Jane Hutt: Thank you very much indeed, Vikki Howells, for those two important questions. The elections and the outcome of those elections are important. In fact, this is something that I share responsibility for with the Minister for Finance and Local Government; she is specifically looking at this in terms of our diversity elected office fund and our diversity and democracy programme, and I know that...
Jane Hutt: Thank you very much, Mark Isherwood, and thank you for those really important questions about direct payments. Again, like in the previous questions I've had today, many of these are shared responsibilities with other Ministers in the Welsh Government. So, direct payments are with my colleague, Julie Morgan, Deputy Minister for Social Services. In my statement, I talk about the fact that...
Jane Hutt: Thank you very much, Laura Anne Jones. As I said more than once in my statement, clearly more needs to be done, and we've got the evidence with 'Locked out: liberating disabled people's lives and rights in Wales beyond COVID-19', we've got the taskforce, and we're working together. So, I will take back what you've said today, when you called upon the role of Disability Sport Wales, and indeed...
Jane Hutt: Diolch yn fawr, Peter. People across Wales, including Monmouthshire, are experiencing the biggest fall in living standards since records began. We will be spending £1.6 billion on targeted cost-of-living support and universal programmes to tackle poverty and put money back in people’s pockets. And I do call on all Members to promote our 'Claim what's yours' campaign.
Jane Hutt: Thank you very much for those questions. What is clear from the auditor general, and indeed from the research we commissioned from the Wales Centre for Public Policy, is that there are deep-seated issues and needs, and all partners need to play their part, particularly local authorities. For our Wales Centre for Public Policy, they said that we should look at key issues that actually affect...
Jane Hutt: Well, thank you very much, Peredur. As I said, we commissioned the Wales Centre for Public Policy to enable us to look at what are the key levers. Clearly, the key levers that will have a huge impact are tax and benefits, which rest with the UK Government. And, indeed, we have to face the fact that, in terms of the UK Government tackling poverty, people are facing incredibly difficult...
Jane Hutt: Thank you, Jane Dodds. We are prioritising the basic income pilot for carers, as you know. The evaluation of that pilot will explore potential benefits for care leavers and the wider Welsh population. But the climate change Minister’s officials are leading work to ensure we understand the impacts, challenges and opportunities relating to the transition to a low-carbon economy.
Jane Hutt: Diolch yn fawr iawn. This is key work in terms of our Net Zero Wales plan, linking it to the plan for 2026. As I'm sure the Member will be aware, there has been a call for evidence that's gone out today by the Minister for Climate Change to test early thinking about how we shape the future work programme, which, of course, is where your call has come in. But I think that call for evidence is...
Jane Hutt: Well, Janet Finch-Saunders, I'm very sad, in a way, that you couldn't have met the young people we met. I believe, actually, we met them in your constituency, in Llandudno recently. We met young people who are now able to take up this basic income pilot. What inspiring young people—care experienced and care leavers, who have been given the opportunity, at long last, in their lives, the...
Jane Hutt: Well, thank you very much, Jack Sargeant, and thank you for your continuing support. Actually, it was from a debate that you initiated in the last Senedd term that we are in this place—that we as a Government took the decision to treat this as a priority. And it is an investment in these young people—it is an investment in their lives, in their futures, and the contributions that—....
Jane Hutt: Well, thank you very much, Joel James. We don't have any influence on how and who the National Lottery funds. We meet regularly with both the director and, indeed, the Wales representative for National Lottery funds. The overall responsibility actually lies with my colleague Dawn Bowden, the deputy Minister, in terms of overall understanding and liaison in terms of the use of the funds.
Jane Hutt: As I said, we meet regularly. I certainly meet regularly with the National Lottery in relation to those areas of policy relating to social justice. We also visit projects. I visited a very exciting and innovative project in Plas Madoc, in my colleague Ken Skate's constituency, where we saw a really innovative partnership with children and young people, and older people as well. This was us...
Jane Hutt: No, I haven't had any engagement, but I certainly will respond to that when I correspond about lottery application take-up and distribution.
Jane Hutt: Thank you very much. This is very much a cross-Government responsibility—principally my colleague the Deputy Minister for Social Partnership, but also the Minister for Health and Social Services as well. We are aware of that interim consultation on gender services for children and young people, and it will have a direct impact on NHS Wales services for the same groups. I think we can...
Jane Hutt: Perhaps if I can just say that we'll feed that back. I think what is important—that I can respond to—is the fact that we have got our Wales gender service developing. It was launched in September 2019 and that's a multidisciplinary Wales gender team, based at St David's Hospital in Cardiff. It is very important that it actually has shorter waiting times for first assessments, which is...
Jane Hutt: Thank you very much for that really important question as we lead towards the launch of the plan in the new year, the LGBTQ+ action plan. We had a huge response to the consultation, and I'm sure that this response and concern was part of that. What is important about the plan is it is a cross-Government plan, very much similar to our 'Anti-racist Wales Action Plan', so virtually every...
Jane Hutt: Diolch yn fawr, Sam. I have agreed funding for Third Sector Support Wales of £6.98 million per year for three years. Just over £1 million of this funding goes to the six county voluntary councils across north Wales to help local voluntary organisations with fundraising, good governance, safeguarding and volunteering.
Jane Hutt: Thank you very much for that question, a very important question, highlighting again the adverse impact of the cost-of-living crisis. It's very good for us to hear about the work of Freshfields, the animal rescue centre. We can replicate those charities working like that across Wales and concerns now that there's a great deal of demand for these rescue centres. I think your point about...
Jane Hutt: Thank you, Jack Sargeant. On 3 December, I and other members of the Cabinet held an inaugural summit with care-experienced young people to develop together a vision for the future. The summit is part of our work, led by the Deputy Minister for Social Services, to take forward our programme for government commitment to explore radical reform of children’s services.
Jane Hutt: Thank you very much, Jack Sargeant, for that important question. It’s really good to hear that this was actually raised by jobcentre staff. I’m actually visiting my local regional jobcentre as a constituency Member later in the week. I think this just shows—. Because they are working with young people and seeing what opportunities the basic income trial will have in terms of job...
