Mick Antoniw: ...2016, the Welsh Government has been writing to the UK Government to highlight our concerns regarding the communication of changes to the women’s state pension age? I will continue to make those representations. I will have to access the correspondence in respect of the replies that we have had, and I can write to you separately about that. What I can also say though, is, of course, the...
Ken Skates: ...media landscape and the important role that the print media plays. This proposal is currently out to consultation and I will be responding formally. Unfortunately, as the Member may be aware, it is not a decision that is being taken here in Wales locally or by the Media Wales team. Instead, it’s being taken by another company within the Trinity Mirror group. So, I’ll be making direct...
Leanne Wood: ...condemnation and immediate disciplinary action by the leadership of the Welsh Tories. Instead, it was followed by the promotion of Ross England as a candidate in a target Assembly seat. We should not forget that at the heart of this story is a woman who will have to live with what was done to her for the rest of her life. There is no way that she should have had to endure a second trial....
Hefin David: ...these difficult times, it's difficult to say when exactly that will be—so, some form of timescale about how that decision will be made. People, particularly in Forge Mill, have made very strong representations about this.
Lesley Griffiths: ...have made it clear to the UK Government for years that what they were proposing is unacceptable to us. I’ve met with the farming unions. They’re very clear on their views—they too have made representations—and we certainly will bring forward a statement when we have all the information.
Jane Hutt: ...Governance Centre when he published that report back in 2019. It did give us a very clear picture of the criminal justice system in Wales, and highlighted that trend, as you've identified, of over-representation of black, Asian and minority ethnic people within the criminal justice system. In terms of actions to be taken as far as that's concerned, the race equality action plan provided...
Paul Davies: ...for future funding arrangements, and the Welsh Government has been quick to point out that engagement has already taken place with stakeholders and other Governments on this point. In light of the representations that the Cabinet Secretary has already made on this issue, can she provide some more information about exactly what future funding arrangements the Welsh Government want to see...
Rebecca Evans: ...to local taxes, and we had around 1,000 responses to that consultation, which was an excellent response. And the views that were collected through that consultation, including, I have to say, representations from the wider tourism industry, did clearly support a change to the criteria for self-catering accommodation to be classified as non-domestic. And there was a wide range, it is true...
Ann Jones: ...dress in purple, white and green because I think that's what we need to celebrate—and that we move forward together, as an Assembly Commission, as a Welsh Government, as the people of Wales, the representation of Wales, to celebrate the work of women? I just wonder whether you will agree that that is the best way forward.
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much for those questions and the important point about women's representation in local government. We are absolutely far from where we should be in terms of the number of women who are taking on the role of councillors, but also council leaders. We have very, very few women council leaders in Wales, and that's something that we would want to see increased in future as well. I...
Lee Waters: ..., when the electrification of the main line was cancelled, and in the two years since then we've had virtually no communication from the Department for Transport to help us progress this. They've not shared documents with us, and they've not progressed this in the way that they promised us they would when they cancelled the electrification of the main line. I must say also that I'm...
Mick Antoniw: .... But what I think has been important about our role to date is that we had a very specific Welsh voice in these processes. Without that, without this Assembly, without a Welsh Government, we would not have had that voice. We would not have been able to make those representations, and we would not be able to stand up in the way we are doing. That doesn’t mean that things ahead are easy,...
Vaughan Gething: ...acting as a Government for England, to resolve in how this process is actually resolved and the evidence base that is provided. But Powys health board have been engaged and they are directly making representations on behalf of Welsh residents who use those services. What the English services need to consider in this is not just from an altruistic point of view—the impact upon Welsh...
Mark Isherwood: ...and minority ethnic communities, disabled people, LGBT people, the young and those with lower incomes are markedly under-represented in Welsh local government, and work seeking to remedy this has not achieved sufficient progress. As the committee heard: 'The under-representation of women in local government is only part of a wider diversity issue. Increasing representation among younger...
Carwyn Jones: Well, we've made representations very strongly. We get 1.5 per cent of railway infrastructure investment—1.5 per cent. On a balanced share, it would be over 6 per cent, but that's not what we get. And still the UK Government refused to devolve railway infrastructure plus a Barnett share of that spending to us. We still have no decision on the tidal lagoon. We made the point last week. We...
Hefin David: ...be no deal, I think, at this point, and that is why I'm saying we probably do need to support this. By the way, one thing I'd say about Gareth Bennett—Neil Hamilton's gone and Gareth Bennett's not here—he's promising, in his pitch for the leadership of UKIP, that he will have a referendum in every parliamentary term. God forbid we end up in that position. What's going to be next?...
Rebecca Evans: Diolch, Llywydd. I welcome the debate that we've had this afternoon and most of the comments and representations that we've had from colleagues. And as I outlined in my opening statement, this is a budget that's taking place amidst uncertainty and evolving circumstances, and it's also a budget set in the long shadow cast by a decade of imposed austerity by the UK Government and despite claims...
Mark Drakeford: ...this White Paper. It’s very regularly pointed to by council leaders of different parties when I’m discussing it with them as an example of how they have been able to come together. But it’s not just Cardiff; the Swansea region and the North Wales Economic Ambition Board are two other examples of where local authorities are demonstrating the advantages that they can obtain through...
Mark Drakeford: ...sure that Members are aware of the history of all of this. The Welsh Government, often at the urging of the trade union movement, committed ourselves to the independent pay review process. We made representations to it. It reported, and it recommended a 3 per cent pay increase, which the Welsh Government decided to honour. In order to fund that 3 per cent pay increase, we have a 1 per cent...
Rebecca Evans: We did make strong representations to the UK Government at the time when the UK Government was considering introducing the levy, making that point that it does essentially represent an additional tax burden for the public sector here in Wales, and effectively it reduces the funding available to them to fulfil their duties. As the revenues from the levy have replaced existing apprenticeship...
