Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much for raising those issues and, in the first part of your contribution, for recognising the leading role that Wales has played in terms of reducing the plastic that we use through the carrier bag levy, which we introduced. I know that the Deputy Minister is now exploring where we do take this next, because, clearly, having led the way, we want to certainly be maintaining the...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much for those issues and for putting on record your concern regarding the announcement relating to Ford. I know that the economy Minister is very much engaged in this issue and will certainly be bringing forward the appropriate updates to Assembly Members as and when that would be useful. In terms of the report that has been published today regarding town and community...
Rebecca Evans: I thank Huw Irranca-Davies for raising both of these important issues and giving us a sense of the vibrancy that's going on every day within our own communities. I'm really delighted to hear particularly about the grass-roots regeneration conversations that are going on at a local level, because this level of engagement is exactly what we envisaged when we set up the Valleys taskforce. It...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for the question. There'll be two opportunities open to you to raise this directly with the Minister for local government. There'll be a statement later this afternoon on the local government settlement and, obviously, opportunities to table questions to the Minister for answer in next week's session.
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for raising both of those issues, and I can give you my commitment that I will speak to both the Deputy Minister and the Minister in terms of what would be the most appropriate way and the most appropriate time to update on both the issues of the Ockenden review and the issues that Powys County Council have been facing in their children's services.
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much for raising this issue, because clean air clearly has a central role to play in creating the right conditions for better health, for well-being and for greater physical activity across Wales as well. And I think that this is recognised in our commitment to reducing emissions and delivering vital improvements to air quality, but doing it through planning, through...
Rebecca Evans: I thank you very much for raising what is a very sensitive issue, and I appreciate the distress that has been caused to your constituent, if he feels that his concerns haven't been fully investigated and addressed. You'll appreciate that the health Minister can't become involved in individual employment matters, but he has indicated to me that he would be prepared to write to the chair of the...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for the opportunity to open the debate on the Welsh rates of income tax, which will be introduced from 6 April 2019 and will apply to income tax payers living in Wales. Welsh income tax payers are defined as people who live in Wales for most of the year, regardless of where they work. The Wales Act 2014 provides a detailed explanation to address the range of possible situations,...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much for those questions and contributions to the debate. The Chair of the Finance Committee began by recognising how important scrutiny is, and I absolutely recognise that and I welcome that. Then he went on to talk about the experience of Scotland. So, I'll take this opportunity to inform Members that I have met with the heads of devolved taxes at HMRC, who have reassured me...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. It is a privilege to lead the debate on the final budget today, and I pay tribute to and thank my predecessor, Mark Drakeford, for his work on the budget over the last year. I also thank the Finance Committee for its work in scrutinising the budget and I have responded formally and positively to the recommendations put forward by the committee. I look...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer and thank you to everybody who's contributed to the debate this afternoon. I think there have been several key themes that have come to the fore during the debate. Of course, the first would be austerity, because the pressures inflicted upon us by almost a decade of the UK Government's state-shrinking austerity ideology have been extremely...
Rebecca Evans: Members will have seen from the revised agenda published last week that the Government has replaced the majority of its programme of business today with a series of statements outlining the impact of and our planning for a potential 'no deal' Brexit. Draft business for the next three weeks is set out in the business statement and announcement, which can be found amongst the meeting papers...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much for raising both of those issues. With regard to Transport for Wales plans to improve services cross-border to Liverpool, I can confirm that those improvements should be in place by May. I understand that there was a delay as a result of some scheduling changes. On the issue of the discounts, I know that there will be some cross-border services that will offer reduced...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much for bringing this issue to our attention, and I also received those representations from the Craig-cefn-parc pensioners' association, which has benefited over a number of years from funding to enable them to hire transport to take members of the group out on day trips and so forth. And I know through correspondence with the Big Lottery Fund that they are receiving some...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you, Mike, for raising this particular issue. Welsh Government's been very clear that the way in which some landlords use no-fault evictions is very much of concern to us, because those relatively short periods of notice do make some households more at risk of facing homelessness. We're currently considering how this issue should be taken forward, and I know that there have been some...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much. You'll remember, of course, that your party leader had the opportunity to raise his particular concerns about this issue with the First Minister during First Minister's questions very recently, but I can confirm that the Minister will be bringing forward a statement on our approach to tackling bovine TB in April.
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much for bringing forward both of those issues. On the justice issue, we do understand that the Ministry of Justice might be pursuing, or seeking to pursue, sites for a new male prison in south Wales. However, we have written to the Ministry of Justice to inform them that we will not facilitate any further prison development without meaningful and thorough discussion about the...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much to Joyce Watson. I'm pleased to say that we are confident that the Newtown bypass will be open to traffic within the next two months, providing, of course, there is no unforeseen issue that arises between now and then. This £95 million project has made excellent progress, and as Joyce Watson quite rightly points out, it does demonstrate real investment by Welsh Government...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for the question, and, of course, it is paramount that people's ability to live independently isn't compromised by the changes to the way that their care and support is arranged locally, and particularly so for people who were previously in receipt of the Wales independent living grant. I know that the First Minister has asked the Deputy Minister for Health and Social Services to...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much for raising both of those issues. With regard to bank closures, clearly, Welsh Government very much shares your concern about that. I know that we've written on many occasions to the UK Government asking them to take a much more strategic approach to banking in the round, and community banking particularly. And, also, we provide great support to our credit unions across...