, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
As a result of the policy, doctors will be seeing between 1,200 and 2,000 fewer people every year, because that will be the amount of people who are avoiding injury due to collisions. We do know that the benefit to the NHS will be £92 million a year. We can…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
The benefits of investing in the 20 mph speed limit are clear. For an estimated one-off cost of around £32 million, we anticipate casualty prevention savings of up to £92 million every year, plus additional health benefits of people walking and cycling more.
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Thank you very much for the question. I know that the Minister for Climate Change has had an opportunity at the partnership council for Wales, which I chair, to talk about the Race to Zero model and to encourage local authorities to explore that if they…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
I have regular discussions with the Minister for Climate Change about supporting local government in the transition to net zero. This is a collective challenge across the Welsh Government and local authorities.
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
I just want to be clear that the tough choices aren't unique to Bridgend council. Every single local authority is facing tough choices as a result of the situation we're facing in Wales in terms of not having enough money to do all of the things that we want…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
For 2024-25, the Government is providing unhypothecated revenue funding of over £5.72 billion and over £1 billion in specific grant funding to support local authorities in delivering statutory and non-statutory services. It is for local authorities to…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
I think there are some really good examples of local authorities undertaking joint procurement and joint commissioning of services. Those happen right across Wales, from things such as social services to waste collection, and so on. So, there are really good…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Well, I think the work of Audit Wales and also the work of Wales Fiscal Analysis has been really important in terms of helping local authorities understand the current pressures, but then also get as good a picture as they can as to the level of pressure that…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
The Welsh Government has made significant progress on working with local government to identify the areas of unnecessary bureaucracy and to develop ways to reduce them. The budget I published yesterday reflects progress made on the dehypothecation and…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
I'm very grateful for those questions, and I know that the education Minister is also particularly aware of the issue in terms of international students who might be reluctant to access university financial support, such as hardship funds, because of…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
So, it hasn't been suggested to me that funding is the issue in this case. I'm aware of the Bevan Foundation report, and I know that the Minister's officials will be looking at what actions can be undertaken to help those who have no recourse to public funds…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
The Minister for Social Justice works with local authorities to support people facing destitution, including those with no recourse to public funds. In 2024-25, local authorities will receive £5.7 billion of funding through the local government settlement and…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
I'm very grateful for the question. I presume that the funding scheme to which the Member refers is the one that sits in the responsibilities of the Minister for Climate Change and the Deputy Minister. So, I'd be certainly happy, after today's Plenary, to…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
I'm grateful for that question. The Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021 made public participation—well, it brought public participation front and centre, if you like, in terms of making it a requirement on local authorities to have those…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
I published guidance on effective public engagement for local authorities in June last year. This was produced following close working with local authorities.
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
I certainly think there are some interesting points that you make in that contribution relating to the impacts of those areas where we don't get consequential funding and so on. But I think the broader concern that I have in relation to the upcoming budget is…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
I'm very grateful for that question. I think there's a lot of speculation at the moment in terms of what the UK Government might do on 6 March. As colleagues will know, we have—I was going to say 'little to no', but it is genuinely 'no'—no advance knowledge…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
I think the single biggest regret that I have, as a result of the budget that I published yesterday, was just the sheer quantum of funding that we have available to allocate. We know that there are still pressures right across public services in Wales—in the…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
I genuinely do want to be as helpful as I can to colleagues in my answers, but, as I set out, my responsibilities in relation to local government are constitutional, structural, democratic and financial. But I absolutely want to recognise the importance of…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
I do admire the Member's efforts to bring a question relating to the sustainable farming scheme to the finance and local government questions this afternoon, but I do want to just remind colleagues that my responsibilities in relation to local government do…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
So, there are a few things, I think, that I need to reflect on that, the first being that there was nothing knee-jerk about it, in the sense that we had started undertaking that work in the summer of last year. So, actually, we were addressing the pressures…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Having reached the end of a three-year spending review period, we no longer have any allocated budgets beyond 2024-25, so this inevitably increases uncertainty. Yesterday, we held a debate about the need for increased flexibilities to futureproof the Welsh…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Well, Llywydd, I'm not going to get into a policy discussion, which the Member is inviting me to do, but what I would say on that point—and I know that he will—is that he should be making his representations through the formal consultation process, which is…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
We work closely with our local authority procurement and catering colleagues, along with suppliers and producers, to embed foundational economy approaches in food procurement activity to increase the supply of sustainable, local food and to maximise…
, Plenary
Legislative Consent Motion on the Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill
Thank you to colleagues for speaking in this debate, and particularly to the LJC committee for its diligent work on this particular matter. I did have the opportunity to meet with the relevant UK Government Minister to set out that we don't accept that the…
