Mark Drakeford: Wales is experiencing the biggest fall in living standards since records began. This is particularly detrimental for those who are already vulnerable, including elderly people. We are targeting support to help them keep warm this winter and ensure they are receiving all the financial support to which they are entitled.
Mark Drakeford: We are taking a Whole System Approach to protecting children and young people’s mental health. We have invested significantly in mental health support from early intervention to specialist services. We have also introduced statutory guidance to embed mental well-being in schools and we are implementing the NEST/NYTH Framework across Wales.
Mark Drakeford: Until the dispute is settled through negotiation and agreement it will continue to have a detrimental impact on both workers and services in Bridgend and across Wales.
Mark Drakeford: I thank the Member for that question, Llywydd. The Welsh Government's commitment to ending homelessness remains unwavering at all times of the year. Our total investment in homelessness prevention and housing support is over £197 million this year, helping ensure no-one is left without the support or the accommodation they need.
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, to be threatened with homelessness at any time of the year is enormously stressful, as anybody in this Chamber who does casework regularly will know. But to be faced with that over the Christmas period, when you're fearful that services may not be available, is even more challenging, I'm sure, for anybody. There are two aspects to this, Llywydd, of course. There is the demand...
Mark Drakeford: Well, the phosphates issue is a genuine one, Llywydd. I was able to meet the major players in this area at the Royal Welsh Show earlier this year, and there's a follow-up meeting with all of those players planned for early in the new year. That is to make sure that all those organisations that have a part to play in resolving the phosphates issue are able to do that, and that nobody spends...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, I thank Ken Skates for that question. I remember very vividly a visit that he and I made to the headquarters of the Development Bank of Wales in Wrexham, and it has been one of the outstanding success stories of the last decade. The half-year results, as Ken Skates says, were published in the last week or so. They show a continuing strong trend in direct investment that the bank is...
Mark Drakeford: I thank the Member for that. Llywydd, results from the 2021 census have started to be released, but key information, such as that on housing tenure, is yet to be published. The full picture will be used, for example, into strengthening the next 'Future Trends' report, which is a key requirement of the Well-being of Future Generations Act (Wales) 2015.
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, the identity question in the census is a very interesting one, and the results that it shows, I think, are definitely worth proper exploration. Now, why do we see some of the changes that the Member referred to? Well, we know that the number of deaths over the last decade exceeded the number of births that took place in Wales. So, the growth in the population in Wales comes...
Mark Drakeford: Of course, I agree with the comments made by Raymond Williams, and that's why, having seen the figures in the census, we are still confident about the future of the language here in Wales, and that's important. I acknowledge what Delyth Jewell said about people losing confidence when they initially saw the figures. But, having had time to consider the census results and to see that comparison...
Mark Drakeford: There is no money in the Welsh Government budget from his Government in London to allow us to make a better offer than funding in full, as we have, the pay award proposed by the independent pay award body.
Mark Drakeford: The leader of the opposition, Llywydd, is utterly shameless—utterly without shame. He comes to the floor of the Senedd here when his Government in Westminster ended a meeting in acrimony with the Royal College of Nursing only last night, because they refused to put, as the leader of the RCN said, a single penny on the table to increase the pay of nurses in England, which would have led to,...
Mark Drakeford: Well, I'm afraid, Llywydd, that shouting at me does not disguise for a moment the emptiness of the points that the leader of the opposition has made this afternoon. He urges me on the one hand to use the money we've had from the UK Government to pay staff in the NHS, without for a second recognising that, if we were to do that, the service pressures that led to the sorts of difficulties that...
Mark Drakeford: Well, let me just make two points: we know how the Scottish Government has been able to make that offer, and it's a decision for the Scottish Government to make. They have made it by taking £400 million out of the NHS and transferring that money into pay. That is not a decision that we have felt able to make here in Wales. And, as for the deal struck by Transport for Wales, it is...
Mark Drakeford: Well, I'm afraid that's a deeply confused question, Llywydd. It is the Scottish Government itself that published figures that showed that it had taken £400 million out of plans that it otherwise had to spend on NHS services and had transferred that into pay. Now, that is a perfectly legitimate decision for them to make. But they didn't find £400 million of new money; they took it out of...
Mark Drakeford: The difference between us, Llywydd, is not philosophical at all; it's simply practical. He wants to take £120 million out of activity that the NHS in Wales is committed to undertake, and would use that money to pay people. That's a practical choice; our choice has had to be different because we see the enormous pressures that the NHS faces every single day. Now, I repeat what I said: all...
Mark Drakeford: I thank the Member for the question, Llywydd. Welsh Government presence at Qatar allowed us to amplify knowledge of Wales across the World and to speak up for the values that matter to us. Cultural—[Interruption.]
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, citizens in Wales, including South Wales East, have benefitted from initiatives such as the £150 cost-of-living payment, the fuel support scheme and our Wales-only discretionary assistance fund. The Welsh Government will continue to support the most vulnerable households through this difficult period.
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, I agree with what the Member says about the very tough time that faces so many communities here in Wales, particularly over this winter. The general background is not as bleak as he would portray it. I answered a question earlier this afternoon about the census, and, if you look at some of the figures in the latest releases from the census, it shows that household deprivation...
Mark Drakeford: I thank the Member for that important question. As many Members of the Senedd will know, we created a new Cabinet committee back in September, which has met every week during this autumn, to look at cost-of-living measures. We were joined yesterday by the UK Minister for social mobility, and there was an opportunity there to discuss the need to improve the uptake of pension credit for all the...
