supplementary budget that we debated most recently. I want to particularly get us to focus on the importance of continuing to ensure that we provide proper advice services to people who get themselves into debt, because, obviously, it's far more costly for them to move even further into debt if they don't understand the measures they can take to mitigate that, as well as the discretionary assistance fund to help the most desperate cases. We very much welcome the £30 million investment in the Warm Homes programme that we discussed yesterday, but, clearly, if there was any spare money at all, more money into that fund will pay dividends on the invest-to-save basis in the long term.

I call on the Minister for Finance and Local Government to reply to the debate.

Thank you. I'm very grateful to colleagues for their contributions today. Obviously, the second supplementary budget is an important part of our budgeting process. It approves and authorises the revised spending plans of the Welsh Government and those bodies directly funded through the Welsh consolidated fund, and it sets the limits against which the final outturn position will be measured.

I'll respond to some of the specific points, and I'll start off with the Finance Committee's report, which we're very grateful for, and grateful for the scrutiny. I particularly welcome the committee's recognition of the constraints that are placed on us within the existing fiscal framework, and the agreement from the committee that the flexibilities that we are requiring are supported by the committee, and, indeed, by the entire Senedd, in the debate that we had recently. So, I'm very pleased to see that particular recommendation, but, of course, I'll provide a full response shortly to the report.

Mike Hedges asked about the reserve and the potential for breaching that reserve this year. Just to reassure colleagues, there's no prospect of that happening this year, and that's partly because of the extraordinary measures that we had to undertake in this financial year to manage the position. Essentially, we had leave from the Chief Secretary to the Treasury to withdraw everything from the Wales reserve, which was part of our plans, but, of course, we had a better situation come through the supplementary estimates than anticipated, so we do have room within the reserve to deal with any further underspends that emerge in this financial year, so that's a more comfortable place now. We were also able to carry some additional funding over outside of the reserve into next year, which, again, was pragmatic, I think, on the part of the UK Government.

In terms of the capital-to-revenue switch, it is the case that we've only had our Barnett share, if you like, of the capital-to-revenue switches that have been agreed by the UK Government for UK Government departments. Obviously, that is really problematic, because we do need a system whereby we can make that request, whether it's to the Treasury or whether it's to have agreement through the Senedd—we need a process that works for us here in devolved Government so that we're not just beneficiaries or otherwise of changes that take place in Westminster departments. We just need an opportunity to initiate that kind of change ourselves.

In terms of transparency, we tried to be as transparent as we could in October, when we were providing more detail of the reprioritisation exercise that we had to undertake in the Welsh Government. In terms of, though, putting that through a supplementary budget at the time, I think that would be problematic, in the sense that what we were doing then was moving money within the Welsh Government, whereas to undertake a proper supplementary budget you do need to understand what the other side of the coin is, if you like—so, the funding that's also coming in from the UK Government—which is why we have the main estimates, which inform our first supplementary budget and any spring statement, and then the second supplementary budget is informed by the supplementary estimates by the UK Government. I think that you do need to see both parts of that equation before you can really table a meaningful supplementary budget.

The proposal is to agree the motion. Does any Member object? [Objection.] Yes, there is objection. I will defer voting under this item until voting time.

Item 4 today is the topical questions, and first we have a question from Sioned Williams.

I made a written statement to update Members on this matter on 11 March.

Diolch, Dirprwy Weinidog. I welcome the announcement from the Government to hold a review into the culture of all fire and rescue services in Wales, as we have been calling for, ever since the findings of the damning report into the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service was published. But this cannot distract from the fact that the Government has failed to get to grips with this matter earlier and that that has eroded staff confidence in the process.

In your statement on Monday, announcing the reviews, you mentioned it was because you had continued to receive correspondence, including allegations from current and former employees of both organisations, and that staff needed to be assured that they had safe and effective means to share their experiences. Given this reasoning, Deputy Minister, together with the testimony of those who spoke to ITV Wales news, including more than 35 whistleblowers, who were critical of the culture in north Wales—one describing sexual harassment and physical assault at the service—and the fact that Stuart Millington was head of safeguarding in North Wales Fire and Rescue Service, are you still content with his appointment by the commissioners as the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service's current interim chief fire officer? And what are your views on how it looks to both staff and the public? Fire Brigades Union members in south Wales have stated that they feel profoundly and deeply let down by this appointment, and given the allegations against Mr Millington and the fact that members of the south Wales fire brigade called an extraordinary meeting and passed a vote of no confidence in him, do you accept that these concerns have so far failed to be addressed? Do you have any concerns around the way this appointment was made by the commissioners, as regards transparency and in regard to the lack of consultation with the unions, or indeed with yourself?

And finally, Deputy Minister, these reviews must be thorough and wholly independent in their approach to tackling this unacceptable behaviour that we see all too often in our public services. So, how will you ensure the reviews are fully independent, if the fire and rescue services are appointing their own investigators? To ensure a full and sufficiently robust and deep review, will the Welsh Government provide the necessary resourcing and will you be ensuring that the reviews are based on the same terms of reference as those in south Wales for consistency? Diolch.

Diolch. Can I thank Sioned Williams for her question? I've been clear—. I keep Members in the Senedd updated, and that's what I've done, and as long as I'm in this position, I will continue to do that as well. As soon as the Fenella Morris KC report and its findings were published into the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service, I said that we would reflect urgently on the extent to which lessons were learnt in the other services, but whether similar issues were present in Wales's two other fire and rescue services.

In my first oral statement to this place on 9 January, I did urge other fire and rescue services, and indeed other public services, to reflect on that as an example of how badly wrong things can go, if issues of good governance and management are neglected. Since then, I've met with both the chief fire officers of Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service and North Wales Fire and Rescue Service, as well as with the chairs of those two authorities, to discuss the Morris report and its recommendations, and, as I said in the written statement, to seek those assurances about the culture at these organisations and to set out those expectations about workplace culture in the services.

I think both organisations have already embarked on comprehensive programmes to review and improve their organisational cultures. As I said in the written statement too, some progress has been made, and there are examples of good practice. The fact that I and others continue to receive correspondence from current and former employees of both organisations means that it is time for them to carry out more in-depth reviews that, as you say, need to be led independently as well. And there should be—. And that's why we were clear in those discussions on getting to this point with them agreeing to carry out these independent reviews: they need to have, as part of that process, a transparent process or system for those people to be able to come forward. And I said to you and I said in this place previously that they shouldn't have to go to the press and they shouldn't have to go to politicians. And hopefully, as part of this review, we can make sure that that system is in place as well.

I continue to work with the commissioners of the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service. They will be moving to appoint a more substantive chief fire officer or chief executive officer. I would hope that, as part of that process, they will also update Members, particularly in the South Wales region, about that progress. And I understand that they will also make sure that as part of that process, within a more substantive post, there is a stakeholder engagement programme as part of that, not just with the FBU, but with other staff representative bodies and other trade unions, such as Unison, GMB and Unite, as part of that as well. From my perspective, I have always met regularly with the trade unions as well, and I will continue to do so. I have met with the FBU, including with their executive officer for Wales, and also the general secretary, Matt Wrack.

Deputy Minister, I think it's plain to see by all that an independent review of the culture and values of all of Wales's fire and rescue services has been needed for some time. Indeed, I was the first to call for this back in January when you made your initial statement, and I believe, as I'm sure many other Members of this Chamber do, that this review was inevitable, and that, by delaying it, the Welsh Government have simply demonstrated their lack of leadership on the issue. Deputy Minister, I think it is an outright failure of you and this Government not to have taken action sooner, and you've put staff in North Wales Fire and Rescue Service into a position where they had no other choice than to go to the media in order to get their voice heard and to expose the culture of bullying, sexual harassment and favouritism that exists in the service. This has further caused immense reputational damage to the fire service in Wales.

As you will be aware, there's a major shortage of firefighters, in particular retained firefighters. And with more than a 20 per cent reduction in Wales since 2010, there is now an even greater potential for lives to be put at risk. We all recognise that considerably more needs to be done than just another review of culture and values, and that there needs to be a major overhaul of the Welsh fire service. With this in mind, Deputy Minister, and in light of the poor working conditions in the fire service, what proposals do you have to improve the reputation of the fire service as an employer, encourage more retained firefighters, rebuild public trust in the service, and show that it is fit for purpose? Thank you.

Diolch, Joel James, for that question. I refer back to part of my previous answer, that the point where we got to with the announcement on Monday in the written statement, to update Members, was part of the process that had been ongoing since I first made clear in this place, when we first reflected on the findings of the Fenella Morris KC report, that we would actually consider what that meant for the other fire and rescue services. And what's happened over the following weeks, as that process of dialogue with those organisations has continued, both in correspondence and face-to-face conversations, is to actually ensure that they had put measures in place already, but actually to get to the point, when there was a recognition to have that independent review, to provide, as I said, again, that assurance both for staff and for the public alike. And that independent review will not just take into account and reflect the findings of the Fenella Morris KC report but a number of other reports too, such as His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services in England's spotlight report, and also to look at the steps that both mid and west and north Wales fire and rescue services have taken already, whether that's through staff engagement surveys, or putting processes into place. And as I said before, there's a recognition that they have started to take those steps when I've met with them, but also actually the need to go that step further, to provide that assurance, and to learn from that, and actually to put the service in the place where I'm sure that we all want to see it be.

In terms of the wider issues that Joel James raises—I know that you've been involved with the Equality and Social Justice Committee's inquiry, led by my colleague, as the Chair, Jenny Rathbone, into the wider governance of fire and rescue services and authorities in Wales. And I very much look forward to seeing the outcome of the committee's work. I think it's timely, and it's important, and it sits alongside also the work the Wales audit office is doing around governance too, and I'm sure there'll be some broader recommendations and points that can build on the work that we've already started to do as a Government. And before now, we have committed our position to wanting to broaden the role of firefighters in Wales. It is one way to ensure the sustainability of the service, both in terms of perhaps recruitment and retention, and offering a place, but also to actually address some of the concerns around a retained fire service, because the way people live and work has changed and has made it much more challenging in a number of communities in Wales not just to recruit, but to, actually, retain those retained firefighters. And actually broadening the role is one of the ways in which we could address those challenges.

Members of the Fire Brigades Union have been clear that the appointment of Mr Millington is deeply disappointing, and I think what I'm trying to understand, and I think Members on these benches are trying to understand, is, essentially, how did we get to this point, given the allegations that were made against him, given the vote of no confidence in him by members of the brigade? How did we get to this point? The appointment came with no consultation with yourself nor the trade unions, so how do we rebuild trust?

Can I thank Luke Fletcher for his interest? And can I apologise for not being able to make it to your event at lunchtime with the FBU around DECON, but hopefully somebody from my office was there as well. And it's actually something we've discussed, as part of our social partnership forum, and actually how we can apply some of those lessons in Wales.

Returning to the point you made regarding the interim chief fire officer, as I said before, that was an operational appointment to maintain strategic leadership of the service and operational response cover continually. It was a decision—. We put the commissioners in place and gave them the full remit to reform, particularly the senior management leadership of South Wales Fire and Rescue Service. As I said in my answer to your colleague Sioned Williams, the permanent chief fire officer or chief executive post will be advertised and an appointment made as soon as possible. And as part of that process, the commissioners will engage with a full engagement process with stakeholders, which will involve all of the trade unions, including the FBU as well. In terms of my own engagement, as I said I meet regularly with all the trade unions and the fire and rescue services, and I will continue to do so for as long as I'm in this post.

Thank you, Deputy Minister. The next topical question is to be answered by the health Minister and to be asked by Mabon ap Gwynfor.

I understand the strength of feeling among local people about this issue. Today I have asked the chief commissioner of the ambulance services for certainty about how many discussions have been held with local communities about those concerns and to what extent these have been taken into account. No decision has been made. The commissioners will be discussing the options, which will include the opinion of stakeholders.

I thank the Minister for that response. No decision has been made, according to her, but a recommendation has been made to close Dinas Dinlle and Welshpool, and that recommendation will come as a huge blow to the people of the north-west and mid Wales. In rural areas such as these, particularly, the air ambulance service has been crucial, enabling emergency treatment to be provided, in a timely manner. Now, the report claims that relocating services to somewhere in the north-east of Wales would enable it to get to a larger population more quickly, but this will mean that there will be fewer communities served, which include some where transport connectivity is extremely challenging. And this is very concerning when you consider that the report recommends a road vehicle as the main provision of emergency care in areas of north-west Wales, such as Dwyfor Meirionnydd, Anglesey or, indeed, north Ceredigion and Montgomeryshire too. The lack of detail in the report in terms of how many vehicles will be available and where they'll be located also adds to concerns. Now, consider, for example, if someone, at the moment, has to travel from Caernarfon to the far end of the Llŷn peninsula, that can be done in minutes in an air ambulance, but in a road vehicle it will take an hour and a half.

The residents of Gwynedd, Ceredigion, Montgomery, Môn, and mid and north-west Wales have a right to emergency life-saving services as every other area. Despite the fact that the 'air ambulance' is the title, it is an airborne hospital, and in areas where we don't have emergency services, then it does provide a crucial service. In addition to that, losing the air ambulance in Welshpool and Dinas Dinlle will also mean that we lose skills in terms of those people who will no longer be working in that area, and will lead to reduced services for the people living in those areas.

So, do you recognise that the new arrangements leave communities in north-west and mid Wales in a disadvantaged situation as compared to the previous arrangements, and why does the Welsh Government see this as an acceptable price to pay?

I understand the strength of feeling that the Member has about this, and I know that the communities also feel very strongly about it.

The emergency ambulance services committee is meeting on 19 March to consider the recommendations of the EMRT service review and it would be inappropriate for me to comment or pre-empt any final decision that hasn't been made yet. Now, EASC is legally responsible for planning and securing EMRT services, and we shouldn't undermine the well-established governance put in place to make decisions like these. I know that Llais have been engaged on the EMRT service review processes as well. So, I think we've got to let this process take its course, and I will obviously be very keen to see when and if and how it's appropriate for Welsh Government to intervene.

I think it's an understatement, Minister, to say I'm disappointed with the chief ambulance commissioner's final report that was made public today. Closing Welshpool and Caernarfon bases cannot be an option. It is entirely unacceptable, and I certainly hope that Welsh Government Ministers will intervene in this process before it is too late—and I've heard what you've just said.

'Nobody would be worse off', is what we've been told for the past 18 months during this process—nobody will be worse off. But people will be worse off if the recommendations come to pass. They will be. There's no doubt about that. There will be slower response times to not just a couple of villages but to swathes of people living in mid and north-west Wales. So, this is not going to be the case if these recommendations come to pass.

The recommendations, I note as well, do not even set out what would be the case to mitigate the negative impacts that are realised within the report. So, a question from me is: how can a decision be made without that first being the case? The one significant question I have is this: what impact did the engagement process have? What impact did the engagement process have? Because the overwhelming response from people across mid and north Wales—and it even boasts in the report here: 23 weeks of engagement, 45 engagements—thousands of responses all pretty much saying the same thing: the Welshpool and Caernarfon bases should not close. Not one constituent in the past 18 months has said to me, 'You know what, I think that closing the Welshpool base or reconfiguring the services in mid Wales will actually lead to a better service for us.' Not one person has said that to me, not even privately.

And I ask the question as well because the recommendation is exactly the same—exactly the same—as the proposal in the original leaked document of 18 months ago, which also outlined that Welshpool and Caernarfon bases close, reconfiguring in one location. So, what is your message, Minister, to the many people across Wales who would say this was a done deal from the start? What is your response to that? You've said in your earlier response that a decision has not yet been made and it will be made after the recommendation. We've now had that recommendation and my concern is that it will be too late to intervene once that decision has been made by the committee that you referred to.

So, can you set out what will happen next and how you, Minister, and your colleagues will intervene? Will you be questioning the risk that will be presented if only one base was in operation across the whole of mid and north Wales? Because you know yourself from our questioning last month that if there's one base alone and there are adverse weather conditions then there will be no cover of any bases operating across north and mid Wales. Will you also be assessing and questioning the risk of longer response times in Powys, where we have no district general hospital?

Well, thanks very much. The advice from the chief commissioner to the committee is that the recommended option will enable EMERTS to help more patients across Wales and to get to more places in Wales more easily, but I hear what you say and I hear what Mabon has said in terms of how that will impact on certain parts of Wales. His advice is that the recommended option will also enable more night cover for the people of mid and north Wales. So, at the moment, that night cover is coming from Cardiff, and that will make greater use of highly skilled clinicians' time. I do think that there has to be a consideration in here somewhere of efficiency and cost-effectiveness and how much use is made of the service.

What impact—. You asked about the impact on the statement that has been made in terms of the engagement. I've today asked for further written assurances on the level of engagement and how that engagement has shaped the decision to recommend a consolidation of bases, alongside other factors used to shape the recommendation. So, I've asked for that in writing just to make sure that I'm absolutely clear that there has been an impact in terms of listening to the people. I've also asked what are my legal powers to intervene in relation to this. It will clearly not be a decision for me, in the sense that I'm somebody who represents the area that may be impacted and, obviously, would have to pass on any consideration to somebody else in the Government.

I am furious in reading today's recommendation, I have to say. I believe that we've been led on a lengthy journey where the destination was entirely inevitable. The Minister says that she will ask for an assurance that there has been sufficient consultation. Well, there's been plenty of consultation; they'll be able to show you clearly that there's been consultation over a lengthy period of time to get to the point where we started and the point that raised so many concerns across a broad area of Wales.

I want to thank everyone who has campaigned, and I encourage them to work with us still to ensure that this is not implemented. They did protest, they did attend public meetings, they did respond to the consultation, and they made the case that the original proposal would mean a poorer service for people across broad areas of Wales. This is a statistical exercise, finding the easiest way to reach higher numbers of patients in north-east Wales. But the recommendation does that at the expense of people in my constituency in Anglesey and across north-west Wales, and across a broad area of mid Wales too.

And I am convinced that there is a way that we could have invested, particularly in road vehicles, to provide better services in north-east Wales—we all want to see that too—whilst not seeing a deterioration in the service across the rest of Wales. I appeal to the Minister that she doesn't leave it too late to intervene, to think about the deficit in service. And it's not patients alone who are saying that, it's not just people who fundraise, it's doctors, paramedics, who have been speaking to me and urging me to make the case for retaining these services.

And I ask the Minister to also consider this, given the recruitment challenges and the staffing challenges we have in the health service in Wales. I want her to remember the value of having centres that attract the best doctors, the best paramedics to places like Dinas Dinlle and the huge blow that will make it easier to have a centre in the middle of north Wales to attract doctors from the north-west of England to serve on the air ambulance, because that's what doctors themselves are telling me is at risk of happening.

Thank you very much. As I said, I have asked for more information about the impact that the consultation has had on the recommendation, so, I'm looking forward to receiving that information. I think it's also worth saying that the charity itself, the air ambulance, they started along this path and so, ultimately, they will have a voice in how this ends up. So, I'm very eager to receive a response and we'll see where my rights, as a Minister, are to intervene. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister.

Item 5 is next, the 90-second statements. The first statement is from Huw Irranca-Davies.

Diolch, Llywydd. Today is Swallow Awareness Day. We often take for granted our ability to have a drink or share a meal with family and friends. It's something you just do. But, for some, that is not the case. Swallow Awareness Day reminds us that eating, drinking and swallowing difficulties are common and they often occur with other health conditions, such as following a stroke, or a diagnosis of Parkinson's or dementia.

Swallowing difficulties, or dysphagia, to use the medical term, can affect people of every age and every stage of life, from newborn babies to people nearing the end of life. Some of the signs and symptoms of eating, drinking and swallowing difficulties are food getting stuck in the throat, difficulty chewing or controlling food or fluids in the mouth, recurrent chest infections or pneumonia, or food or drink coming out of the nose when swallowing and anxiety when eating, drinking or swallowing. Now, eating, drinking and swallowing difficulties can lead to a poorer quality of life for individuals and their families due to embarrassment and lack of enjoyment of food. Dysphagia can also have potentially life-threatening consequences. It can result in choking, pneumonia, chest infections, dehydration and malnutrition, resulting in avoidable hospital admission and in some cases, sadly, death.

But our speech and language therapists have a unique role to play in the assessment and the diagnosis and the management of swallowing difficulties. I recently visited speech and language therapists at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend to learn more about their work in this area, and I was struck by their expertise and compassion. Llywydd, I hope a number of Members here in the Senedd had the opportunity to attend the swallowing cafe hosted by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists and Mabon today, in conjunction with the Senedd catering team, to learn first-hand about the impacts of this. So, today, on Swallow Awareness Day, Llywydd, we pay tribute to the amazing professionals who help all those living with or supporting people with eating and swallowing difficulties.

Thank you, everyone.

Tomorrow, Thursday 14 March, is World Kidney Day. The number of adults in Wales receiving treatment, either via a kidney transplant or dialysis, is over 3,000 and is estimated to increase by 3 per cent per year, based on the latest data published by the UK Renal Registry. There are also 38 children receiving treatment for kidney failure.

Last week, I held an event for the Popham Kidney Support, which is based in my constituency, a charity that supports people throughout Wales with kidney disease. It was surprising to see, at the event held in the Senedd, the number of staff working at the Senedd who called in who had relatives or friends suffering with kidney problems. When your kidneys are damaged, waste products and fluids can build up in your body. This can cause swelling in your ankles, nausea, weakness, poor sleep and shortness of breath. Without treatment, the damage can get worse and your kidneys eventually stop working. Early signs of kidney disease include dizziness and fatigue and one of the first possible signs of weakening kidneys is the experience of overall weakness in yourself and your overall health, swelling and changes in urination. The problem with this, like a lot of these symptoms, is that an awful lot of other diseases are picked up by the same symptoms. So, I would urge people, if they have those symptoms, to visit their GP.

Chronic kidney disease is a long-term condition, where kidneys do not work as well as they should. It's a common condition often associated with getting older, but I think it's important that we look after our kidneys and that we take every opportunity to visit our GP if we need.

Finally, David Rees.

Diolch, Llywydd. On Sunday, at 12.19 p.m., at the age of just 32, Tassia Haines passed away after a fierce eight-year journey with primary and secondary breast cancer.

All here have either met Tassia, or have, at the very least, received the many lobbying e-mails from her. I first met Tassia in 2021, when she came to my office to ask me to raise an issue with the Welsh Government about a lack of provision for secondary breast cancer patients in Wales. What followed was an explosion of enthusiasm, determination and tenacity not to accept answers that were just words, but actions that would deliver better services for those patients who would follow her in receiving a diagnosis of secondary breast cancer. This included a petition to the Senedd's Petition Committee, titled 'Don't leave metastatic breast cancer patients in Wales behind', which received over 14,000 signatures and was debated here in the Siambr.

What a journey Tassia's activism has taken, particularly in the last two years. Huge progress has been made as a consequence of her determination to strengthen the provision for secondary breast cancer patients in Wales. A new MBC pathway was approved by the Wales cancer network, which will be rolled out across Wales NHS trusts, and work is ongoing to secure secondary breast cancer nurse specialists everywhere in health boards across Wales. Last year, I was pleased to host Tassia and METUPUK in the Pierhead as they released new red-flag symptoms guidance across the trusts and primary care provision.

But Tassia wasn't just an activist, she was a strong patient advocate for MBC patients in Wales, and inspired tens of thousands on social media across the world, as she documented her journey with breast cancer. But we forget the other side of her, as she was also a very talent artist, and she often channelled her artistry through her activism. Now, she is survived by her husband Nick and her mother Gina, and, on behalf of Members across the Siambr, I send them our condolences at this sad and difficult time.

To conclude, Llywydd, Tassia would want me to say here that her death, whilst tragic, is not an anomaly, and around 12,000 women each year in the UK die of secondary breast cancer. It remains one of the leading causes of death in women. Whilst Tassia may no longer be leading that campaign, it is incumbent upon all of us here to ensure that her legacy will be improved specialist care for patients still living with this terrible disease in Wales.

Thank you, Tassia, for everything.

Thank you for that very strong tribute to Tassia, and our thoughts as a Senedd are with her family at this very difficult time. But, diolch, Tassia.

Item 6, therefore, is a debate on the Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee's report on 'Town Centre Regeneration'. The Chair to move the motion, Mark Isherwood.

Prynhawn da. Good afternoon. Thank you, Llywydd, for the opportunity to discuss the Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee’s report on town centre regeneration. Our report touches all of our communities and constituencies. This inquiry considered the Auditor General for Wales’s report, 'Regenerating Town Centres in Wales', published in September 2021. This report considered how local authorities managed and regenerated their town centres and how the Welsh Government was helping them to meet this challenge. It identified four key areas for local authorities to consider, focusing on four key headings.

First, the intention: local authorities being clearer on the purpose of their town centres and providing leadership to address the challenges. Secondly, involvement: communities and businesses need to be fully involved in the process. Thirdly, informed: local authorities need to value and use data more effectively to understand their towns and the impact of previous regeneration initiatives. And fourthly, intervention: local authorities need to be more interventionist in promoting regeneration.

The auditor general’s work followed an independent research report, commissioned by the Welsh Government, entitled 'Small Towns, Big Issues'. This report included an in-depth study of three Welsh town and city centres, Bangor, Bridgend and Haverfordwest, to inform consideration of the wider context around regeneration. The committee met with one of the report’s authors, Professor Karel Williams, at the outset of our inquiry to better understand the scope of the committee’s work in this area. Following the session, we agreed to consider the following key points: national policy and legislation that are critical to the regeneration of towns to enable them to thrive and survive; creating and sustaining local coalitions of change; non-domestic rates, town centre incentives and taxes; the availability, management and impact of Welsh and UK Government funding for town centre regeneration; and city deals and regional partnerships, and corporate joint committees.

The committee was pleased to visit Carmarthen, Morriston, Mold and Wrexham to hear from local stakeholders who are working in their communities to further this purpose. This included meetings with Carmarthenshire County Council, Swansea Council, Coastal Housing group, Mold Town Council, and Wrexham County Borough Council. It was a pleasure to hear about the positive work being done, but sobering to hear about the challenges that each location was also facing. We were pleased to see examples of good practice during all of these visits, including the repurposed former Debenhams store in Carmarthen, now acting as a local hub for services, as well as hearing about exciting initiatives in Wrexham, including the Wrexham Gateway project and national football museum. We also visited Mold’s historic Bailey Hill, redeveloped as a community asset for local people, and were able to see the good work being done to revitalise and promote the high streets in Mold and Morriston—which I believe Mike Hedges might speak about later—through local action and stakeholders.

The committee extends its sincere appreciation to everyone who contributed to these visits and provided the committee with valuable insight that influenced the committee’s conclusions. In addition to these visits, the committee heard from Phil Prentice, from Scotland’s Towns Partnership, as well as Richard Roe from Trafford Council, about experiences, both positive and negative, of regeneration in Scotland and England. We also heard from the Federation of Small Businesses Wales, as well as Chris Jones, an expert in regeneration. We also consulted more widely, receiving valuable written evidence from the Royal Town Planning Institute Cymru, One Voice Wales, the Federation of Small Businesses and local authorities.

We learned that whilst there is much good work being done to improve town centres in Wales, more needs to be done to accelerate the pace of regeneration, where Wales’s towns and high streets have changed immeasurably, and been changed immeasurably by the pandemic and the increased prevalence of online shopping, and financial pressures continue to affect every community. Indeed, the committee found that resources for regeneration varied across Wales with some local authorities having dedicated resources in place for regeneration, whilst other areas depended on more local structures.

We heard that poor transport links and availability of car parking is affecting footfall in town centres, to the detriment of local businesses, that the lack of simple and integrated transport systems are preventing people from visiting town centres more often, preferring to use out-of-town locations instead, and that the current non-domestic rates regime disincentivises investment in towns, preventing the redevelopment of empty properties and putting additional pressures on small businesses already struggling with rising energy costs. We found that a new vision was needed on high streets to be accompanied by a truly integrated and affordable transport system, a simple approach to taxation, financial incentives to encourage innovation and new businesses, simpler and more accessible planning regulations to support this, and a pragmatic approach to repurposing empty properties with encouragement and support for businesses to do so.

This will only be successful, we found, if more is done at a national level to empower our communities to make the decisions to improve their communities, and if there is a stronger regional approach to regeneration, empowering stakeholders to make the big decisions that are right for their area.

Whilst local coalitions for change are also invaluable, they will only succeed if the Welsh Government adopts the new approach to regeneration and supports these local coalitions accordingly. The committee made eight recommendations to the Welsh Government, focusing on non-domestic rates, planning policy, transport, regional partnerships and on empty properties. Although we’re pleased that all of these recommendations have been accepted by the Welsh Government, the committee would still like further information on some of the recommendations we made, to understand more about the monitoring, evaluation, timescales and implementation involved.

I'm very pleased that the PAPAC committee undertook the study on town centre regeneration and that we have been allowed a debate on this today.

Concentrating on Morriston, where I live and where my constituency office is situated, the committee was able to walk along Woodfield Street in Morriston, which has featured extensively in the Transforming Towns report, and had the opportunity to meet with council and housing association officials, and we discussed a changing picture of the businesses occupying the street. The committee also visited Morriston Tabernacle church and the Sacred Heart Centre, both of which are being used as a community resource for local community groups.

The committee also heard about the proposed development of St John's church—for those who know the area, known as the 'church in the middle of the road'—and the former Crown public house. It was noted by the committee that Morriston was now dominated by personal service businesses—hairdressers, nail bars, cafes and tattoo parlours; I'm sure that sounds familiar to everybody else in here when you look at town centres—moving away from the more traditional retail offering it used to have. It was noted the high street has recently lost both Lloyds and Halifax banks, following the loss of all the other banks from the high street. Only the Principality Building Society and a NatWest cash point remain.

The committee heard about the work of Regeneration Morriston, a partnership group that is active in many of the above development schemes, amongst others. The group also provides start-up grants to support new business start-ups, offers advice and support to businesses, and has conducted special events to drive visitors to the town. The partnership has also utilised the town centre loan fund, of which £2 million has been provided to the partnership group by the Welsh Government. This was intended to acquire and unlock sites and premises with the intention of packaging and selling a proposal on the open market within an agreed time frame.

Professor Karel Williams advocated for the creation of local coalitions for change, drawing on the skills, expertise, finances and legitimacy of a range of local interests—for instance the local traders, civic society, anchor institutions and the different tiers of Government. He sees these coalitions as being able to create strong local movements that bring people together collectively to improve their towns. And people do belong to a town. If you ask people in Morriston where they come from, they'll tell you 'Morriston'. They won't tell you 'Swansea' and they won't tell you 'Wales'. They'll tell you they come from Morriston. And I'm sure that if I went to lots of other small towns and asked them where they came from, they wouldn't talk about the big area that they're covered in; they will tell you about where they live, which is the village or town in which they live.

Would you take an intervention, Mike?

Yes, certainly.

Thank you. Do you recognise the importance of banking hubs? One was recently opened in my constituency and it's run by the Post Office and through LINK, who traditionally use cash machines, so that could be another solution to the banking problem, perhaps, in Morriston, as well as what it has been in Prestatyn as well.

There is certainly a mobile banking hub in Morriston, but the problem is not the lack of a banking hub; the problem is that people tend not to use money. They use the methods of debit and credit cards and their phones.

Use shops in shopping centres, as I've said. I'm always reminded of the person who, when I was delivering leaflets, told me that there were not enough city and town centre shops, as their online deliveries were being received. To use a rugby referee's comment on local shops, 'Use them or lose them'.

I'd like to start by thanking the Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee team, the Chair, alongside our researchers, and also the Members as well for putting a lot of hard work and dedication into putting this report together. The report highlights some very important points around the challenges that we undoubtedly face in getting our Welsh towns into the highest possible standards to ensure that we have effective and prospering community hubs, shops, services and, ultimately, thriving local economies. Whilst all the points and solutions in the report carry significant weight in the future of our town centres, there are a few main areas that I'd like to give my focus to today.

Firstly, we all know that projects to regenerate and invest in our town centres do indeed require significant funding. It is important to note that, whilst national funding schemes operated by the UK Government are awarded via levelling up, which has provided £440 million to Welsh projects since the first round was announced in October 2021, the Welsh Government's funding system is divided into 13 separate funding schemes. The auditor general's report identified management of this funding by the Welsh Government as 'problematic', and recommended that it ought to be consolidated in order to reduce bureaucracy and streamline the application process. As we know, Minister, making this funding easier to access would ultimately encourage more organisations to apply for funding, making town centre regeneration more accessible, and also attractive for organisations to get involved with.

Therefore, having accepted the recommendation, what is the Welsh Government now going to be doing to ensure funding schemes are more streamlined and that requests for supporting materials in applications are kept to a minimum to ensure that the process is easier, more attractive, and we therefore see more of these projects go ahead? In conjunction with this, I'd like to ask the Minister what is the Welsh Government doing to raise awareness amongst the public about your Transforming Towns loan fund programme so that private businesses, social housing associations and property developers are aware of the options available to them and can therefore be supported by their local authorities to ultimately benefit communities.

Another area of the report findings that really concerned me, Minister, was that which suggested funding is often directed to local authorities who are effective at making applications, which risks better resourced authorities being rewarded, and punishing those who lack resources. This issue is further exacerbated by the fragmented nature of funding schemes. With this in mind, I'd like to ask the Minister what conversations have you had with the UK Government to confirm that this is not actually the case. And what funding schemes, on both Welsh and UK-wide levels, are running in parallel, despite political differences, to ensure our town centres are adequately supported?

I really welcome the report by the committee, and I welcome the Welsh Government's response to the report as well, but, of course, this requires action to follow through on a number of ideas that have been raised in the report. I wanted to focus on three aspects of the report in particular. The first two are linked, and that's planning and empty properties.

I think the committee is completely right in highlighting that the planning system is one element of town centre regeneration, but its flexibility is actually a very important element—one that, if we don't get right, will hinder a lot of our ambitions in other areas of redevelopment. What I would actually like to see is an enabling system for local authorities. We heard mention of the need for local authorities to be more interventionist. Well, we need to be able to enable them to be interventionist, to move quickly when situations arise. I'm thinking here of bringing empty properties back into use, yes, but I'm also thinking about converting commercial properties into residential properties.

I'm thinking about with Bridgend town centre, where my office is, and there are about four or five floors of empty office space above my own office. We know that there's a problem with housing supply; we know that there's an acute shortage of one- to two-bed flats. Well, there are plenty of places within our town centres that I think, if we put the investment into them, can help fill that gap and help address that shortage. And, of course, the theory then follows that by bringing people into the town centre to live, you're creating that in-built footfall, aren't you, because those people are going to want services, they're going to want to go for a coffee, they're going to want to go for food, they're going to want to go for a pint. So, you're creating that in-built footfall. That's something I would really appreciate some reflections from the Minister on.

Finally, I'll touch on NDR. I really welcome paragraph 163 on the multiplier. As the committee highlights, this is a real opportunity for us to be really creative in our thinking about how we deal with non-domestic rates. We've talked a lot over the past couple of months in response to the Welsh Government's budget about the need to look at the multiplier and how we might be able to vary that for different sectors of the economy. Not that I'm showing any prejudice here, but I think, looking at supermarkets, for example, thinking about out-of-town shopping centres, are they paying too little? I would argue they are. But by varying the multiplier and increasing the amount of money then that supermarkets and out-of-town shopping centres are paying into the system, we could then use that finance to help small businesses and local businesses on our high streets. Yes, okay, a lot of these places are good for the individual consumer, but they're not necessarily good for the community, and of course we have to address that imbalance between online shopping and bricks-and-mortar shops as well. So, I would echo recommendation 5 of the committee's report, and, again, I'd really appreciate some reflections from the Minister on that point.

Town centres really are the heartbeat of our local communities; they speak to us about who we are as people, as Mike was saying, and where we're from. I rarely say where I'm from except by saying 'Tredegar', and that seems to be sufficient for most people. But Tredegar isn't the place it was when I grew up, of course. When I was growing up there, I'd save up my pocket money, do my work to earn a few more pennies, and then I'd go down to Irene's to buy Airfix models and stuff, and to buy footballs from town and the rest of it, but you can't do that today. You can't have the same range of shops; you don't have the same opportunities in town as you had in the past. And that's not going to change in the future, in many ways, because the town centres that we see today are the consequences of choices that were made in the past and are the consequences of technological change, retail change, social change and transport changing.

To travel to Cardiff when I was growing up was a major expedition. You'd either go across to Rhymney to get the train, or you'd get the bus, and it would take you two hours by bus to get to Cardiff. Nowadays, people drive back and forth and commute to Cardiff; that would have been unheard of in the 1970s. So, we live in a different place, and I think harking back to how things were is not very helpful in trying to chart a way forward for the future. But I also think that we're not in a new place simply because a change has been imposed on us. It's also because we—I say 'we' collectively as a society—have taken decisions about the sorts of places that we want to live in. We've bought into a model of almost rapacious American retail capitalism that has drained the heart out of our town centres. The consequence is that if I want to buy anything—Christmas presents and the rest of it—today, I would more likely go to the Cyfarthfa retail park in Merthyr than I would to stay in my own community, and that is a consequence of the choices that were made for us and by us.

So, what do we do? We know that there are different ways forward. Many of you will know I spend as much time as I can, sometimes, on the European mainland, and if you're driving through Belgium or Holland or France or Germany, and you stop off and you go to different towns and villages, you see communities that do have the heart in the town centre, that do have choices of independent shops and restaurants and cafes, and do have the opportunity to shop and to enjoy a community experience, as we did some years ago. And in the United Kingdom, we are different, and we are different because of choices that are being made by successive Governments. I think, for the future, we should make different choices, and we should ensure that the communities in which we all live have the same opportunities to thrive again. And post pandemic, what I'm seeing is, certainly, retail challenges in places like Cardiff. Let's face it, the cities are not immune from the changes that are taking place, and any of us who remember this city back some decades ago, and certainly pre pandemic, will have seen the impact of changing choices here in the city.

I find myself agreeing a lot with what the Member says. One of the things that I think could be usefully done, in order to address some of these issues, is to reduce business rates in our town centres and high streets, increase them on out-of-town shopping centres, many of which have been thriving, and, indeed, to increase them for those online-only retailers who seem to be faring rather well. Would you agree that that is one part of the prescription that could go some way to addressing some of these challenges that high streets in your constituency, and indeed mine, have faced in recent years?

Yes, I absolutely agree with the Member. I don't think this is an area that divides the Chamber, actually. I think all of us will have the same sort of ambition, and I think the points that the Member makes are well made, and I do agree with the sort of suggestions that he makes. But we need to go further than that, don't we, because we have to be able to enable people to live and work and socialise in the centres of our communities. That means we also need to ensure that we have digital access available as a right and as a matter of course. In many parts of my constituency, you've got a poor mobile phone signal and absolutely no chance of mobile broadband, and that, in 2024, is completely unacceptable, and we need to say that clearly. I won't test the patience of our acting Chair any longer, simply to say that I think the report is an excellent report, and I hope the Government response will be a response to the report itself, but also a response to the challenges we face. Thank you very much.

Well, it's always good to agree with Darren Millar, particularly on this issue. But I think it's really important to remember that a lot of these online retailers are international organisations, and they don't have any land base; they're in some Virgin Islands or some other tax haven, tax horror. How are we going to get them? So, this really is a multinational problem that we need to think of globally, because there's no doubt that some people just avoid paying all taxes altogether.

I'm a big fan of the 15-minute city, not least because, for a lot of my constituents, if they can't walk to it, they can't afford to buy it, simply because their money is so short, the bus fare to get there and back from an alternative location is just a huge disincentive. And as we cope with the climate change that we need to make, to be consistent in our net-zero obligations, we've got to be thinking about what are the weekly things that everybody needs to shop for, and how can people get to them. The occasional shop involves further travel.

So, I think that we've all grappled with the villages that lose their primary school and then they lose their shop, and then they really do lose the potential for any sort of human discourse within that community, and that is very, very damaging, potentially. But this isn't just a village and town-centre problem, this is also something that Cardiff city centre has also had to get to grips with, and it isn't just COVID. The hospitality sector is also having a very difficult time because there's just less money in circulation and, inevitably, discretionary spend takes a big hit.

But I want to commend, for example, Landsec's major bold redevelopment of the Debenhams site, which was a hideous building and had no potential for residential reuse simply because of the way it was constructed. There was not enough natural light and you really don't want people walking past your living room when they're on the way to somewhere. So, I think their bold idea of creating a town square where families can go and have a picnic while they're on a trip out to the shops, or to have artistic space for musicians or street artists, is very good. They're not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts, they're doing it because that's their way of protecting their considerable assets in Cardiff, therefore they have to— . They have, if you like, the resources to rethink the purpose of town and city centres, given that online shopping is not a blip of COVID-19 but a trend that appears to be here to stay.

So, town centres can't just be about the spending of money. The cost-of-living crisis, of which there is no end and is the daily reality of at least a third of the population, means that town centres have to be places to meet and socialise, exchange ideas, be enriched by cultural stipulation, whether that's the visual beauty of a flower box or a major cultural event, or a sporting event.

I'd like to begin by thanking the committee for its report, which I think is very timely and very useful. There is quite a degree of common ground, isn't there, across the Chamber, as we’ve already heard, and we’re all familiar with the challenges of online shopping, out-of-centre development, the effects of the pandemic, and many others. It’s a very challenging set of circumstances, so obviously it requires a wide-ranging set of responses. And I very much agree that that does have to be locally based in terms of local partnerships, because I know that the centres that are important in my constituency, and to my constituency, vary in size, and the solutions to the issues will vary accordingly. For Newport city centre, there’s been a great deal of necessary investment, but obviously a lot more needs to be done—a lot of new residential provision; a big project to redevelop the market in the centre; recently we’ve had a 500-space music venue, the Corn Exchange, opening, which has created a lot of excitement and a real buzz; more public services, more leisure, entertainment. There’s been a lot of diversification. But I very much agree, as Luke Fletcher said, that in terms of residential, it does meet a lot of our pressing challenges in Wales, doesn’t it? It helps with that diversification, it helps with footfall, but it also provides particularly, perhaps, those smaller properties that are much in demand in terms of housing provision. So, I think a lot more of that would be very useful indeed.

In Caldicot, in Newport East—it’s much smaller, obviously, than Newport city centre; it's a town—some of the challenges are about identifying ownership of property and then getting the owners of the premises to be accommodating and co-operative with some of the action that’s required. But, again, a lot of effort has gone into improving that centre, making it more of a quality space for people to sit around and meet up. These centres are very important for those social purposes. And there’s a Caldicot town team that puts on events and helps diversify the offer and attract people into the town centre. And in Magor, which is a village, it’s much more about quality local independent businesses making that quality offer that local people want to see. We know very well, don’t we, that if we have these locally owned businesses making the profits in these centres, they will spend those profits locally, so you get that virtuous circle of investment and spend, whereas the big operators actually suck money out of these centres, which is no good to the local economies at all.

And one of the advantages as well, I think, is having a wide-ranging approach to the problems. If we look at Newport, for example, just across the way from the city centre we have Rodney Parade, the home of Newport County, the home of the Dragons rugby team. Public transport is close by, so when you get the big matches, the big occasions, all of those people, all of that footfall, is in Newport city centre. There are so many aspects. So many big teams have relocated, haven’t they, again, to the periphery of towns and cities, so you don’t get that effect, you don’t get that buzz on the big-match occasions and, indeed, on all of the games that they play throughout the seasons.

I call on the Minister for Climate Change, Julie James.

Thank you, acting Presiding Officer. I'd also like to thank the Chair and members of the Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee, and all of those who took the time to provide evidence to the committee's inquiry, and I would also like to extend my thanks to the auditor general and his team for their valuable contribution to this important piece of work. I am pleased to confirm that we have accepted all the committee's recommendations in full.

I think, as every Member has acknowledged in this debate, our town centres are facing unprecedented challenges. The impact of out-of-town developments, changing retail habits and the COVID pandemic have all had consequences for our high streets. There are, indeed, too many empty shops, too few homes and too little green space in our town centres, and we all want our town centres to be places where we can live, work and play. The Welsh Government is determined to achieve this vision by giving a clear strategic lead and supporting our local authorities' regeneration activities. This is already reflected in our programme for government through specific commitments around supporting our town centres. These commitments include supporting work to develop a register of empty buildings, and helping small businesses move into empty shops.

Today, I would like to address some of the main issues raised by the committee in its recommendations, as well as some of the broader challenges affecting our town centres. Through 'Future Wales' and 'Planning Policy Wales', we have strengthened our 'town centre first' policy. It's delivered at the local level by local development plan policies and decisions on planning applications. It's also a cross-cutting principle embedded in the Wales infrastructure investment strategy. And just to make that really clear, 'town centre first' means that we want to see town centres considered first for the location of significant new commercial, retail, education, health, leisure and public service facilities. This diverse range of services will, indeed, drive footfall into our town centres.

When I launched our town centres position statement in May last year, I was very clear that regenerating town centres is a complex piece of work. We must consider the reasons behind services moving from town centres to out-of-town locations, the growth of online shopping, private car dependency, local capacity to deliver and, of course, the climate and nature emergencies. I launched that strategy, actually, in Neath town centre—a town where I did live for a short while when I was a small child. My father ran a pub in Neath town centre. That then became a shoe shop and is now a charity store, which, I think, is a very good indication of the passage of time through the centre. But I was very pleased to launch the policy standing outside the new leisure centre and library facility in Neath, which has had a real catalytic effect on bringing people back in. It has to be a welcoming space, doesn't it, for people to come.

And I very much enjoyed my visit to Newport and the new market, and the experimental, but now to be rolled out, using of the premises above the shops there and along the new—I've forgotten what it's called—arcade, the market arcade, is it, coming up there, which was lovely, where we've used as residences what were vacant spaces above the shops. But we've turned them all into residences, as I know, John, with your and Jayne Bryant's assistance, and with the council's assistance, and that's really had a galvanising effect on that area as well, hasn't it? It was really lovely; I really enjoyed the visit there. I make the point, really, just to say that it can be done, but you need a concerted effort and a range of services to put into it.

And then Mike's point about which towns do you identify with: so, one of the other things about our 'town centre first' policy is that we have had to consider, especially in the cities—. I absolutely acknowledge Mike's point. I come from a different centre of Swansea. But if you said 'town centre first' in Swansea, you might end up just saying the city centre, and that wouldn't be a good policy either; you also want all of the suburban centres to be regarded as town centres. So, it's a complex piece of work. Sometimes those regional centres rise and fall in a way that's not really very predictable. I'm from an area in Swansea called Uplands, and that's currently having a bit of a resurgence, but it's very difficult to understand quite what the zeitgeist for the rise and fall of that is. So, I make these anecdotal points, really, to just point out that there are wide-ranging issues affecting all of the town centres, and these are all reflected in the committee's very thorough report and their recommendations.

Will you take an intervention, Minister?

Yes, of course.

Will you acknowledge the work and efforts of the UK Government through the town fund, which is also helping in that situation, with £20 million in investment into Rhyl town centre in my constituency, and probably many more across Wales as well as a result of the spring budget? That's really helping, in line with what the Welsh Government are doing with local authorities, also the back-up with money from the UK Government as well.

Yes, and what we've done, in many cases, is we've enabled either their funding to be used as a match for ours or ours to be used as a match for theirs, and, actually, you get a doubling effect, so that's been very helpful. I will say, though, that we haven't always had very much notice of that, so it's been very difficult to plan out where we might be able to most use the match funding. I and my colleague Lee Waters have raised with the Government that we welcome the funding, but, actually, some planning around where we might direct some of the funding so that we can double its effect in that way would be very, very useful.

Anyway, so going back to talking about the empty properties, I'm very, very keen that local authorities use their CPO powers in particular if they do have blighted, particularly heritage, buildings, which we've been looking at, and Mike's point about the churches is a very good one there, where we can definitely bring them back into beneficial use. Many of us have huge churches or chapels in our local town centres that are just sitting there doing nothing. They could easily be transformed into something much more useful for the modern day, and it also protects the cultural heritage. I did bring this up yesterday, when I was talking about the second homes issues as well.

So, in response to recommendation 7, I am very pleased to confirm that we will review, with the input of local authorities and stakeholders, the financial assistance made available to support tackling those empty properties. Members will be aware that the co-operation agreement committed the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru to establishing Unnos. Through Unnos's support, local authorities are taking appropriate enforcement action on those empty and dilapidated properties. The Unnos programme will also be developing a guidance document for local authorities on empty homes by the end of this calendar year.

So, acting Deputy Presiding Officer, the committee rightly raised the planning system as a policy area where changes can be made to support our town centres, and I'm pleased to say that we've been able to respond positively to the committee's recommendations on planning. 'Planning Policy Wales' and 'Future Wales' both have clear policies promoting 'town centre first' principles for the planning system in Wales. We will also undertake a review of permitted development rights and consult on the appropriateness of introducing new permitted development rights for town centres. This will consider whether we should permit a change of use without the need for planning permission. That can be a bit of a double-edged sword, so we have to be very careful that we have put the policies in place to make sure that, where those changes of use happen, they happen in an appropriate way and don't result in a proliferation of things that none of us would actually want to see proliferating in our town centres. So, it's not quite as straightforward as just removing the barrier, I don't think.

Minister, I've been very generous, but you now need to conclude.

I was about to say that I'm rapidly running out of time. I have several more issues to raise, so I will just really canter through them. Just on transport—

Very, very quickly.

Just on transport, we wanted to highlight the evidence in the committee that we are considering very carefully what the transport policies should look like. The new corporate joint committees will be looking at the regional transport plans, which will assist with that. There are a number of things that fall outside my portfolio area, which I won't remark on, but we will be writing back to the committee with the recommendations in full. Diolch.

I call on Mark Isherwood to reply to the debate.

Thank you. My wrist hurts from all the scribbling, but I'll try and do what I can with the limited time available. I'll begin, I think, as one of my colleagues did, by thanking the clerking team, the researchers, the lawyers and the auditor general and Audit Wales team for their invaluable contribution—massive contribution—to the work undertaken by the committee on this report.

Mike Hedges, as I indicated he might, referred to a place called Morriston. He talked about the opportunity to meet with the council and housing association representatives and referred to a centre, a former church and former pub now used as community resources. He referred to a very topical issue—loss of banks on the high street. And I was pleased to hear him say, as somebody whose previous career was in a building society, that the only remaining effective bank or building society is the Principality, with a cash point remaining. He talked about the importance of local coalitions, bringing people together with a shared vision. He said that the days of town centres being predominantly retail have ended, with closures including Boots and Debenhams, and the growth of online retailers and click and collect, and shops increasingly reliant on an older age group of customers, and finished with a warning, 'Use them or lose them.'

Natasha Asghar focused on a number of main areas, funding, and referred to levelling-up funding from the UK Government and 13 separate Welsh Government schemes that require consolidation and streamlining to make the applications process easier and therefore benefit our town centres. She referred to town loan funding and said that funding is often directed to local authorities with resources to make good applications at the expense of the rest. She referred to poor car parking and transport infrastructure being key barriers to people visiting town centres and referred to business rates relief reductions being key, particularly when you look at comparative figures across the border and noted that town centres are economic and social hubs for communities.

Luke Fletcher called for action, rightly, to follow through from the Welsh Government response to the committee's recommendations. He referred to an enabling system for local authorities to be interventionist being needed, to bring empty properties back into use and convert commercial properties into homes. We need to be creative with the non-domestic rates multiplier, he said—I think all Members would agree with that—to favour centre-of-town retailers.

Alun Davies referred to town centres being the heartbeat of our local communities. He reminisced about buying Airfix models when he was young, as did I. But, harking back, as he said, to how things were is not helpful. He contrasted the situation here with European mainland communities, which do, as he said, have the heart in their town centres, and said that choices needed to be made where the poorest communities have the highest problems, requiring a holistic package of change to remake town centres as centres of communities by enabling people and also ensuring digital access. He concluded by saying that it was an excellent report, so thank you, Alun.

The proposal is to note the committee's report. Does any Member object? No. The report is noted.

Item 7 is the next item, the Welsh Conservatives' debate on the UK Government's budget. To move the motion, Peter Fox.

Diolch, Llywydd. I'm pleased to move the motion tabled in the name of my colleague Darren Millar. These last few weeks have been a tale of two very different budgets, one of short-term policies combined with budget cuts and political gesturing, and the other offering tax cuts, economic growth and prosperity. While the Conservatives have been cutting taxes for businesses and workers across the United Kingdom, the Welsh Government continues to refuse to pass benefits on to the people of Wales, be it business rate support for businesses or more generous childcare support for families with small children. Thanks to the Chancellor's cut in national insurance by 2p, in addition to the 2p cut announced in the autumn statement, we will see over 1.2 million workers in Wales receiving an extra £642 a year. And the Chancellor has indicated there could be more to come when conditions allow.

With the economy beginning to turn a corner, these decisions have been taken in a fiscally responsible way, ensuring that hard-working families across the United Kingdom are supported and allowed to keep more of their own money, this being done while simultaneously reducing inflation. The UK Conservative Government continues to help families also. Children are a blessing, we all know that, but the responsibility of raising them can come at a significant financial cost, especially as the cost of childcare continues to rise. I therefore welcome the action that the UK Conservative Government has taken in extending childcare support in England, as well as addressing the unfair barriers that families face in receiving child benefit. This is in stark contrast to the Welsh Government, who, sadly, still refuse to extend similar childcare support for families with young children, despite receiving consequentials to do so.

Sadly, in Wales, we see a Government out of touch with its people, where more politicians in this place, constitutional reform, expensive and economically damaging default 20 mph limits, universal basic income and other pet projects take centre stage in Labour's priorities, propped up by the Plaid benches. This disconnect is echoed by the out-of-touch approach to our rural communities that we've seen manifest over recent weeks. It is clear which party is on the side of working families here in Wales, and it certainly isn't Labour or Plaid.

I've argued in this Chamber that the economy should be a priority, as a thriving economy creates jobs, growth, better pay, better living standards and, through increased tax take, better public services. Small businesses are key to the success of the economy, especially here in Wales, and I'm glad that the UK Conservative Government has taken action to support businesses. The budget saw thousands of businesses lifted out of paying value added tax, by moving the tax threshold, benefiting many Welsh businesses. In England, we have also seen businesses in the hospitality, retail and leisure sector receive a 75 per cent cut to their business rates, helping a sector that continues to struggle with the rising cost of doing business.

But Welsh Labour have failed to provide the same support for business in Wales, despite once again receiving the consequentials to do so. The effects of their disconnect with business is profound in my border constituency, as businesses are crying out for support as they compete with English businesses just a few miles across the border, who are supported from a Government that cares about small businesses. We have to welcome the additional £168 million-worth of Barnett consequential funding for Wales, and it is now down to the Labour Government to spend this on the priorities of the people of Wales: more doctors, nurses, teachers and learning, and business support.

Now, we will hear—and we've already heard—from the Minister, saying that this money has already been accounted for, and already factored into their budget. Now, while the recent £25 million announcement was known, as it was announced before the budget, the rest of the £168 million, I'm told confidently by UK Government, comes as a direct consequence of the Chancellor's announcement of £2.5 billion for health last Tuesday. So, I'm at a loss to know how the Welsh Government would have accounted for something that no-one knew about ahead of the Chancellor's announcing it. [Interruption.] The clue is in the title: being a 'consequential' meaning it flows as a consequence of a particular decision. So, this additional money should definitely not be used to prop up Welsh Government's pet projects.

I also welcome the news that the UK Conservative Government has purchased the Wylfa site, which will not only secure the opportunity to produce nuclear power in Wales, but will also provide opportunities for highly skilled and well-paid jobs across north Wales; something the Welsh Government has consistently failed to do, ignoring north Wales, as their focus is usually based in the south around their safer seats.

As well as this, the Conservative Government has provided a range of investment supporting communities across Wales, including, as we've heard, £20 million-worth of funding for Rhyl as part of the long-term plans for towns; £10 million funding for Venue Cymru in Llandudno; £5 million of funding for cultural facilities in Newport; £5 million of funding to launch the agri-food launchpad, in partnership with the Welsh Government and Ceredigion council; and £1.6 million-worth of funding towards the redevelopment of Theatr Clwyd in Mold.

It is clear that the Conservatives have a long-term plan for the whole of the United Kingdom, while Labour still continue to flip-flop and have no clear strategy as to how to handle the economy. And if, as Keir Starmer first said before he changed his mind, Wales is Labour's blueprint for success, then the United Kingdom and Wales are in for a shock if Labour win the next election. Diolch, Llywydd.

I have selected two amendments to the motion. If amendment 1 is agreed, amendment 2 will be deselected. I call on Peredur Owen Griffiths to move amendment 1, tabled in the name of Heledd Fychan.

Thank you, Llywydd, and I would like to move amendment 1 in the name of Heledd.

Given the Easter season will soon be upon us, I have to commend the Tories for the timeliness of today's debate, because the UK Government's spring budget is about as hollow and structurally sound as a warm Easter egg. After 14 years of brutal austerity, voters across Wales and the rest of the UK are crying out for meaningful change. Instead, they've got an intellectually bankrupt Government regurgitating the same stale ideas.

Let's start with the headline boast on their tax-cutting credentials, which collapses at the first hint of political analysis. As is reflected in our amendment, the reality is that, under this Government, taxes have risen to their highest level as a proportion of GDP since 1948, so when it comes to their oft-repeated claim of easing the so-called tax burden on the working population, all they have done is tinker around the edges while continuing to pile on the pressure elsewhere. And in typical Tory style, the cuts that have been announced to national insurance contributions benefit the already well-off at the expense of low-income families and pensioners.

The failure to uprate income tax thresholds in line with inflation means that anyone earning below £26,000 will be cumulatively worse off as a result of the budget. Since wages in Wales are on average lower than the UK-wide average, the financial pinch will be disproportionately felt here. Indeed, the UK Government will hold the distinction of being the first since the second world war to oversee a fall in household disposable income and living standards—record breaking for all the wrong reasons. That will be the lamentable legacy of this Tory Government.

The only way that the Chancellor has been able to afford these tax cuts has been by imposing yet another painful bout of austerity. This is illustrated by the fact that day-to-day spending for unprotected UK Government departments is set to fall by 13 per cent over the next five years. Even this raid on public services will barely cover the overall shortfall in revenues as the remaining fiscal headroom for the next budget is well below the recent average of £26 billion. This leaves little cover for unexpected events, such as another run on the pound caused by another Tory economic mismanagement.

Little wonder that the Resolution Foundation has generously described this budget as a work of fiscal fiction, while the Institute for Fiscal Studies has rightly called out the Chancellor's plan for growth as lacking in credibility. You only have to look at how bad it's gone down in the polls and with most economists to realise how out of touch this UK Government truly is. And the fact that they've earmarked £240 million for Canary Wharf while continuing to deny Wales its fair share of HS2 funding underlines how little regard they have for our interests here in Wales. All of which naturally raises the question: 'Why is the UK Labour Party apparently so keen to sing from the same discredited hymn book as the Tories?'

I call on the Minister for finance to formally move amendment 2.

Yes. Formally.

Formally. Diolch. Janet Finch-Saunders.

Diolch, Llywydd. So, we're discussing the UK Conservative Government's 2024 budget speech, and what a difference from the budget that we've just witnessed being passed by this Government here. So, much like the daffodil shoots forcing their way above the ground, this budget not only signals growth, but a sign of better, warmer days ahead. Indeed, what excellent news this latest budget is for Wales: £168 million of additional Barnett consequential funding for Wales; the £160 million purchase of the Wylfa nuclear site; £10 million of funding for Venue Cymru in my dear home town of Llandudno; £18 million of levelling-up funding for new active travel routes in my constituency. And to top it off, though, in terms of this budget, national insurance contributions cut by 2p, saving the average Welsh worker £450 a year, and considerably more for those on a higher salary. This is the difference between the Conservatives and the Welsh Government. Where their budget was characterised by socialist vanity projects, ours is rewarding the hard work of our Welsh people. Ours has safeguarded the future of UK energy independence, and ensured that our creative industries will see the investment they deserve, whilst preserving Welsh culture for years to come.

We've only been able to do this thanks to our core Conservative values of prudence, our ideals of caution, and, you know, our maintaining of stability. A prudent fiscal strategy during two unprecedented crises enables us to present a forward-looking budget for Wales, prioritising investment in its future, without compromising on our essential services, our culture or, indeed, our common sense. This budget is particularly good news for north Wales, with a substantial investment in the region that now involves a £160 million deal with Hitachi for the acquisition of the Wylfa nuclear site in Ynys Môn, where Virginia Crosbie MP has worked and worked tirelessly to ensure this investment comes into her constituency, providing jobs for the people in Ynys Môn, and also helping the economic prospects for us across north Wales.

Will you take an intervention on that particular point?

Yes.

It was, of course, the Conservative UK Government that pulled the investment in Sir Fôn.

No. Where's your evidence?

Horizon—they refused to support it.

The acquisition of the Wylfa nuclear site in Ynys Môn and the Oldbury site in South Gloucestershire. It's evident, though, that Ynys Môn does play a crucial role in advancing our nuclear ambition, and this decision by the Conservative Government marks a significant stride towards attracting approximately £20 billion for a large-scale plant, accompanied by support for small modular reactors. This project anticipates the creation of around 800 construction jobs—800 stable careers, 800 well-paid jobs—and numerous secondary and supply-chain positions. These sorts of projects are absolutely essential to enhancing employment opportunities, enabling younger generations to afford homes, to stay in our communities, and thereby to preserve the Welsh language and our culture.

Speaking of preserving our language and culture, our community theatre, Venue Cymru, is to receive a significant £10 million investment. Of course, we had a fantastic conference recently there, didn't we? This will have a huge impact on our local economy, contributing to the growth of the Welsh tourism and hospitality sector. It is another example of why our Conservative fiscal approach is working. It recognises that continued adaptation and strategic investment in places like the beautiful town of Llandudno can lead to substantial growth in the tourism market, and all the sectors that benefit from the tourism trade—a far cry from the Plaid/Labour/independent council in Conwy, and indeed the Welsh Labour Government under you, Alun, as the Minister, when you ruined our beach by putting rocks on it, and actually wasted £1.4 million of taxpayers' money. [Interruption.] Yes, you destroyed it. Anyway, next week we'll have a debate on that.

Indeed, it is thought that investments like this could realise an economic impact in Llandudno of an additional £125 million a year by 2045. Businesses also received a much-needed boost, and they did, because let's be honest, during COVID it was my constituency that was locked down considerably longer than others. I hope, by emphasising the great strides that have been made in this budget, we can begin to see the huge disparities between Labour and the Conservatives. All I have seen—

You're going to have to bring your comments to a close now. I've been generous.

—is Welsh Labour mismanagement of taxpayers' money and financial and fiscal inadequacy. I'm proud of this budget, and I'm proud of the UK Conservative Government.

I'm not entirely sure, Presiding Officer, how I follow that. I'm delighted that the Member believes that I am powerful enough to control the weather. It's something my own leadership has never thought.

In terms of what we're doing this afternoon, in debating the UK budget from last week, I think it would be useful, actually, if we had a set piece debate on these matters on a regular basis, because these are important fiscal and financial matters, which do have a major impact on everything we do here. When I was watching the budget, what was it that I wanted to see? I'm not interested, as it happens, in reading out speeches written by central office. I think the issues facing us as a country are too—[Interruption.] Well, you can't accuse me of doing that. The Minister never does, let me tell you. What we need is a recognition of where this country is at the moment, and where we are at the moment is in a very, very serious situation. We have an economy that is flatlining at best. I heard UK Ministers on the radio this morning celebrating 0.2 per cent growth in January as if that was a triumph of economic policy after 13 or 14 years in power. Extraordinary stuff.

We have the highest levels of inequality in the United Kingdom of anywhere in western Europe. Anywhere in western Europe—the highest levels of inequality. And we have a social fracturing in our society that I, frankly, find terrifying. What I want from a United Kingdom Government is recognition of that. I'm not interested in a few crumbs off their table. I urge the Conservatives, listing investments in their own constituencies, as if that is something to be grateful for—. Let me tell you, Peter, the United Kingdom Government spent more money last week on Canary Wharf than they spent in the whole of Wales. And if anything tells you about the priorities of the UK Government, that individual decision will do so.

But we know we're in a serious situation. GDP per capita is a little more than an average of £8,000 per capita at the moment. That's basically the same as 2007. Historical growth patterns would have seen that at over £11,000 per capita today. It's 27 per cent lower than where it should be. And you call that economic success. You won't be able to fund public service in the future unless you're able to grow the economy. The Financial Times, I think it was, described the decisions taken in the budget last week as 'brutal' for whoever follows Jeremy Hunt as Chancellor, because we know that from 2025-26 there will need to be huge cuts in public spending to make up for the cut in national insurance that was announced. That is financial irresponsibility at a time of fundamental losses in productivity. We are seeing productivity actually fall in real terms. We are seeing people work longer, work harder, but produce less. There isn't an economy in western Europe performing as poorly as that. There hasn't been another Parliament in any of our lifetimes where we've seen average incomes fall to the extent that they are falling today. I give way.

The latest figures from the G7 show that the UK economy is the fastest growing economy over the period. The only economies in the G7 to have beaten it are America and Canada.

The GDP has increased because it fell so badly as a consequence of Brexit and the pandemic. So, the bounce back is greater in—[Interruption.] If you listened, the bounce back is greater in the very short-term analysis, you're right about that, but what I'm looking at isn't what happened last year and six months ago—I'm looking at the history of the British economy over the last decade since 2007 and before that, and those are far more fundamental questions that aren't answered. The GDP growth in January of 0.2 per cent represents a fundamental loss of income for the state. That is why the tax burdens are at the highest level for 70 years, and yet we're raising less money for public services.

Usually on a Wednesday afternoon, Presiding Officer, I sit here, and we sit together, and we listen to the Conservatives demanding there's more money spent. Peter Fox rarely stands up without demanding more money for local government. We hear it time and time again—[Interruption.] He's going to do it now. Let me just finish my sentence. Time and time again, we hear greater demands for public spending, but what we're not seeing from the United Kingdom Government is an investment in the economic fundamentals that enables us to grow an economy and fund public services.

Thank you, Alun. I'm struggling to understand all of your logic here. Are you saying that you are against the fact that 1.2 million working people in Wales will receive £642 a year in their pocket, their own money in their pocket, and keep that? What is it that you're struggling to comprehend that is good about that?

I don't object to that in principle, but if you look, for example, at pensioners, since 2019 the average pensioner income has been cut by £900 per person. What we're seeing—and this is the real issue that I think the United Kingdom Government fails to understand—is that those short-term tax cuts are more than outweighed by longer term tax increases because of fiscal drag and all the other issues. So, whoever you actually are, you're paying more tax, and getting less for it. This is the point I'll finish with, Presiding Officer.

Yes, please.

The Conservatives will always break things. Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng broke the economy last year. The economy is not recovering. And I say this in closing to my own side: it is a fantasy to believe that we can continue to do the same and expect a different result. To my own side, I say this: this damage to our economy cannot be repaired outside of the single market and outside of the customs union. We have fundamental decisions to take on all sides of this Chamber on this matter.

I'll provide the voice of reason to the debate, following the previous contribution. Following the Welsh Government's cut to business rate relief, a considerable number of businesses in Rhyl and across my constituency are anxious about the viability of their businesses, given a decline in footfall since COVID. To have tax support withdrawn is an added burden for small high-street businesses. I'm delighted, therefore, that Rhyl is receiving £20 million in funding to deliver projects based on local needs and priorities. This is what I've been calling for consistently in the Senedd.

Investment in our town centres, particularly in northern coastal towns like Rhyl, which have lower economic activity, greater levels of inequality, dying high streets, and underfunded public services, which have just been cut further by the Welsh Government and Denbighshire County Council—. They only announced today that they're closing all the public toilets, despite a 9.34 per cent increase in council tax from April. Labour's philosophy is tax more, give less. That is why I welcome this levelling-up investment into Rhyl, which will pay dividends once the town has been revitalised. This levelling-up funding is a furtherance of £20 million that was also awarded to Denbighshire County Council in the previous year's round of levelling-up funding. But, sadly, with an ineffective funding formula, hard-pressed local authorities in Wales are still raising council tax to unacceptable levels, as just mentioned.

The cuts to national insurance will save the average Welsh worker £450 a year; this means more money in people's pockets to spend with Welsh businesses. I'm delighted too that the UK Government has allocated an additional £160 million to extend investment zones in Wales from five years to 10 years, which means that we can capitalise on the Anglesey and Celtic free ports to their full potential—two free ports that were obtained, I might add, thanks to the UK Government. Both free ports act as a springboard for the Welsh economy that benefits businesses, and, by extension, workers across our country, allowing cheaper imports to bring down costs for the consumer and allow the export of Welsh goods at a lower cost.

I'm pleased that the Chancellor recognises the potential of the Welsh economy that has made that investment, and it is something, Llywydd, that we have not seen in the Welsh Government's latest budget. We don't see funding for investment zones; we don't see investment in our town centres, like Rhyl; we don't see investment into Welsh businesses, which are investments that will pay for themselves in the long term. We see business rates relief cut; culture and arts cut; and increasing amounts of money funnelled into fiscal black holes and schemes that no-one wanted in Wales, or no-one asked for, like the universal basic income pilot scheme, 20 mph, like reforming our democracy in Wales without a referendum, funding 36 more politicians, which, again, has no mandate.

Budgets are political acts. They are economic choices based on ideological values, and the Chancellor's budget reflected in classic form the gulf between the priorities of the Tories in Westminster and the lives of ordinary people in Wales. The so-called 'tax burden' has become a recurring theme in the rhetoric of both major Westminster parties over recent years, when discussing the budget. Plaid Cymru fundamentally rejects this damaging narrative, which depicts taxation and national insurance contribution as some kind of unreasonable infringement on individual rights. If we want to see world-class public services that cater for the most vulnerable people in our society, we have to fund them properly. And there's ample evidence that countries that do tax their citizens fairly and in proportion to societal needs, such as the Scandinavian nations, enjoy high standards of living and rank amongst the very top of global indices for happiness and well-being. And if you speak to ordinary people, not those who have property portfolios or hedge-fund investments, they are more concerned that support is available to them when they need it, for their well-being and their health, especially when economic hardship at record levels is fuelling equally record demands on public services. But underinvestment in those services means people are paying more for less. And if you speak to those organisations who support those families, this is what they have to say about the Westminster Government's plans. The chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group said:

'For almost fifteen years, the four million kids from poor families have been at the bottom of the pile and today is no different.... Families needed the two child limit and benefit cap to be scrapped...the Chancellor turned away.'

Simon Francis of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition said:

'What we needed from the Chancellor was a long term plan for warm homes and cheaper energy, but instead the government has condemned families to another winter in cold homes and has failed to fund reform to Britain’s broken energy system.'

The chief executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation said:

'This was a Budget for big earners and big owners. Prioritising capital gains tax cuts for owners of multiple properties is an insult to almost four million people facing destitution in the UK today.'

This is the context in which this budget was set, in which these decisions were made. Poverty affects 21 per cent of our population. That's remained static, virtually, since 2010. Rates of child poverty in Wales, currently at 28 per cent—another figure that's barely changed over a decade. And then there's the shameful rise in homelessness in our communities; the 12 per cent real-terms shrinkage in local government finances that has had such a catastrophic impact on the delivery of social services; 37 per cent increase in foodbank usages across Wales, over the previous year alone; and vast swathes of our public sector workforce having to endure year after year of eroded wages.

Would you take an intervention? I've listened intently to your contribution, also to Peredur's as well talking about the fiscal faults of the UK Government and, indeed, the Welsh Government here. What would Plaid Cymru do so differently? I don't see a plan from yourselves of what you would do as an alternative. Please lay it out if you can.

I think I've just said, we need fair taxation, we need investment in public services. A lot of the policies in our co-operation agreement are aimed exactly at those people who are at the bottom of the heap, and not having any—any—focus at all by the Tory Westminster Government.

We must be prepared to have an honest conversation about our approach to the relationship between taxation and public spending. The long-overdue reforms to the non-domicilled status are a step in the right direction, but the Chancellor could have gone a lot further than those measures that were announced last week. He failed to address the glaring need to equalise capital gains taxes with rates of income tax, a move that could raise an additional £15 billion at a time of such extreme pressures on public services.

While the high-income child benefit threshold will be increased from £50,000 to £60,000, with that taper extended to £80,000, there's no scrapping of the two-child benefit cap that hits the poorest, that deepens child poverty rates, that will deprive tens of thousands of Welsh families of around £3,200 a year. Forty per cent of children in poverty in Wales live in families of more than three children. Keir Starmer's Government in waiting may have lost the courage of its convictions to present a radical agenda to change this dynamic, but I would urge Labour Members here in particular to join us in demanding better for their constituents, our communities and our nation, families you represent who are struggling with deepening hardship. Demand it.

I think the cat has just come out of the bag there. Plaid Cymru in an independent Wales want us to pay taxes relative to a level that we see from some of the countries in the world that pay the highest level of taxes anywhere—

With the highest levels of standards of living.

That's Plaid's vision for Wales—higher taxes. Now we know it. Thank you very much for your contribution, Sioned. I think constituents in our region of South Wales West would be delighted to be paying less tax as a result of this UK Government budget. And what a pleasure it is—

Will you take an intervention?

Absolutely.

Do you think that the residents of South Wales West are equally delighted that the UK ranks thirty-ninth out of 39 in the UNICEF rating of child poverty?

Well, what I know is that child poverty rates in Wales are higher than they are in the rest of the UK and are going in that direction, whereas the rest of the UK is declining. That's the legacy of your co-operation agreement with the Labour Party. [Interruption.] But nevertheless, we'll move on.

Can I say what a pleasure it is to be participating in our Welsh Conservative debate on the UK Government budget, a plan for long-term growth? And as outlined by my colleague Peter Fox in opening today's debate, the UK Government budget announced last week will have huge benefits for people right across the UK and in South Wales West, particularly here in Wales. The UK Government's plan for long-term growth will support communities, as we've heard already today, in a range of different ways. And it's a shame, after 25 years of a Labour Government here in Cardiff Bay, that we don't see that same bright and positive economic plan, and that budget brought forward from them.

The Welsh Government will receive an additional £168 million of additional Barnett consequential funding, and on these benches we have one hope: that we don't see that same money squandered on the same vanity projects we've seen over the last few years. Wales needs more doctors, more nurses and more teachers, not more politicians. Speaking for a moment as the shadow Minister for culture, a key part of the budget that I was thrilled to see was that investment in cultural spending across Wales. We saw that with the £5 million of cultural facilities in Newport, £1.6 million towards the redevelopment of Theatr Clwyd, which Alun and I went on a visit to—I very much enjoyed that—and £10 million of funding for the fantastic Venue Cymru, which of course we recently held our Welsh Conservative Party conference in—located in Llandudno, right in the heart of the constituency so capably represented by the queen of Llandudno, Janet Finch-Saunders. And what a contrast that budget is, that prioritisation of the cultural budget, with the Welsh Labour Government cutting cultural budgets here in Wales, failing to prioritise our national heritage.

But more broadly, workers across the country will be going home next month with more money in their pay packet thanks to this UK Conservative Government. That 2p cut in income tax means that now, the average Welsh worker on £31,800 will be £770 better off than they were—[Interruption.]—just in a moment—last year. This cut will benefit more than 1.2 million workers in Wales. And let’s not forget, it’s the second time we’ve cut national insurance by 2p in less than a year, taking the rate down from 12p to 8p.

What does he make of the independent analysis of the budget that shows that, because of fiscal drag—in other words, people being dragged into the lower income tax rate—actually, for those who earn less than £26,000 a year—the majority of my constituents, in fact—they will either be exactly the same or actually worse off, while you and I are benefiting?

Well, I remember under the last Labour Government that the very lowest earners paid tax on that earning. The first £12,500 that anybody earns, as a result of this Conservative Government, is completely tax free. And the Prime Minister has since announced, on that national insurance, that he wants to go further by abolishing that double tax on work completely in the long term.

And in addition, I just wanted to mention, in September this year the UK Government will be extending that childcare provision, which means parents will get that additional support for children from nine months old. For many families, the cost of childcare is like having a second mortgage, or even stopping people from getting onto the property ladder. Not only is this change putting more money back into parents’ pockets, but supporting parents back into work after maternity leave without feeling that same financial pinch. This UK Government recognises our hard-working families and wants to encourage parents to return to work. It will benefit them by increasing the threshold to start paying back child benefit, and in April it will increase from £50,000 to £60,000, a 20 per cent increase that will take 170,000 families out of paying the charge this year.

This is a UK Government that is serious about long-term, sustainable growth. Despite a global pandemic, the war in Ukraine and, yes, getting Brexit done, I believe this Conservative Government is delivering for all corners of the United Kingdom for investment and for levelling up. It’s clear that, in this budget, we’ve seen real positive benefits for communities up and down Wales, and it’s one that should be welcomed by this Senedd today. That’s why I’m calling on all Members across this Chamber to support our Welsh Conservative motion. Diolch yn fawr.

The finance Minister now—Rebecca Evans.

Thank you, Llywydd. So, we've just heard about how the Conservative Government is serious about growth, and a year on from the so-called budget for growth, the Chancellor delivered his latest budget last week against the backdrop of the UK economy, which is actually smaller now than it was a year ago at the time of that budget for growth. The economy's low growth is being reflected in living standards, and these are real-life impacts for the people who we all represent. Gross household disposable income per head—and that's the single best economic measure of living standards—is forecast to be 0.9 per cent below its level of 2019 at the end of this year, and isn't set to recover to pre-pandemic levels until 2025. That translates to six years of lost growth.

The Resolution Foundation has reported that, under this UK Government, real wage growth and GDP per capita have increased at their lowest rates since the second world war, and that this UK Government is set to be the first since 1955 to oversee a fall in real household disposable income and living standards.

So, the Chancellor's decision to cut employee national insurance contributions by 2p just fails to target those people who are most in need. The Institute for Public Policy Research has reported that nearly half of the benefit goes to the richest 20 per cent of households, whilst only 3 per cent of those benefits go to the poorest fifth of households.

Would the Minister give way?

Of course.

Will she note that it was failed to be answered adequately in my intervention previously on the Conservative speaker that the effect, actually, of this freeze on the income tax thresholds till 2028 means more and more people on the lowest earnings are now being dragged into it, known as fiscal drag, and it means, in effect, that those below £26,000 in income will actually be worse off, regardless of the smoke and mirrors of the Conservatives?

Absolutely. The poorest are getting poorer, and that's especially so in that context I've described about the cost of living and disposable income and so on. And it is the most wealthy who are benefitting from these recent changes by the UK Government. And even taken together with the national insurance cut announced in the autumn, these most recent cuts to national insurance contributions still only reverse half of the increase in personal taxes that have been made throughout the course of this UK Government through its freezing of personal tax thresholds and allowances.

So, the Chancellor, once again, has failed to recognise the vital importance of public services, just as he did in the autumn. In Wales, we've recognised the role of public services in driving economic growth, getting people into work and also supporting us to achieve our net-zero targets. In contrast, there was nothing in the Chancellor's budget for public services, and the UK Government's overall spending totals imply no real growth in public spending per person over the next five years, leaving schools, hospitals and essential public services exposed to real-terms cuts, with NHS spending in England increasing by only 1 per cent in cash terms next year, compared to 5 per cent now here.

The £168 million of resource consequentials for Wales relate to funding around NHS pay, as we understand it, and that was agreed a year ago, and the local government adult social care funding that was announced in England—that's the £25 million that we were already aware of and had discussions about in this Senedd ahead of the budget—was already factored into our spending plans in any case. So, this means that our settlement for 2024-25 is still up to £700 million lower in real terms than expected at the time of the 2021 spending review, and our budget in 2024-25 is £3 billion lower than if it had grown in line with GDP since 2010.

There is very little in the budget that will provide the necessary conditions to boost productivity and create an environment for investment to support living standards and public services. There was no additional capital funding for the Welsh Government, leaving our general capital funding budget in 2024-25 worth up to 8 per cent less in real terms than expected at the time of the last spending review. In addition to this, the Chancellor's budget once again ignored the core priorities for the UK Government investment here in Wales, and those are calls that we've been making around coal-tip safety and reclassification of HS2.

The UK Government's levelling-up policies are failing people, businesses and communities, and they take money and powers away from Wales, putting them into the hands of Ministers in Whitehall. Levelling up has been used by the UK Government as a way of cutting Welsh budgets and, in some areas, actually cynically rebranding some of that money as UK investment in Wales. And this was really apparent in the Chancellor's budget, where he announced that token £1.6 million towards funding the renovation of Theatr Clwyd in Flintshire. This is in stark contrast to the £23.5 million that this Welsh Government has invested in the same project as part of our programme for government commitments, so I do hope that the Welsh Conservatives are very clear with their constituents as to where the real investment is coming from for that project.

Sam Rowlands to reply to the debate.

Diolch, Llywydd. Despite the attempts of doom and gloom from Labour and Plaid benches, speaking down the prospects of Wales, what we've heard today are many of the excellent measures from the UK Conservative Government budget that will bring huge benefits for the people of Wales. We heard of the 1.2 million working people in Wales who are going to benefit from a national insurance cut—. It's a very early intervention, Huw, but please carry on.

I hope it's timely, because I was really unfair earlier on, I have to say—I have to say—because some of the independent analysis does indeed show that workers on average will be better off. In fact, some of the independent analysis that I've got in front of me suggests that an average salary worker is, indeed, £2.68 per week better off. Well done to the Conservatives: to win the general election, you've just bribed the electorate with a Greggs pasty.

Thank you. Thank you for the intervention, Huw, it was very insightful—very insightful indeed. What we've also heard today—what we've also heard today—Welsh families are better off as the UK Government raised the threshold for claiming child benefit. We've heard about the massive investment in the acquisition of Wylfa as a site for nuclear development to make Anglesey a world-beating destination for energy. We've heard about the direct investment of £20 million for Rhyl, £5 million for Newport, £1.6 million for Theatr Clwyd and £10 million for Venue Cymru in Llandudno as well.

Our farming communities—imagine that; imagine investing in farming communities—£5 million for an agri-food launchpad to support environmental projects in farming. And, of course, the £170 million in Barnett consequentials for the Welsh Government, on top of the record-high block grant it already receives. That is what a UK Conservative Government does for Wales.

What we've heard through this from Members is the detail of a mix of three broad strands that make up the support for the people of Wales. The first strand is the benefit—[Interruption.] Is that an intervention, there, Alun Davies?

I'm making the point—. I'm very bad at turning down invitations. The Member lists these investments from UK Government in Wales, but the reality is that the UK Government spends more, proportionately, every day of the week in London than they spend either in northern England, Wales or Scotland. We need to address fundamental inequalities in the United Kingdom, rather than seeking to justify them.

Let me explain this to you, Alun, because I think you're missing the point, not just about the direct investment into those projects. Of course, there's devolved responsibility and the delivery of devolved services. The Welsh Government gets £18 billion a year, of course, from the settlement—from the spending review—an extra £170 million we've already heard about, in addition to the £820 million since the 2021 review as well. An example of this additional money was highlighted by Peter Fox in his opening, with the package of childcare measures to extend childcare support in England. It's unfortunate, at the very least, that the Welsh Government refuses to extend similar childcare support measures for families here in Wales, despite getting those significant Barnett consequentials. These are huge sums of money, and it's a real shame that Labour in Cardiff are determined to fritter it away on endless vanity projects, as we heard from Members, including Tom Giffard, highlighting the determination for more politicians in this place.

But it's not just the consequentials of the Barnett formula—that is just one of these strands. Last week's budget provides from taxpayers vast support for Wales as a core and important part of the United Kingdom. The statement and budget from autumn and from last week's budget as well, together, provide £900 a year extra benefit to workers in Wales through the national insurance cuts. We've got the freeze on alcohol duty, alleviating pressure on our hospitality sector. It sets out plans to support families through changes to child benefit, benefiting some parents to an average of £1,260 a year. And the budget also committed to boosting pensions. Let's not forget this: hundreds of thousands of pensioners in Wales will receive an 8.5 per cent increase to their state pension, ensuring dignity in older age for those hundreds and thousands of pensioners up and down Wales who've worked their entire lives. Also, from April, the 9.8 per cent increase to the national living wage will benefit thousands of workers on the very lowest pay here in Wales, ensuring that the pay of a full-time worker in Wales will increase by over £1,800 a year. The Conservatives are delivering for the whole of the United Kingdom. That was the second strand.

The third strand that's been highlighted today has been the direct investment throughout Wales. We've heard about the acquisition of Wylfa as a site for nuclear development—only possible within a United Kingdom benefiting from a Conservative Government defending British energy independence. And Gareth Davies helpfully celebrated a new batch of levelling-up investment into Rhyl, the £20 million, on top of the £20 million in last year's budget for the levelling-up funding, and this will go some way to making Rhyl great again, which, I'm sure, Gareth will be supporting. Janet Finch-Saunders and Tom Giffard outlined the ripple effect that UK Government investment will have in Llandudno, the £10 million to Venue Cymru, boosting the tourism and hospitality sector in that part of the world, attracting people to an excellent venue in a beautiful seaside town. And despite the pooh-poohing of this investment by Alun Davies, this gives people in our communities the ability to have a greater say over the way money is spent, giving towns like Rhyl long-term certainty to deliver projects based on local priorities—[Interruption.] Cefin.

I've heard you all trotting out these wonderful projects, but expert analysis shows that there is £46 billion of unfunded commitments in the last budget, which is even higher than the kamikaze budget of Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng. So, can you explain to me how that gaping black hole is going to be filled, or are we going to come to the obvious conclusion that this is just an election gimmick?

I'm sure there's a five-point plan somewhere over on those benches for the economy in Wales, but we have yet to hear it succinctly at all. And what we're hearing today from benches across the way here is this continual pooh-poohing and talking down of the prospects of Wales. I, for one, am proud to see investment here in Wales.

So, in closing the debate today, let us recognise that the UK budget first of all provides more support for devolved responsibility, puts more money in the pockets of the hard-working people of Wales, and certainly ensures that communities receive that direct investment. As a result, I encourage all Members in this place to vote for the Welsh Conservative motion and vote for Welsh prosperity.

The proposal is to agree the motion without amendment. Does any Member object? [Objection.] Yes, there is objection. Therefore, I will defer voting until voting time.

Item 8 is the next item, a debate on the Standards of Conduct Committee report, the 'Ninth report to the sixth Senedd under Standing Order 22.9'. I call on the Chair of the committee to move the motion. Vikki Howells.

Diolch, Llywydd. As the Chair of the Standards of Conduct Committee, I formally move the motion. I'd like to begin by thanking my fellow members of the committee and the committee clerking and legal team for their support on this case.

The committee considered the report from the commissioner for standards in relation to a complaint made against Rhys ab Owen MS regarding his conduct on the evening of 30 June to 1 July 2021. The committee gave the commissioner's report careful consideration and our report sets out the committee's decision on the commissioner's findings and opinion and makes a recommendation as to the sanction that is appropriate in this case. Following the receipt of the commissioner's report, the committee has given the Member greater latitude to make representations in both oral session and by way of written submissions and correspondence than has previously been afforded to a Member who has been the subject of a complaint considered by the standards committee.

The Member has also been provided with all of the commissioner's responses to points raised. As the committee sets out in the report, the committee has decided to make a finding of breach of the Members' code of conduct in respect of the five matters originally put to the Member by the commissioner, namely that he was drunk, swore at and inappropriately touched the complainant on the evening of 30 June to 1 July 2021. We are recommending a sanction of 42 days, based on the initial complaint received by the commissioner in August 2022. The facts relating to the complaint and the committee's reasons for its recommendations are set out in the committee's full report.

The standards system is one that requires a careful balance of the need to be transparent and the need to avoid distress or further harm where there is no public interest in making information available. As such, Members will note that the committee has taken the decision not to publish the commissioner's report. We were mindful of the need to ensure privacy for all those involved in this complaint. However, the committee has made the report and related appendices and documents available for inspection by Members under conditions of strict confidentiality in a reading room, with only essential redactions to respect the privacy of witnesses and third parties, and, in particular, to protect the identities of persons named in the commissioner's report. This follows a practice that has been adopted in other UK legislatures in similar cases.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind Members that the reputation of the Senedd as an institution and the public's trust and confidence in it rely upon us Members adhering to the code of conduct. In doing so, we must show integrity, leadership and respect in our behaviour and in the example that we set for others. For the start of the sixth Senedd, we the Senedd expressed our commitment to upholding the dignity of other people and the prohibition of unwanted behaviour and harassment. We adopted an additional principle of respect to the long-established seven principles of public life in our code of conduct. It is to this important principle that I draw Members' attention in particular today.

As has already been noted elsewhere, the recommendation is the longest exclusion proposed to date by a Senedd standards committee, and it reflects the seriousness of the breach of the code of conduct and the committee's determination to uphold that fundamental principle of respect. The Senedd must be a safe and inclusive workplace where everybody is treated equally. Those working for and serving Members should not feel that they must tolerate behaviour that is not acceptable.

I would like to finish by assuring this Senedd that the committee has arrived at its recommendation on the evidence before it and, as we note in our report, we were conscious not allow emotion to cloud our objective assessment of the facts. However, this is the first complaint considered by the Senedd that addresses matters of harassment and unwanted behaviour, and it would be remiss of me not to acknowledge that this case has had a significant impact on everyone concerned. In particular, it required courage for the complainant to decide to come forward and engage with the complaints process. The committee hopes that its work on this complaint will reassure others considering bringing a complaint that they will find that there is a fair and impartial process with a secure environment that will enable them to be heard. The motion tabled invites the Senedd to endorse the committee's recommendation.

Rhys ab Owen.

Diolch, Llywydd, for the opportunity to speak, and thank you in advance to my fellow Members for listening to what I have to say. I'll be making my speech in English as I want to speak directly to every Member. As many of you will know, this place does mean a lot to me, and I appreciate the opportunity to speak after what has been a long and difficult period. And while I wish I could have spoken to you in person to demonstrate my respect for you and the institution, due to the very critical health situation of my newborn nephew Emrys Arthur, I am required to attend hospital this evening to support my family. Therefore, that is the reason I am addressing you remotely. I thank you in advance for understanding this.

Of course, I'd like to begin with an apology, an apology to the people directly impacted by my behaviour, to my family, to you my colleagues in the Senedd, and to the public I serve. Simply, I have let you all down. My behaviour on the night in question fell far short of the standard expected of a public official, and for that I do apologise unreservedly, mainly to those present and affected by my behaviour that evening, now nearly three years ago, to you my colleagues, to my family and to the public. I had too much to drink that night and I behaved badly. I accept responsibility for my behaviour and the consequences of that behaviour. I therefore also accept the punishment given to me, even if I might have reservations about how it was reached, and I do have reservations, Llywydd.

While I respect the necessity of this process, its duration and lack of transparency were challenging for all involved. It is only right that we have such a process, but that process needs to improve, and it must improve for all parties involved. The complaint was submitted to the standards commission on 1 July 2022. It is now 13 March 2024. Over 20 months have gone by; 622 days. No matter how distinguished, one individual should not be the investigator and finder of fact. This is especially the case when there is no way to challenge or appeal the process other than a judicial review that could cost six figures to pursue. Such a cost would deter most except the very rich from seeking to appeal, highlighting the real barrier to fairness. I would imagine that this is a sum unreachable for most here in the Senedd. But, Llywydd, the rules, as they are, are the rules, and I must abide by them. I do abide by them.

This experience has taught me the importance of compassion and not defining others by their lowest points. Nor must we rush to judgment; whatever my sins might be, they are not what have been described in some corners of the media commentary about the report. I would therefore urge all to read the committee report carefully before offering their commentary.

Vikki Howells to reply.

Diolch, Llywydd. I would like to thank the Member for the respectful way that he approached his dealings with the committee. In terms of the length of the inquiry, what I would say is that the Commissioner for Standards conducted his investigation into the complaint from 15 August 2022 to 12 May 2023. The investigation involved interviewing the Member, complainant and various other witnesses, and the committee began its own consideration of the commissioner's report on 24 May 2023.

Members will see from the annex to the report the timeline of committee proceedings, and in particular the volume of submissions and responses that were exchanged. The committee also requested the clarification of certain points, which required witnesses to be re-interviewed by the standards commissioner and further disclosure of documents. The committee was keen throughout to ensure that it gave due weight to the representations that it received and was not prepared to rush to its conclusions.

In terms of the commissioner's investigation itself, the committee considered the Member's criticisms carefully and has set out its views in our report. Were the committee not satisfied, we would have rejected the commissioner's findings as a whole. The committee did decline to make a decision on a number of findings that were not core to the original complaint for the procedural reasons that we set out in the report. Diolch, Llywydd.

The proposal is to agree the motion. Does any Member object? No, there is no objection, therefore, the motion is agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.

That brings us to voting time and, unless three Members wish for the bell to be rung, I will proceed directly to the first vote.

The first vote is on item 3, the second supplementary budget for 2023-24. I call for a vote on the motion, tabled in the name of Rebecca Evans. Open the vote. Close the vote. In favour 27, 23 abstentions and 1 against. Therefore, the motion is agreed.

The next vote will be on item 7. Welsh Conservative debate on the UK Government budget. I call for a vote first of all on the motion without amendment, tabled in the name of Darren Millar. Open the vote. Close the vote. In favour 14, no abstentions and 37 against. Therefore, the motion is not agreed.

We will now vote on amendment 1. If amendment 1 is agreed, amendment 2 will be deselected. So, a vote on amendment 1, tabled in the name of Heledd Fychan. Open the vote. Close the vote. In favour 11, no abstentions and 40 against. Therefore, amendment 1 is not agreed.

Amendment 2 is next. I call for a vote on amendment 2, tabled in the name of Lesley Griffiths. Open the vote. Close the vote. In favour 37, no abstentions and 14 against. Therefore, amendment 2 is agreed.

The final vote is on the motion as amended. Open the vote. Close the vote. In favour 37, no abstentions, 14 against. Therefore, the motion as amended is agreed.

That concludes voting for this afternoon, and we will now move to the short debate. This afternoon's short debate is to be introduced by Hefin David.

And Hefin David will start his debate once some Members have left the Chamber quietly.

Diolch, Llywydd. I'd just like to say that the speech I'm about to make was written by digital leaders in year 9—I said year 10 yesterday; it was actually year 9—of Bedwas High School, and they're in the gallery today: Reggie Dovener, Nia Parsons and Kaia Wells. They wrote this speech. I'll just reassure the Minister that I have read it as well, and I'm going to use it today to make my contribution.

The question they're asking is should we ban mobile phones in school. It's a very pertinent topic at the moment. As a society, we've got used to using mobile phones and having up-to-date information at our fingertips. For our youngsters in our schools, is this a support to their education or is it a hindrance to their progress? Schools have their own policies on mobile phones across Wales. Some have a total ban, and this means phones are either handed in or put in a sealed pouch for the day. Other schools have a rule of no phones out in lessons, and this works for some, but not for others.

In October 2023, the UK Government gave guidance that suggested banning phones for the whole school day. In February 2024, the Department for Education brought out guidance on prohibiting mobile phones throughout the school day. Schools in Wales that have banned mobile phones during the school day are Llanidloes High School, Ysgol Aberconwy in Conwy, and Pen Y Dre High School in Merthyr Tydfil. Llanidloes High School stated that cases of cyber bullying had dropped dramatically. Mr Owen, the headteacher, who I know, said to WalesOnline:

'I used to go into the canteen and there was an eerie silence because they were all on their phones. Now they talk to each other more'.

Ysgol Aberconwy have invested in a pouch, costing £10, that locks the phone during the school day. The headteacher, Mr Gerrard, stated that the school phone-free zone had stopped cyber bullying, while children are socialising and concentrating better as they can't play on their phones during lessons and break times.

Bedwas High School themselves have a policy of no mobile phones in class, but are looking into a consultation—Bedwas High in my constituency—for banning mobile phones throughout the day. I am expecting e-mails. From parental research, around a quarter of parents have concerns about mobile phones being banned or not being seen in the school, and Mr Diehl, the headteacher, stated on the school website that a growing number of other schools have banned the use of mobile phones, that the school is researching the impact of such bans, and if the school feels it necessary to have a similar approach, then it will be a full consultation with pupils, parents, staff and other stakeholders before the governing body make a decision. No decision as yet has been made about mobile phone use in the school, and I would hope, just to add, that the digital leaders have a significant say in how that progresses.

So, they've said to me—. Here are some of the arguments against mobile phone use in schools: cyber bullying amongst learners in school is something that has been publicised many times. Cyber bullying takes place during the school day and can involve photographs being taken and shared. Less interaction with mobile digital technology can reduce cyber bullying throughout the school day. Learners will not have the chance to record incidents and share them, and this should reduce incidents being shared through media such as Snapchat, and I will give you some examples in a minute. Taking away the distraction of apps on mobile phones has improved pupil performance in some schools, and photographs of teachers have been taken and shared across many social media platforms. There are images being used as memes to embarrass the teachers as subjects of the photographs. If a school opts for an outright ban of mobile phones, initially the fixed-term exclusions will rise in a school, but once learners know no phones are used then most learners, they believe, will conform.

Learners feel that mobile phones are needed to contact parents during the school day. This is not necessary, as family emergencies can be dealt with by the usual school systems, as they always were in the past. Learners are quick to contact parents when they've had a mobile phone text message following a pupil's misbehaviour in a lesson and that pupil has had a sanction. This has encouraged more parents to visit the school without appointments, and in a rage, due to having a one-sided account of the incident from the pupil who sent the message. And I can see our former teacher here is nodding at the familiarity of that. This has caused more forceful interactions between staff and parents and guardians.

With fewer cyber bullying incidents, though, due to no mobile phone use in schools, we can ease safeguarding concerns, and this will aid well-being teams in schools that deal with mobile phone bullying day in and day out. Also, it's at a cost to learners, the use of mobile phones, because they are using their data packages for school use, because Wi-Fi actually is quite limited in some schools, including Bedwas High, and I experienced that myself, when we were meeting and went through this speech the other day. Schools need to be funded appropriately so no digital divide is seen in the classroom.

Some learners having a hard time in school feel comforted by having their device, so they can contact family members for reassurance during the day, and many feel pupils just feel comfort having the mobile phone in their bag next to them. Another issue that was raised was that of learners who are also young carers. An individual who works with young carers told us that a ban would be horrific for them. They would be anxious about how their relative was throughout the day, and that worry would hinder their learning. The odd text helps them know that their loved one is okay, and they can relax then.

I also want to say, from my own perspective, about the use of such technology and additional learning needs pupils. My daughter, particularly, finds the use of the mobile phone calming, and also has a tendency to destroy iPads, but that's another story. But having the mobile phone at hand can calm her and also enable her to communicate more effectively than without it. So, there is an ALN issue there too.

Some of the contradictions for learners. Well, in some schools, the policy is no phones in lessons, then learners get asked to use a QR code to access a task or complete a survey, and then are asked to use their phones by the teachers. They're asked to do exactly what the school rule is telling them not to do. And some learners have said they feel there's inconsistency, with some staff allowing the use of phones and some not. Teachers are also using their phones during the school day, and if a ban comes in for pupils, then surely it should come in for teachers as well.

One person acknowledged that the inherent contradictions in this issue told us that mobile phones are a double-edged sword. For the majority of youngsters, they're a useful tool of modern life, but when not to use them and how to use them appropriately is a key life skill. They can also be used as a safety device—the parents can reach the children when they're out in the community, and can be used as a tracking device.

However, there is a darker side when we consider the sexual and criminal exploitation of children, in that mobile phones allow perpetrators access to vulnerable children wherever they are, including at school. There are issues in terms of young people using them to create and distribute exploitative images of children, and they can also cause that problem, which we've already mentioned, of embarrassing videos of teachers and other pupils.

The digital leadership team asked 10 different registration classes, years 8 to 11, if they thought phones should be banned. The majority in all of those classes said, 'No, they should not.' But there were two year 8s that that said, 'yes'. They asked 10 teachers what they thought. Five teachers said, 'yes', five teachers said, 'no'. So, thanks, teachers, that's really helpful. A few gave their opinion, and one said, 'Why punish the majority for the minority's idiocy?' Another said, 'As long as they're respectful, it's fine', and a technology teacher said, 'We need phones to take photographs of our coursework.' A student said, 'Phones are part of society, just like social media is part of politics. Phones can be a medical device, and life saving to diabetic people.'

I call on the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language to reply to the debate. Jeremy Miles.

Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I'd like to thank Hefin David for tabling this short debate today, and for the points he made on the use of mobile phones in schools, and much more importantly, can I thank the digital leaders at Bedwas High for writing the speech? I think we should maybe ask you to write more speeches that are delivered in this Chamber. I hope Hefin won't mind me saying, but I saw a marked improvement in quality. [Laughter.]

I'm also hopeful that colleagues won't mind me pointing out that most of us would have been in school at a time when mobile phones were not as prevalent as they are today, and growing up in an age without social media and without ready access to all that the internet can offer, both good and bad, I think afforded us different experiences and opportunities to those of today's learners, but it's important that in any debate on this topic, or on any other topic, that we recognise their lived reality, which is why their contribution to this debate is so critical. This generation is one that has grown up with the internet, with social media, and access to a range of digital technology and devices, and access to mobile phones and other digital media is an integral part of the lives of our young people, and something that they will need to learn to navigate as our technology continues to evolve.

When managed correctly, as we heard in the speech, access to the online world, often via mobile phones, can be educational, informative, and a great way for children and young people to stay in touch with friends and family both in and out of school. We used to talk in terms of learners needing digital skills to enter the workforce, but increasingly, as was acknowledged in the speech, we need these skills to access education and training as well. Some schools, again, as we heard, use online learning resources in lessons or set work that requires learners to undertake their own research. This helps learners, obviously, to gain vital skills in navigating a range of information sources and making decisions about what to use to support their work. The plethora of approved revision apps encourages our learners to learn anywhere and enhances their research skills. Even using social media itself can be seen, as Hefin David put it, as a life skill, although it needs to be used responsibly, with some caution, when interacting with others.

Of course, not all of this positive interaction in the online and digital space has to be done via mobile phones, and I'm conscious of the need for learners to understand how to learn and work without digital resources and the impacts of digital disadvantage, and, indeed, as I'm sure many of us would recognise, digital distraction. But, as we see greater advances in digital technology, including the growing use of artificial intelligence, we cannot simply remove this access from classrooms. Where managed properly, teachers can find innovative ways of integrating mobile technology into classroom teaching. This, I think, is why a blanket approach is not appropriate and why it is a matter that's best handled locally.

Thank you, Minister and Hefin David. That brings today's proceeding to a close.

And thank you to the digital leaders from Bedwas, as well.