Mark Drakeford: Carwyn Jones.
Mark Drakeford: The benefits of the European Union extend to all areas of Wales. Since 2007 alone, EU projects in Merthyr Tydfil have helped over 4,300 people into work, over 11,800 to gain qualifications and over 4,500 into further learning. EU funds have also created 290 enterprises and 920 gross jobs.
Mark Drakeford: I expect Hywel Dda Local Health Board to provide services to the people of Pembrokeshire that are safe, sustainable and as local as possible, which result in the best possible outcomes for patients.
Mark Drakeford: We set out a number of priorities in our manifesto that will contribute to a healthier Wales, including ongoing action to reduce smoking rates in Wales to 16 per cent by 2020, the reintroduction of a public health Bill, and a number of measures to support a more active Wales.
Mark Drakeford: The Welsh Government has no plans for such a referendum at a cost of some £5 million. The UK Government has also made its views known.
Mark Drakeford: The main issue regarding traffic in Port Talbot is the potential closure of junction 41. We are currently carrying out further analysis before deciding on the best way forward.
Mark Drakeford: The basic payment scheme is administered across Wales. Currently 99 per cent of eligible farm businesses in Wales have had a payment. The 2016 online single application form has been a resounding success, with almost 100 per cent of BPS applications received using Rural Payments Wales Online.
Mark Drakeford: Over the next few weeks and months, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government will be meeting local government leaders and other stakeholders and listening to their views before considering the long-term approach to local government reform. A statement on our intentions will be made in due course.
Mark Drakeford: The Welsh Government continues to work with the health board and other partners to improve access to and the quality and safety of services in Pembrokeshire and across Wales. This is backed by over £0.5 billion of extra investment in NHS Wales during 2015-16.
Mark Drakeford: The effect of Visit Wales expenditure on the Welsh economy is assessed in a number of ways, including additional spend by tourists attributable to Visit Wales marketing, expenditure by overnight visitors to Wales measured in the Great Britain tourism survey and the international passenger survey; and the Welsh Government’s priority sector statistics, which assesses the performance of all...
Mark Drakeford: Excellent progress is being made by local authorities. The provisional recycling rate reached 59 per cent across Wales for the year to December 2015. We are number one in the UK, fourth in Europe—a testament to the hard work of local councils and residents across Wales.
Mark Drakeford: I met the Secretary of State for Wales on Monday.
Mark Drakeford: I am pleased to note the national response time target has been met during every month since the introduction of the clinical response model pilot in October 2015. Encouragingly, the standard response time to the most serious type of call was just five minutes and 30 seconds in April.
Mark Drakeford: Primary care has an excellent future in Wales as the mainstay of a sustainable health system for future generations. We continue to invest further in primary care to increase the capacity and capability of the workforce, providing better access to more services within communities.
Mark Drakeford: The 2015 report on future housing need by the Public Policy Institute for Wales estimated that an additional 8,700 homes would be needed each year, of which 3,500 should be non-market housing.
Mark Drakeford: Wide-ranging support is available to support industry across Wales, including north Wales. This includes support for new and existing business through Business Wales, three enterprise zones in north Wales and investment in information and communications technology and transport infrastructure.
Mark Drakeford: The metro will be a modern, high-quality, multimodal and integrated transport system offering rapid, frequent and reliable rail services incorporating the bus network. It will link our communities in south Wales, and support the economy by enhancing connectivity across Wales.
Mark Drakeford: Investment of almost £26 million has been approved to date for Islwyn through the twenty-first century schools and education programme. The funding is earmarked for a new 1,050-place comprehensive school for the area.
Mark Drakeford: Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Today I am publishing ‘Language, Work and Bilingual Services’, the report of the working group on the Welsh Language in local government administration and economic development. This report was commissioned in December 2015 by my predecessor, the Minister for Public Services. This was in response to concerns about the Welsh language raised by...
Mark Drakeford: Thank you very much to Sian Gwenllian for those comments. Thank you for the welcome that she has given to the report. Of course, I do agree that to strengthen the rights of those people who use services through the medium of Welsh does raise their confidence in doing so. What the report says is that the greatest challenge is to create situations where people use the language when they enter...
