Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, following the annual event in which the real living wage calculation is announced for the following financial year, I wrote to the leaders of all public sector bodies in Wales, urging them to come forward as real living wage employers. Now, the point that I made in my letter was that I am prepared to recognise that different bodies—different local authorities, for...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, the last time I had a discussion with any UK Minister about civil service jobs, it was to hear that Minister trumpet the intentions of the UK Government to disperse civil service jobs around the country, and to bring more employment to Wales and other places outside London. What a different story this turns out to be in reality. Eighty per cent of civil service jobs in Wales...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, the Welsh Government's record of payment of BPS is, as the leader of the opposition will know, the best in the United Kingdom and has been for many years, and certainly a great deal better than it is across our border. We continue to have discussions every week with the farming unions here in Wales, and with other farming interests. My colleague Lesley Griffiths will, of...
Mark Drakeford: Well, just to reiterate what I said, Llywydd, because I don't want to have what I said last time either misunderstood or misrepresented, the point that was being put to me before was about a shortage of food being supplied through the shops to Welsh citizens, and we continue to have assurances from the UK Government that that is not the case, and that there are no imminent shortages of...
Mark Drakeford: Well, I think the leader of the opposition misunderstands what the Bank of England governor had to say. What he was referring to was the rise in the cost of food because of events in Ukraine and, as he said very clearly to the committee, because of Brexit. Now, there's a difference between the crisis caused by rising food costs and a lack of supply of food in supermarkets. We continue to be...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, thank you. The Member made a number of important points before he went off the rails into cheap-shot politics, which is of course far too often the distinguishing characteristic of his party. When he was making sensible points, he referred to the pressure that services are under in Powys, and that is absolutely true. He referred to the need to repatriate services to Powys. I imagine...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd—[Interruption.]
Mark Drakeford: Health services in Brecon and Radnor are the responsibility of Powys Teaching Local Health Board. The board continues to invest in capital improvements that produce advances in service efficiency as it restores essential and key services alongside the continuing need to care for patients affected by COVID-19.
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, can I thank Buffy Williams for those points? And she's right, of course, that we need to make sure that households in Wales are as aware of the help as possible. And we're doing that in a number of ways, working closely with our local authority colleagues, making sure that, through third sector organisations, there's readily accessible information for people, and that, when somebody...
Mark Drakeford: I thank Russell George for drawing my attention to that issue. He will know that the winter fuel support scheme was put together very rapidly in order to make sure that we got as much help as possible into the hands of households who very badly needed that help. We are now looking at ways in which to deliver our commitment to have a second round of that fund for the coming winter. We're...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, our Warm Homes programme for lower income households saves an average of £300 a year by improving energy efficiency. Eligible households have also benefited from the £200 winter fuel support payment. And additionally, a £150 cost-of-living payment is being made to properties in council tax bands A to D.
Mark Drakeford: More than 30,000 lower income households in south-east Wales have benefited from home energy efficiency measures delivered through our Warm Homes programme since 2009. Our programme saves an average of £300 a year by improving energy efficiency.
Mark Drakeford: We have published and are consulting on a White Paper on bus reform. It sets out the legislative changes we believe we need to make to deliver the bus services that people need in communities across Wales.
Mark Drakeford: As set out in the programme for government we are committed to investing in a new generation of integrated health and social care centres across Wales. These will co-locate front-line health and social care with other services.
Mark Drakeford: The cost-of-living crisis is affecting people across Wales, including in the Rhondda. The surge in inflation combined with higher taxes will result in real living standards decreasing and put significant pressure on households. We are doing all we can, with the powers we have, to deliver support to the most vulnerable.
Mark Drakeford: Analysis of the health boards' maintenance of nurse staffing levels is captured in the Welsh Government's summary document of the health boards' first three-year reports under section 25E of the Nurse Staffing Levels (Wales) Act 2016. This was last published in December 2021.
Mark Drakeford: Sport should be a place where everyone can be themselves, where everyone can take part and where everyone is treated with kindness, dignity and respect. The five UK sports councils worked together to develop guidance that was published in September 2021 to support the inclusion of transgender people in sport.
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, of course I agree with what the Member said about the importance of audiology and the impact that it has on people's lives. It's a sad fact that during the pandemic, many elderly people, particularly—and audiology services are heavily used by older Welsh citizens—many of those people, because they were shielding during the pandemic, were unable to come forward for their...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, the planned care recovery plan, published on 26 April, commits to reducing therapy waiting times to 14 weeks by spring 2024. The waiting list for the first fitting of an adult hearing aid is included in this commitment, and progress against the ambition will form part of the national recovery programme.
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, this project is only alive because of the funding provided by the Welsh Government to allow Swansea city council, which is the lead public body in relation to the Blue Eden project, to go ahead. When the UK Government pulled the plug on the Swansea bay tidal lagoon, despite the Hendry review, which it set up, telling them that it was a no-regrets investment, the fact that there...
