Rebecca Evans: I'm grateful for those points, and, absolutely, that is a real option available to property owners in respect of providing a home to a local resident and also that secure income that will come to them as a result of making that choice, so that's a positive choice that property owners are able to make in all parts of Wales, and it's good to hear of those examples. Yes, I agree that there are...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you, and thank you to Jack Sargeant for bringing forward this debate today. It definitely hasn't been a dry debate, it's been more lively than I think any of us had anticipated, but really useful as well. It is absolutely clear that net zero has to be a shared ambition for us across the Senedd, across Welsh Government and across the Welsh public sector more widely, and we've discussed...
Rebecca Evans: If I just finish this section, and then I will happily take the intervention. They also must respond transparently and must develop credible transition plans to net zero, and, of course, they have to work closely with those who've contributed to the funds, including the workers and their trade unions, to ensure that they're engaged and fully consulted in any future approach—a point that was...
Rebecca Evans: I think the point here is about transitioning investment towards those technologies, which we do need for the future, and if we don't invest in that technology and the innovation, then we'll be waiting forever for the alternatives to fossil fuels to arrive. So, investment in those alternatives and in the innovation and the research to find those alternatives will be absolutely critical. And I...
Rebecca Evans: Okay. Thank you, Llywydd. I do welcome this motion today and the opportunity that it gives us to debate what is an absolutely vital issue. Despite repeated commitments from the UK Government that we won't be a penny worse of as a result of the UK's exit from the European Union, the UK Government has—and this is a fact—failed to honour its pledge to fully replace EU structural and...
Rebecca Evans: Local authorities received £5.1 billion in their settlement this year to support services. Local authorities determine how they spend this, but we expect them to provide youth services. In addition, we have allocated £10.4 million through the youth support grant specifically for youth work services.
Rebecca Evans: Over the next three years, the draft budget has committed £65 million for the Welsh Government energy service to support delivery of the programme for government commitments to expand renewable energy generation and innovating in renewable technology in the public sector and through community groups.
Rebecca Evans: Our approach to gender budgeting in Arfon and across Wales continues to evolve in line with our budget improvement plan and the programme for government. Three pilots are under way and, as well as evaluating their impact, we also continue to learn from international best practice.
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much to Siân Gwenllian for that question. I think she sets out why it is so important that we start to look at our budget through different lenses. GDP is an important source of data and we do have some experimental data looking at GDP on a Welsh-specific level. It's not usable yet, but, as Siân Gwenllian says, that is only one way of looking at things and we have to look at...
Rebecca Evans: Well, I am aware that women, including those with caring responsibilities, and retirees in fact, are well represented amongst operators of self-catering properties. But it's not, however, clear that such operators would be less able than other people to let their properties for more of the year, given the fact that they're operating businesses. There is very little evidence available in this...
Rebecca Evans: The spending priorities for the next three years are set out within the final budget, published in March this year. This has resulted in a number of investments in mid and west Wales, for example, in health, education and transport, alongside our longer term commitment of £55 million to the mid Wales growth fund.
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for the question. The mid Wales growth deal final deal agreement was, of course, signed by all parties in January of this year, and that does set out how the Welsh Government will work with the UK Government and the Growing Mid Wales board framework on how the deal would be delivered. And that does include those critical underpinning arrangements such as the governance, assurance,...
Rebecca Evans: I'd certainly encourage the Picton Castle Trust in the first instance to engage with the Deputy Minister for culture in order to explore whether there are opportunities for support. As a first step, I would encourage them to write to the Deputy Minister to seek further dialogue, potentially with officials, on the matter.
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for the question. As you say, we have a three-year spending outlook now as a result of the UK Government's three-year spending review, which in itself was welcome. But, one of the challenges that we've all recognised is that it was very much frontloaded into year one of the settlement. So, we had an uplift in this financial year, which we were able to pass on very well, I think, to...
Rebecca Evans: I would absolutely recognise that local government did experience real difficulties during the pandemic, both in terms of lost income and those opportunities lost in terms of making up income, and, of course, the additional pressures that they had on a range of services, which is why I think it's been well recognised that Welsh Government worked very carefully to provide support in terms of...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for raising these issues. I'll begin with your question in relation to where might local government feel particular pressure. I've already had opportunities to meet collectively with all of the leaders of local government, including our new cohort of leaders, and I think they're very keen to stress the importance of looking at their capital settlement, because of course our capital...
Rebecca Evans: I thought I might have been going on too long.
Rebecca Evans: This is a really important issue, and, of course, the UK Infrastructure Bank is supposed to be the successor to the European Investment Bank, but I think that, if you look at the sums available to it to invest, it really just pales compared to what we would have been able to access through the EIB. So, I would encourage the UK Government to reflect on the amount of support that's available to...
Rebecca Evans: Well, I think that your question sets out why it is so important that we have these amendments to the UK Government's Bill, both in terms of the governance of the bank—so, at the moment, it's only UK Treasury Ministers who are allowed to nominate people to those positions on the board; obviously, we would see a role for devolved Governments in this space, and I made that case clearly to the...
Rebecca Evans: Our changes, which form part of our three-pronged approach, will help strike the right balance between capacity within the self-catering tourism sector, and the economic benefits that brings, and supporting viable communities of local residents to live and work in these areas.
