Mark Drakeford: This Government has already given a commitment to retain a key presence in Caernarfon, but not in the current property, which is unsuitable. We will be relocating our current office at North Penrallt in Caernarfon to new accommodation in the town at Victoria Dock.
Mark Drakeford: Our budget proposals for 2018-19 set out how we are investing over £5 billion capital over the next three years in infrastructure projects across the whole of Wales, including local communities in Islwyn.
Mark Drakeford: The national target is for 95 per cent of patients attending Welsh emergency departments to be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours of arrival. There is no national target for a patient’s first assessment.
Mark Drakeford: I would refer the Member to the Cabinet Secretary‘s written statement issued on winter pressures on 8 January. I would personally like to thank all of our NHS Wales staff for their commitment and dedication to patients despite increased pressures across the health and care system.
Mark Drakeford: As part of our clean air plan for Wales, we will be consulting on a clean air zone framework, which will ensure the consistent and effective implementation of clean air zones by local authorities wherever they are needed. Officials are working closely with Cardiff council in developing the draft framework.
Mark Drakeford: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you for the opportunity to bring forward these amendment regulations today. I’d like to thank the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee for its report on the regulations. The regulations before the Assembly this afternoon amend the council tax reduction scheme regulations of 2013. The UK Government actually scrapped council...
Mark Drakeford: In slightly more detail, Dirprwy Lywydd, in the regulations in front of the Assembly this afternoon, the financial figures relating to working-age people, disabled people and carers for 2018-19 are increased in line with the consumer price index, that is to say, by 3 per cent. This contrasts with the UK Government's policy of freezing working-age benefits until 2019-20. Figures relating to...
Mark Drakeford: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd, and thanks to Mick Antoniw for the work of the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee in scrutinising these regulations. I'll certainly report what he had to say to those who helped to prepare the explanatory material that went alongside it. I know they work very hard to try to turn some complex and technically challenging material into an account that can...
Mark Drakeford: May I tell Siân Gwenllian that I recognise the support provided by Plaid Cymru when the original scheme was being prepared back in 2013, and I also acknowledge the support that we’ve received from Plaid Cymru over the years in maintaining the scheme and keeping it going, year on year?
Mark Drakeford: Of course, the points that Siân Gwenllian raises are important, and matter to me as finance Minister. What has happened in the last 12 months, Dirprwy Lywydd, is that the number of households who are claiming council tax benefit has gone down. This is associated with the rise in employment levels in parts of Wales over the last 12 months, and that has the effect of allowing us to sustain the...
Mark Drakeford: The UK Government has published a number of amendments to the Bill today, but they don’t respond to our fundamental opposition to the Bill, particularly the fact that it doesn’t respect the devolution settlement. We continue to work with the UK Government, with the intention of agreeing amendments to be introduced in the Westminster Parliament, but now, of course, that's at the Lords stage.
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, can I begin by agreeing with what Simon Thomas said at the start of his remarks? It is deeply disappointing that the UK Government, having given an explicit commitment to bring forward amendments at Report Stage, have failed to do so. Their narrative throughout the Committee Stage of the Bill was that they were going to listen to what was said and they would reflect on that. And the...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, crashing out of the European Union on a no-deal basis would be a disaster for the Welsh economy and for Welsh public services. I don't think we can say that often or loud enough. Any voices at the other end of the M4 that continue to argue that a no-deal Brexit will be good for the United Kingdom really are simply trapped by their ideological view of the world and take no...
Mark Drakeford: Well, I can give the Member an assurance that the Welsh Government is very alert to the timetable issues with a continuity Bill, and we will not not bring forward a continuity Bill because we've missed the necessary timescales involved—I give you that assurance. I want to thank David Rees for drawing my attention to yesterday's report by the committee of the Scottish Parliament, signed...
Mark Drakeford: I thank the Member for the question. In a letter to the UK Government before Christmas, the First Minister indicated that the Welsh Government is prepared to consider an equity or loan investment in the Swansea bay tidal lagoon if that would enable the project to move forward by reducing the cost of capital.
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, let me be clear that the First Minister's letter to the Prime Minister on 6 December was designed to try and unlock the UK Government's inability to do the right thing and to announce that it is taking forward the conclusions of the Hendry review, and to allow the Swansea bay tidal lagoon project to proceed. In order to try and create movement in this position, the First Minister...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, Mike Hedges sets out exactly the arguments that persuaded the Hendry review. The Swansea bay tidal lagoon is not simply about Swansea. It is about creating the knowledge that is needed for us to be able to do more in the future to use the power of the sea to help us to create the sustainable energy that we need. The investment in Swansea is part of that whole learning...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, the letter to the Prime Minister from the First Minister kept the door open on a range of different ways in which our systems could be brought forward, including equity investment, but also loan possibilities as well. Llywydd, I want to just stress to the Chamber how serious an offer this was, and the discussions that lay behind it, between myself as the finance Minister and the...
Mark Drakeford: Day centres are one of many important services provided in our communities. They can provide a lifeline to many of our older people, helping to reduce loneliness and isolation and they provide crucial respite for carers.
Mark Drakeford: Funds are held in reserves for the M4 project awaiting the outcome of the ongoing inquiry process, which is seeking to identify whether the proposals are the long-term, sustainable solution to the ongoing problems associated with this gateway to Wales.
