Carwyn Jones: We are supporting a number of initiatives for heritage tourism in the north. For example, as part of the heritage tourism project, Cadw spent approximately £7.8 million improving and conserving some of its heritage tourism sites in the north.
Carwyn Jones: Oh dear, that is wholly untrue, because Scotland has refused to co-operate; we have not. I’ll give the Member a chronology of what we’ve done in the meantime. On 26 October last year, we agreed to the Welsh Government’s participation in the work. On 8 December last year, our equality team arranged for officials from the race disparity audit unit to attend the Wales race forum. On 21...
Carwyn Jones: Well, I would argue, of course, that the strategy does this already. It demonstrates the framework where the Government can work as a whole in order to enhance and increase prosperity and to consider cases of poverty in a manner that is more effective and connected. This isn’t something that belongs to any particular Minister or any particular department; it is something that the Government...
Carwyn Jones: Our objective is to help and support everyone to live healthy, prosperous and rewarding lives. Our national strategy, ‘Prosperity for All’, sets out how we will build a Wales that is prosperous and secure, healthy and active, ambitious and learning and united and connected.
Carwyn Jones: Well, that is precisely what’s happening now because we have got an independent inquiry that is looking at the M4. It was designed to be as broad as possible—so it didn’t just look at one particular scheme—and that’s what it’s doing. So, it’s important that that inquiry is able to report dispassionately and independently, considering all the evidence before it.
Carwyn Jones: Well, of course, the submission is welcome. It’s important that the public inquiry is open and detailed. That, of course, is what is happening at the moment.
Carwyn Jones: We see that things are improving. For example, there’s been an increase in the number of nurses training in north Wales. That figure is now higher than in any year over the past decade. So, we have invested in recruitment and also, of course, in training. That means that there’s been an increase of 13 per cent in nursing places in Wales over this financial year. We’ve put a £95 million...
Carwyn Jones: Betsi Cadwaladr University Local Health Board, supported by our Train, Work, Live campaign, is actively recruiting additional nurses.
Carwyn Jones: Well, if that was a concern, then the teaching unions wouldn’t support this, but they have. They have supported the phased implementation. Teaching skills are transferable. It’s not the case that somebody is trained to teach a particular curriculum. They have teaching skills that they adapt according to the curriculum that’s before them. It’s hardly unknown, of course, for schools to...
Carwyn Jones: Well, Professor Donaldson actually oversees the implementation board. He agrees that we’ve made the right decision to introduce the curriculum as a phased roll-out rather than a big bang. The approach will mean that all schools have the time to engage with the development of the curriculum and be fully prepared, of course, for the changes. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and...
Carwyn Jones: On 26 September the Cabinet Secretary for Education launched ‘Education in Wales: Our national mission’. That reaffirms our commitment to building a transformational curriculum in order to deliver a better education system for Wales.
Carwyn Jones: It’s not that we’ve gone backwards, and that people are somehow poorer than they were. What is correct to say is that, as our gross domestic product—or if you want to measure gross domestic household income as well— has gone up, it has not improved at the same rate as other parts of the UK. That’s the accurate description. He asked the question: what do we do about it? At the heart...
Carwyn Jones: He’s fallen into a trap there, set for him by the UK Government, because what has happened is that the methodology has changed, so that—if I remember rightly—if you have a factory in Wales that is exporting, but its headquarters are in England, it’s counted as an English export. That’s the problem. So, all of a sudden, we see these sudden changes in the export figures, not because...
Carwyn Jones: ‘No’ is the answer. Now, where do we start? Let’s start with Jobs Growth Wales, shall we? The fact that so many people were helped to get into jobs, young people were given training. Let’s look at the help that was given to workers to keep their jobs when the recession hit hard in 2008-09. Let’s talk about the people who are alive because of the Human Transplantation (Wales) Act...
Carwyn Jones: It’s important to consider the performance of the Welsh economy using a basket of indicators and not look at one individual measure. Of course, ‘Prosperity for All’ shows the way forward. The plans that will follow will provide greater detail.
Carwyn Jones: Absolutely. If I remember rightly, Machynlleth had a depot in the 1980s, then it closed, then it reopened, because it was needed, clearly, to service trains on the centre of Wales and Cambrian Coast lines. So, yes, we want to make sure that not only do we keep our network of depots, but we increase the number in the future, because we know that there will be new rolling stock, there will be...
Carwyn Jones: Just to inform the Member, the next stage is that, as he knows, the Cabinet Secretary has decided to include Carno in the current round of stage 2 assessments. What does that involve? It involves obtaining information from Network Rail on deliverability and operational considerations on the prioritised stations. In addition, a standard assessment model has been run to assess the anticipated...
Carwyn Jones: If they don’t do that, we won’t be able to move forward—it’s as plain as that. We have done everything that we need to do, and so now they must take action. But there is no indication at present that there will be a problem. We wish the franchise to progress as it should in April. We’re also talking to the unions to ensure that they understand what we’re trying to do. It would be...
Carwyn Jones: No. What he’s talking about is light rail. It’s a model that’s used for suburban railways and for short journeys. I don’t think a 50-mile journey between Carmarthen and Aberystwyth is best served by a light rail carriage with hard seating, for example, without the kind of facilities you’d expect from a longer distance train. And, of course, with light rail, you end up in a situation...
Carwyn Jones: Devolution of funding for rail infrastructure remains with the UK Government. They have refused to devolve that. Despite this position, since 2011, the Welsh Government has invested around £200 million into a programme of rail infrastructure improvements, including additional and enhanced rail services in the mid and west.
