Lee Waters: Over the last 20 years, Llywydd, for 12 of which the Conservatives have been in power in the UK, where rail infrastructure is not devolved, Wales has received less than 2 per cent of the £102 billion that the UK Government has spent on rail enhancement. We have 20 per cent of the level crossings across England and Wales, we have 11 per cent of the stations, we have 11 per cent of the rail...
Lee Waters: A modern metro system is an integral part of a joined-up public transport system. It's a part, it's only a part, and there needs to be other parts as well. We need to integrate the bus services, which are the workhorse of the public transport system and carry the majority of people, along with active travel for that final bit of the journey. We know that over half of all car journeys are...
Lee Waters: Thank you. We've recently launched a local air-quality management support fund to help authorities tackle air pollution, and have awarded over £350,000 for this financial year. The grant supports action on the ground and we'll continue to work collaboratively with local authorities to deliver cleaner air for Wales.
Lee Waters: We already are working on practical improvements. The example in Newport of free bus travel for the month of March is a perfect example of a practical scheme to trial something to see what impact it has, to see whether or not the cost of it is justified by the benefits of it, to see what the uptake is, to understand what the barriers are, to further inform our work as we look to achieve modal...
Lee Waters: Formally.
Lee Waters: Diolch yn fawr. Firstly, let me thank Darren Millar for the opportunity to debate such an important subject today. I thought the last debate in the Senedd this afternoon showed the Welsh Conservatives at their best. I'm sorry to say, I thought that Janet Finch-Saunders's opening showed them at their worst: ideological, contradictory and short sighted. But let's focus this afternoon on what we...
Lee Waters: The number of market homes being built in Wales continues to broadly align with our estimates of housing need and demand. So, this suggests we are building approximately the necessary amount. But we must acknowledge that they're not always being built in the right places, and that is something we are working on. And we undoubtedly need to build more social homes for rent in Wales, and we've...
Lee Waters: Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lywydd, and thanks to Rhys ab Owen and all the Members who have contributed, showing the great cross-party reach this topic has, and, of course, my colleagues and I recognise the importance of community assets, both buildings and green space, to the communities they serve, and we know these assets are vital as a focus for community activity and as a base for...
Lee Waters: Diolch yn fawr iawn. Following the Senedd’s approval of the Welsh Government’s budget, I am confirming today the flood programme for this year. The funding package will deliver a record increase in investment for flood and coastal erosion risk management and mitigation in 2022-23 and, over the course of this Senedd term, meeting our commitment and as set out in the co-operation agreement...
Lee Waters: Well, Llywydd, let the record show that, at 14:53 on 15 March 2022, Janet Finch-Saunders welcomed action by the Welsh Government and thanked us for what we're doing. It is a proud day that'll live in the record books for some time to come, and I appreciate that acknowledgement. Many of the questions she raised, I think, were answered by my statement, but I'd just like to address a couple of...
Lee Waters: Thank you. A number of questions there, and I did acknowledge in my statement the role that the co-operation agreement with Plaid Cymru has played in today's announcement. As you know, there were two areas in the agreement related to flood. First of all, a flood review, which I mentioned in my previous answer that we are making progress on. And the second was in flood capital investment and...
Lee Waters: Well, I think it's only honest to admit that, clearly, resources are constrained. We're not able to do all the things that we want to do, and in some cases need to do, right across the Government. That is the nature of being in Government, and the funding settlements we've had aren't what we'd like them to be. The funding for the Welsh Government has not kept up with the growth in the...
Lee Waters: Well, as we've said, we've increased the level of funding for NRW, and how it is spent in detail is a matter for them and a matter for dialogue with us. I'm not able to say any more than that today, but clearly it is a key question, and I acknowledge that. I absolutely recognise her point about the trauma and distress caused by flooding. I saw some of it myself in Pontypridd two years ago...
Lee Waters: Well, we are committed to implementing TAN 15, just to be clear about that. We have agreed to a delay of 18 months before it and the flood map for planning become operational because of concerns about the practical implementation by local authorities. And the crucial thing here is to get this right, and this does involve quite a significant change to many of the assumptions local authorities...
Lee Waters: Thank you. Yes, and we are aware of the report. We've seen the report and our technical team have been analysing it. It's a matter for the local authority, as the responsible body here, and I understand that Gwynedd are also considering the report, or have seen it, and I think they in the first instance need to discuss that with the authors to make sure that there's a common understanding of...
Lee Waters: On the confusion of responsibilities, I think there is an issue here in that there are overlapping responsibilities and there isn't always clarity, and that is one of the things I think the section 19 review that we agreed with Plaid Cymru as part of the co-operation agreement will look at, because that certainly was a factor in the Rhondda Cynon Taf incident. And I think through analysing...
Lee Waters: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd, and now for something completely different. [Laughter.] A year ago, we published a new digital strategy for Wales, a strategy that sets out how we want to use digital and data in a better way to improve people’s lives and help businesses and communities thrive, and we've just been discussing the use of digital and data in the mapping of flooding and the monitoring of...
Lee Waters: Those were an excellent and fair set of questions, but I'm not a robot, so there's no way I can possibly answer all the detail in the time that's available to me. I'd be very happy to send a comprehensive reply to the Member, to work through those very fair and challenging questions, and I welcome the spirit in which he posed them. I think they are all good challenges, and we are doing work...
Lee Waters: I agree with that. The digital divide is real. We saw it during the pandemic and it's a complex divide. It is about poverty, it's about access to equipment, it's about ability to afford a broadband connection, it's about digital and data poverty. That is no different from any other inequality we have in our society. The pattern is similar and it holds people back. I think we did great things...
Lee Waters: Thank you. I think that's a very timely question. There is no doubt that we are seeing increased activity on the cyber-attack front. Certainly, as state actors, this is something the UK Government—and we work closely with them—is taking seriously and doing an awful lot about. And as you can imagine they prefer to keep it secret exactly what they are doing, but this is a very serious issue...
