, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Annual scrutiny of the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales
Excellent. Thank you very much indeed. It's nearly 10 months since you published your five-year report, on the same day that the Auditor General for Wales also published a similar one. How well do you think you've made progress on this report in the last 10…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Annual scrutiny of the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales
This afternoon, we're conducting our annual scrutiny of the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, Derek Walker. Welcome. Derek, I wondered if you could just introduce your two colleagues.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Introductions, apologies, substitutions and declarations of interest
Prynhawn da. Welcome to the Equality and Social Justice Committee. We are a bilingual institution, so for those of us joining us online, there is simultaneous translation from Welsh to English. I have no apologies for today, as all Members are present. Are…
, Plenary
Group 2: Local connection (Amendments 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 68, 69)
You can see, I hope, though, that there are risks related to this legislation, to ensure that it meets the needs of homeless people in Wales.
, Plenary
Group 2: Local connection (Amendments 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 68, 69)
We are a nation of sanctuary, but the numbers involved are tiny, and those are people who have already been sent to us by the UK Government, and we need to ensure that they're not abusing that nation of sanctuary. Similarly, in terms of arguing who should…
, Plenary
Group 2: Local connection (Amendments 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 68, 69)
I would want to express caution on any attempt to water down the local connection duty, because of the even more acute housing crisis in some parts of England, which is bound to encourage people to move to Wales if they think they can get away with it. The…
, Plenary
Group 1: Prevention (Amendments 32, 33, 67, 34, 35)
This is all about the prevention of homelessness. I want to commend the role of Cardiff Council in rigorously using housing first as a strategy to fulfil their obligations where at all possible. I'm currently dealing with the case of a child with no legal…
, Plenary
Business Statement and Announcement
—can I have a statement from the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning on the Welsh Government's plans to create a heat network for south Wales?
, Plenary
Business Statement and Announcement
On a lighter note, I'd like to thank the Cabinet Secretary for attending the wonderful Armenian exhibition in the Oriel, which is on until the end of March, where the artefacts have been rescued, many of them from Turkey, following the genocide in 1915, and I…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Local Growth Fund
So, how are you going to avoid—
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Local Growth Fund
Well, certainly, we didn't hear from the mid Wales CJC last week, and the need is there because of the topography, if nothing else, and sparsity. They are going to be very different strategies to the ones in the more urbanised areas. So, is it that you're…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Local Growth Fund
Based on the conversations we had with three of the four representatives of CJCs last week, my concern is that they lack the breadth of partnership and collaboration with the private sector that, for example, the south Wales industrial cluster had. They've…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Local Growth Fund
Important not to reinvent the wheel. You've clearly stated that your plan is to use the four corporate joint committees to lead on the regional allocations. What methodology are you going to be using to justify any national project?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Local Growth Fund
Some of us know all about that. But the point is, we want to be sure that, whoever the Government is down the other end of the M4, it's the Welsh Government that is driving this particular process forward.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Local Growth Fund
Did I hear you correctly that the UK Government was going to be endorsing a Welsh Government strategy? It's devolved, isn't it?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Future of Welsh Steel
So, in the weeks you've got left, is it possible for you to actually set out how this absolute foundation stone of everything we want to do in industrial strategy is going to be moved forward?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Future of Welsh Steel
Yes. The final question is the importance of creating a Welsh grid. Because every time we hit all this wonderful energy that's going to be produced offshore, when you send it back to the National Grid you lose energy, and when you send it back to Wales you…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Future of Welsh Steel
So, within those discussions—
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Future of Welsh Steel
So, have you been able to have any conversations with your opposite numbers in the UK Government? Ed Miliband and Steve Reed seem to be the main players in this field. Unless we have a joined-up strategy, I don't see how the UK economy can thrive in this…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Future of Welsh Steel
Okay. So, I want to move to the elephant in the room in all this, which is these energy-intensive industries. I haven't yet seen any attempts—. Well, let's discuss what is being done. Because, clearly, there's an amount of evidence that the reason that UK…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Future of Welsh Steel
But without the blast furnaces in this country, we may not be in a position to build the bridges, the high buildings and, indeed, the offshore wind, because only those are strong enough to keep up safely.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Future of Welsh Steel
But our overall steel security is pretty precarious, is it not? I assume this is being discussed by the Prime Minister in China. But if we're going to be dependent on steel coming from the other side of the world, in uncertain circumstances that we don't want…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Future of Welsh Steel
Okay. But with just 30 per cent of UK steel demand being met by UK-produced steel, we clearly have quite a major steel security issue in light of the uncertainties in the world. What is the Welsh Government doing to increase the amount of UK-produced steel…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Future of Welsh Steel
Okay. Well, obviously, it's very important that we do recycle steel into new products, but it doesn't resolve the issue that I wanted to ask earlier, which is: where are we going to get the steel that's resilient enough to support these offshore windfarms…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Future of Welsh Steel
Just sticking with scrap, the circular steel sub-committee's recent report calls for investment in the whole process of domestic scrap processing, such as shredding, screening and refining, and we heard concerns from the workforce, when giving evidence on the…
