Mark Drakeford: I thank Joel James for that supplementary question, Llywydd, and I welcome him as a recruit to those of us who've always believed that it is the role of Government to step in where the market fails. So, it's good to know that that idea is alive on the Conservative benches. I agree with what the Member said about the potential for green hydrogen and the importance of this being a partnership...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, I agree with Ken Skates that HyNet represents a major opportunity for the economy of north-east Wales, working with our partners in the north-west of England. Earlier in the autumn, I was able to discuss the development of HyNet with the metro mayor of Liverpool, Steve Rotheram. In an ecumenical sense of answering this question, I shall recognise the investment of the UK...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, the cost-of-living crisis, and crises elsewhere in the world, generate pressures on the housing system. On average, over 1,400 people present to homelessness services every month in need of temporary accommodation. Over 6,000 people who have fled the war in Ukraine alone have been accommodated in Wales since March this year.
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, I certainly agree with Heledd Fychan that the Unnos project has a part to play, an important part to play, in allowing us to accelerate the building of long-term affordable homes for people in every part of Wales. That ambition will not help the person who has contacted the Member in their immediate difficulties, which is why it is right that we go on together investing in those...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, I thank Vikki Howells for drawing attention particularly to the transitional accommodation capital programme. It is an innovation here in Wales, it has £65 million now provided to it, and I am very impressed and encouraged by the way in which progressive local authorities and progressive housing associations have grasped the opportunity that the programme provides. That is...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, first of all, I thank the leader of the opposition for what he said. We know that he himself has had experience of just how difficult an illness COVID can be, and he's right to draw attention to the fact that thousands of people continue to fall ill from COVID every week here in Wales. That has an impact in those individuals' lives, and it has an impact on our ability to sustain...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, I've explained time after time, and I don't intend to take up the time of the Senedd this afternoon in repeating simply what I said on 19 October last year, 30 November, 25 January, 23 May—these are all occasions on which I have answered this question from the Member. You may not like the answer—I don't expect that you will do—but the answer doesn't change by simply going on...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, I'm not going to respond to a suggestion that I've never seen, when there's not a single piece of paper in front of me to explain what the leader of the opposition thinks he will be putting in front of the Senedd. Of course, when he makes his mind up and puts something down, then I'll look at it carefully and my group will decide what it is that they wish to do. But, the idea...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, I recognise the anger and the disappointment that many public service workers experience at the moment. When your wages have been held down through a decade of austerity, and you're now faced with wage rises below the level of inflation, then it is absolutely understandable why workers in those circumstances feel in the way that they do and why they vote to take action in the...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, I agree with the leader of Plaid Cymru that nothing is more important to making a difference to the future of working people in the United Kingdom than a Labour Government in Westminster, and I look forward to doing everything that we can, as a party here in Wales, as we have for 100 years, to make the maximum contribution we can to that Labour victory at the earliest possible...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, first of all, I'm grateful to the leader of Plaid Cymru for agreeing to come to a detailed briefing on the circumstances that we will face here in Wales once we have seen the results of this Thursday's autumn statement. Llywydd, all strike action ends in the end in negotiation, and that's the way I believe that the current difficulties that we see in public services here in...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, our allotment support grant has allocated £750,000 this year across local authorities to help improve and increase allotment provision. In addition to this dedicated fund, other programmes such as the community land advisory service also support the development of allotments.
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, I guess I ought to declare an interest in this question. I was on my own allotment on Sunday. If you're picking raspberries in the middle of November then you don't need anybody to tell you that climate change is not affecting us in every part of our lives. I'm glad to hear what Mike Hedges said about the positive impact of the allotment support grant in Swansea. Across the...
Mark Drakeford: I thank the Member for that information. I think what it illustrates is something that you will see in every part of Wales, that the interest in community food growing is wider than just allotments and that it has an enormously enthusiastic group of people there who are interested in finding ways in which not just individuals on their own allotments but, if I think of my own constituency,...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, thank you to Cefin Campbell for the question. We are committed to delivering 20,000 new low-carbon homes for rent in the social sector and we've allocated record levels of funding, with £300 million allocated this year. This includes a 40 per cent increase in funding in Mid and West Wales.
Mark Drakeford: I thank Cefin Campbell for that supplementary question. I have had one opportunity to discuss with civil servants who have looked at the experience in Carmarthenshire, because it does stand out, doesn't it? When you see what's happened in Carmarthenshire in the context of south-west Wales, the record in Carmarthenshire is different to that of other local authorities. What officials have...
Mark Drakeford: Well, I certainly don't think that allowing greater pollution of rivers in Powys would be something that would be supported by the Member's constituents, and let us be very clear that when he says 'lifting the phosphate regulations', that is exactly what he means—it is exactly what he means—he cannot mean anything else. If you allow housing developments to take place...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, thank you. I was simply trying to explain to the Member that the problem he identifies is a real one, but the solution that he proposes only makes another problem, a very serious problem, worse. We will not solve the problem in that way. The only way we will solve it is by collecting together the contribution of many different agencies and organisations. That includes house builders....
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, last week I had a constructive meeting with the Prime Minister, during which I set out a series of practical measures that could be included in the Chancellor’s statement on 17 November. Those practical measures would help the most vulnerable in our communities.
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, Huw Irranca-Davies makes a really important point. We have already had a decade of a flawed and failed experiment of austerity in the United Kingdom, which has left us all worse off than we otherwise would have been. And the facts simply speak for themselves, Llywydd. Between 2010 and 2021, every one of those years a year of Conservative Government at Westminster, gross domestic...
