Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, I was very pleased that the Senedd voted in line with Welsh Government advice and chose to withhold legislative consent on those clauses in that Bill that infringe the rights of Gypsy and Traveller communities. I share the frustration expressed by Jenny Rathbone, Llywydd. It was an Act promoted by the Welsh Government, of a Labour Government, that led in 2014 to those...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, the 2019 affordable housing review proposed reforms to local housing needs assessments, including new review and sign-off powers for the Welsh Government. Details of this new approach will be published next month.
Mark Drakeford: Well, I respond in exactly the way that the Member has already heard from the economy Minister: those businesses were able to operate. There were no restrictions on their ability to operate. It is not legitimate to expect the taxpayer to step in in those circumstances.
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, unprecedented levels of financial support have been provided to hospitality and tourism businesses throughout the pandemic, but the greatest support has come through the measures taken to keep staff and customers safe in the face of a global emergency.
Mark Drakeford: I do entirely agree with Sarah Murphy. That was a terrible story that she related from a visit that she has made, but it won't be one, really sadly, that is unfamiliar to many Members of the Senedd. Many of us, in our own constituency capacities, will have had to help families who find themselves in exactly that position, and it is, as that story shows, women who bear the burden of poverty in...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, this morning we announced a £330 million package of support to help Welsh households, including those in Bridgend, to manage the cost-of-living crisis. These measures focus on those actions that put money directly in the pockets of those most affected by it.
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, I'd like to thank Heledd Fychan for that supplementary question, and I agree with her—I'm sure that when it does rain heavily and people see the weather forecast for the week to come, those people who have suffered as a result of flooding are sure to be very concerned and anxious. Now, a lot of work has been done over the past two years at a local level with funding provided...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, our support measures are those set out in the co-operation agreement and the programme for government.
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, I thank Vikki Howells for that. It's a real report from the front line by somebody who knows exactly what it is to be on the front line of our education service. And exactly what Vikki Howells has reported this afternoon, Llywydd, is my own experience of talking to headteachers and to school leaders at subject level as well. I understand, of course, with everything schools have...
Mark Drakeford: I agree that it's very important to go on supporting teachers and headteachers as they work towards the implementation of the new curriculum, but I do think that an enormous amount of help of that sort has been provided since that research was carried out, as the Member knows, back in July of last year. The Minister introduced new flexibilities in the introduction of the new curriculum, and,...
Mark Drakeford: I thank Laura Anne Jones for the question, Llywydd. Research reports consistently highlight the strong commitment, motivation and progress that schools are making in the most radical curriculum reform for a generation. We work closely with regional and local partners to ensure all schools receive the support they need as they move towards the curriculum implementation in September of this year.
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, I'm very glad indeed that the Bevan Foundation will be part of Thursday's round-table and very much welcome the work that they do here in Wales. Today's announcement does include £22.5 million to extend free school meals during the school holidays, through the Easter holiday and right through to the end of the summer holiday this year as well. That, once again, is money that...
Mark Drakeford: I thank Adam Price for those additional points. Well, first of all, of course the point of having a round-table is to collect new ideas and to test ideas that we have already adopted with a wide range of people from across Wales. So, we will certainly be doing that on Thursday of this week. I don't think that criticism of the council tax rebate in Wales is completely fair, because it's not...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, for me, that is not the central question. I agree very much with what the leader of Plaid Cymru said in the first part of his question, that there is a wide range of actions that the current UK Government should and ought to take to deal with the Tory cost-of-living crisis. It's the policy of my party that there should be a windfall tax on the gross profits that are being made...
Mark Drakeford: I don't agree at all with what the leader of the opposition said. The Welsh Government was very closely involved in discussions with the company and those discussions progressed to the very final stages. If it was a lacklustre effort, it did remarkably well to be in the final running for the location of that business for the first factory, as I said, that it plans to create. Conversations...
Mark Drakeford: The Welsh Government was in conversations with Britishvolt. The St Athan site was one of the main sites that they considered. In the end, they decided that their first investment would be elsewhere. That does not mean to say that we've not had further conversations with them. As a company, they are ambitious to do more in the field of battery development. We continue to be in conversations...
Mark Drakeford: Can I thank Andrew R.T. Davies for what he said in his opening remarks? I too am looking forward very much to being released from confinement and back in the Chamber again. I agree with him that inward investment does have an important part to play in the future of the Welsh economy, alongside—not instead of, but alongside—the investment we need to make in those successful companies that...
Mark Drakeford: I agree very much with the general sentiments of the Member's question. Of course, we have to focus on the quality of the opportunities that the apprenticeship programme brings. As she said, it's not simply for young people; these are all-age apprenticeships—very often, people looking for a second start in life, an opportunity to retrain and put themselves into a different part of the...
Mark Drakeford: I thank Rhianon Passmore for that question. She is absolutely right to point to the fact that that absolute guarantee that we were offered on the floor of the Senedd as well as everywhere else—that Wales would not be a penny worse off as a result of leaving the European Union—has been comprehensively broken and abandoned by the UK Government. In not a single year of the three-year period...
Mark Drakeford: These actions were set out by my colleague the Minister for Economy last week when he committed the Welsh Government to invest £366 million over the next three years to deliver an increased number of 125,000 all-age apprenticeships across Wales, including, of course, in Islwyn.
