Mark Drakeford: Earlier this month we published our updated Climate Change Engagement Plan 2022-26, setting out how we are strengthening collaboration on all areas of climate change action – both emissions reduction and climate adaptation.
Mark Drakeford: Transport for Wales is leading work on our behalf to bring forward an integrated package of measures further to improve access to public transport services across Blaenau Gwent.
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, thank you to Llyr Gruffydd for that supplementary question. It's true what he said. Some figures show that over 3 million households additionally have bought pets during the pandemic than was previously the case. So, something major has happened in this area, and, with regard to the cost-of-living crisis and costs, a lot of families are facing pressures in that regard. I know...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, the cost-of-living crisis has had an impact on all aspects of life in Wales, including increased risk to animal welfare. We assess that risk together with our partners in the farming unions, third sector organisations, and through the Welsh Government's established animal health and welfare group.
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, can I thank Darren Millar for raising that issue this afternoon? While I'm very familiar with Llysfasi and the work it does, and indeed the excellent work carried out by Coleg Cambria, that's the first I've heard of the specific issue that he's set out comprehensively this afternoon. The Minister will have heard what he has to say. I'm sure he'll be happy to look at whether there are...
Mark Drakeford: I thank the Member, Llywydd, for the question. All children in Wales have a right to access education within their own areas. Local authorities are responsible for planning school places and must ensure that there are sufficient schools providing primary and secondary education in their areas.
Mark Drakeford: Well, thank you very much to Siân Gwenllian, and thank you to her for co-sponsoring the event next week. From everything that I've heard, the first year of the unit in Tonna Hospital has been very successful, and we're trying to draw lessons out of those experiences. Also, Llywydd, I understand the points that the Member makes about in-patient provision in north Wales, and much work has been...
Mark Drakeford: Thank you. Llywydd, recurrent investment of £3 million has allowed health boards across Wales to develop community perinatal mental health teams. Prevention and early intervention ensures that more women receive effective support as close to home as possible. In Arfon, this includes a specialist nurse, working as part of the wider perinatal mental health team.
Mark Drakeford: I agree with the Member about the need for very significant investment, but the investment comes from water companies. They are responsible, not the Welsh Government. There is money that the Welsh Government invests, and we have £40 million already being spent in this field over the next three years, but the responsibility does not lie with the Welsh Government. The responsibility lies with...
Mark Drakeford: I thank Laura Anne Jones for that question, Llywydd. The privatisation of the water industry by previous Conservative Governments transferred responsibility for the sewer system to water companies. Some sewer systems, such as septic tanks, remain the responsibility of private individuals.
Mark Drakeford: I do thank Vikki Howells for that, and absolutely want to congratulate Rhigos Primary School and the team of people who have achieved that very significant award. I'm afraid, Llywydd, I have been around long enough vividly to remember a visit to a school in Rhondda Cynon Taf, the local authority represented here, with others, by Vikki Howells. It was a visit carried out by the then First...
Mark Drakeford: I thank the Member for that question. I commend to him the recent lecture given by the Minister for education to the Bevan Foundation, in which he grappled with exactly the sorts of issues that Dr Hussain has raised with us this afternoon. These are complex matters. I have no wish whatsoever, Llywydd, to penalise any families who are struggling with the impact of the cost-of-living crisis and...
Mark Drakeford: Can I thank Altaf Hussain for that question? From September this year, this Senedd’s new curriculum will be a reality in 95 per cent of schools and nursery settings in Wales. The new curriculum represents a radical shift in delivering that first-class education that enables our learners to become informed citizens of Wales and the world.
Mark Drakeford: I thank Peter Fox for his recognition of the actions that are being taken by Dŵr Cymru on the Usk in response to the concerns that have been expressed by local residents. As Peter Fox will know, it's a three-phase programme of work, with £10 million to be invested. Phase 1, the work at the Usk sewer pumping station, is already under way, and due to be completed by the end of November, then...
Mark Drakeford: I thank Peter Fox for that question. Water quality in the Usk faces multiple risks ranging from climate change and industrial and agricultural pollution, to faulty septic tanks and wastewater discharges. Welsh Government provides direct investment and sets the regulatory framework, but effective improvement will depend on co-operation across a range of different organisations and individuals.
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, as I have explained, for us to put up the wages of people, as we would like to, as they deserve, we would have to take that money from some other part of the Welsh Government budget, and Members here will know just how stretched that budget is. It's worth £600 million less today than it was on the day that the Chancellor declared it back in November. The answer is that the UK...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, let me agree with the first part of what the leader of Plaid Cymru said, because in the dispute we see in the rail industry and the ballots we see for strike action in other parts of the public services, we are reaping the whirlwind of 10 years of austerity. I think of the time and time again that Members of the Conservative benches here supported and defended that...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, no inhibition exists on members of my group demonstrating their support for the trade union movement. Keir Starmer is in a very different position. He knows perfectly well that if he were to sanction that, the story would never, ever be, would it, about support for the trade union movement; it would be the Tories succeeding in their wish to portray this as somehow an example of...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, the leader of Plaid Cymru is absolutely right that the reasons that we do not have—[Interruption.] I understand that denial is the first refuge of the Welsh Conservative Party, and they're busy at it this afternoon. The reason why there are no trains south of Radyr is because of decisions being made by non-devolved bodies. The reasons why there are no trains at all in north...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, this strike has been called against the extraordinary levels of consent that are required by Tory party legislation. For unions to be able to mount a strike today, they had to move through a series of hurdles that his Government has placed in their path. Now he wants to place further hurdles in the path of people. That's not part of the arrangements that his Government has put on the...
