Rebecca Evans: Absolutely. This strand of our policy, in terms of addressing the impact that large numbers of second homes and holiday lets can have on some communities in Wales, is about doing exactly that which Ken Skates has described, and that’s creating sustainable communities where people can live year round and where, in winter, you don’t go into those villages and find that lights are off in the...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for raising this issue. We've shared as much detail as we can in the regulatory impact assessment, which was published alongside the legislation. We've been keen to provide operators with the largest amount of time possible to adapt their business model to address some of their concerns. They've had at least 12 months' notice before these matters come into effect. We will be...
Rebecca Evans: As a result of the co-operation agreement with Plaid Cymru, we anticipate feeding nearly an additional 60,000 primary age pupils in our first year of roll-out. We will implement the scheme as quickly as possible to ensure that every primary school pupil receives a free school meal by 2024.
Rebecca Evans: I'm very grateful for the question and absolutely share the enthusiasm for this policy. I don't think it could have been a policy that could have come at a better time, really, because I know that when discussions started about this particular policy, we weren't in a place where we understood the level of the cost-of-living crisis that was before us, so it's absolutely the right policy, I...
Rebecca Evans: I think that this is another one of those areas of pressure on local government that your colleague Sam Rowlands was discussing earlier on in the session today, in the sense that their budget, like ours, is worth less than originally envisaged. The prices of food have increased by 8.7 per cent in the year to May 2022 and obviously there is still a lot of global uncertainty, and we can't be...
Rebecca Evans: I absolutely agree that those family engagement officers do excellent work in terms of being that bridge between the school and the family, and, as such, in the 2022-23 budget, we'll be investing £3.84 million in increasing the number of those family engagement officers that are employed by schools. The funding has been provided to local authorities, and that, then, allows them to target...
Rebecca Evans: The UK Government’s economic and fiscal policies are responsible for the relatively poor growth of the UK economy. If the Welsh Government’s budget since 2010 had kept pace with long-run growth in the economy before 2010, it would be over £4.5 billion higher than it is.
Rebecca Evans: Well, I have to say that the cheque must be still in the post if we’re expecting £18 billion additional to our budget this year, because Wales is actually £1 billion worse off as a result of the UK Government’s approach to replacement EU funding. The Finance Committee has the opportunity to question UK Government Ministers tomorrow and I’m going to be paying even more interest than I...
Rebecca Evans: Monitoring is a key part of Welsh Government's grant processes. Grant managers have flexibility to tailor monitoring requirements according to the size, value and risk of projects. Monitoring requirements are set out in the grant award letter terms and conditions, which form the legally binding agreement between Welsh Government and recipients.
Rebecca Evans: Welsh Government issues thousands of award letters every year to a wide range of stakeholders, such as local authorities, the third sector and private sector organisations for a really wide range of purposes, and they are intended to help us drive forward our policy objectives. Monitoring our grant funding is an integral method to ensuring that those projects deliver what is intended, but it...
Rebecca Evans: This year, the Government is providing unhypothecated revenue funding of over £5.1 billion to support local authorities in the delivery of their statutory and non-statutory services, including priorities such as housing.
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for raising this issue. I absolutely recognise the importance of moving quickly to support people with MND. In terms of local government, in considering their general housing responsibilities, they must be mindful of their responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010, and we do encourage local authorities to hold those accessible housing registers so that disabled people can be...
Rebecca Evans: The final budget published in March provides £1.8 billion in 2022-23 to support the economy portfolio. This budget includes £35 million to specifically support small and medium-sized businesses. Other support includes £116 million for rates relief and £103 million for Transforming Towns.
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for raising that really important point, because small and medium-sized enterprises are, of course, the backbone of our economy here in Wales, but also they have a huge role to play in terms of helping us work towards our decarbonisation goals. In November of last year, a £45 million package was launched by my colleague the economy Minister to train staff and to help Welsh SMEs to...
Rebecca Evans: The Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021 put in place a new performance regime to drive improvement in local authorities across Wales. Alongside this I have agreed £800,000 funding for the WLGA Improvement Programme to support corporate improvement within councils.
Rebecca Evans: This year, the Government is providing unhypothecated revenue funding of over £5.1 billion and over £1 billion in specific grant funding to support local authorities in the delivery of their statutory and non statutory services.
Rebecca Evans: As part of our £380m cost-of-living support package, we have provided £25m to local authorities to enable them to provide discretionary support to households. Authorities can decide how to use this funding to best meet the needs of people in their areas.
Rebecca Evans: Following our announcement in February of a £152m cost-of-living support scheme, I am pleased to say that, as at 26 June, £116.4m has already reached the pockets of the eligible households.
Rebecca Evans: Diolch. I would like to update the Senedd on the steps I am taking to help address gender inequality in Wales through our approach to gender budgeting. Gender inequality is still prevalent in 2022, despite the many advances made. The Welsh Government is committed to creating a gender-equal Wales, meaning an equal share of power, resources and influence for all people. Our commitment to gender...
Rebecca Evans: I want to be clear that this work is long-term systemic culture change, and I call on Members of this Senedd, and our wide range of partners, to support us in this journey. It won’t happen overnight, and we cannot do it alone. Our budget improvement plan clearly sets out the steps we are taking to achieve our programme for government commitment. As part of the gender review in 2018, we...
