Llyr Gruffydd: ...in Wales. Needs arising from our ageing demographics, for example, would then translate into increased funding for health and social care. Low employment would incentivise increased spending on education and training. Climate adaptation would necessitate funding then for more green energy investment. Without such reform, Wales is just going to be locked into the current cycle where we...
Llyr Gruffydd: ...that, because it is that longer-term investment that will actually reap benefits further down the line. Now, of course, I couldn't let this moment pass without saying those three words—free school meals. Seventy million pounds will be committed next year to make sure that our children have nourishing meals in schools, and we're glad that that programme is moving in the right direction,...
Llyr Gruffydd: Many of us, and I'm sure you're amongst us, will remember learning a saying in primary school, which reminded us that every time we point a finger at somebody, there are always three fingers pointing back at us. I don't think that that's been truer than it is this afternoon, because the past 24 hours have demonstrated to us that you, as a Minister, and this Government are going around and...
Llyr Gruffydd: ...and care workers, advocating for fairer pay and sustainability within the profession. I'm sure many of you will recall how Plaid Cymru was a very lonely voice for many years, arguing for a medical school in Bangor—something that the Government has now, of course, supported. I, and many Members on these benches and other benches, have regularly raised over the past decade the need for...
Llyr Gruffydd: ...home and so on. Bus and rail services are critical not only in order for us to meet our climate change targets in Wales, but also to create a society where people can easily access the services, education and work they need for a full life. So, the question for us as a committee was, of course: what needs to be done to encourage more people to use public transport? Our report, as you would...
Llyr Gruffydd: How does the Welsh Government support access to Welsh-medium education?
Llyr Gruffydd: ...in place. The Welsh Government had a framework, co-developed over a number of years with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, with Welsh local authorities, with higher education, further education, the business sector and the third sector—all subject to public consultation as well. But no, we need to build something else. We heard from Mike Hedges that bids have...
Llyr Gruffydd: ...2024. And this provides a critical opportunity, I believe, for the imbalance in prize money to be rectified. The levy also, of course, provides critical investment in integrity, in training and education and, importantly, in equine welfare. And I'd just like to say a few words about equine welfare, because, through the levy, British racing has spent almost £40 million on funding...
Llyr Gruffydd: ...less access to essential services. And I can speak from personal experience—my children live in a home where there is no broadband worth speaking of. That then has implications in terms of using educational resources, their reliance on paper-based resources, which are far less exciting, and so on, and so forth. So, you can see how the inability to access broadband has a very practical...
Llyr Gruffydd: ...months of the COVID pandemic, these are unprecedented pressures that are being faced. So, the risks to all local government services, including, of course, significant statutory services, such as education and social care, can't be underestimated. So, if, as is being suggested, statutory services are facing significant cuts, what discussions have you had or what consideration are you...
Llyr Gruffydd: ...implementing these proposals, and one of the biggest concerns raised with us was about the capacity of local authorities to do this work. The Minister has said that she expects local authorities to educate suppliers in advance of the ban coming into force, but I doubt whether this is realistic, based on what we heard. We were told—and we all know this, of course—that there have been...
Llyr Gruffydd: ...the other hand, you appear reticent not to increase the tax in this context but to keep it at its current level, something that would produce some £200 million to help safeguard health, care and education services in Wales from the cuts that you're complaining about. Isn't there a major contradiction that you're reticent on the one hand to look in earnest at the tax levels in Wales within...
Llyr Gruffydd: ...to pay for non-devolved military spending, and I'm wondering what impact that will have—losing that £30 million—on the budget for this year, particularly in relation to investment in health, education and other key areas. Does this not set a dangerous precedent, in that it could happen more often? What it does do, of course, is highlight how fragile and how weak the devolution...
Llyr Gruffydd: ...in COVID cases, there is now growing concern that we are seeing more waste, in terms of the increasing use of face masks, and I would like to know what you, as a Government, are going to do to educate people on how to dispose of those masks in a responsible way. We remember how we saw them in our environment, all over the place, during the height of the pandemic. Now, of course, with mask...
Llyr Gruffydd: ...reality is quite different. Let's be honest about this. Even under the WEFO programme monitoring committee, you had local government representatives, you had business representatives, you had the education sector, you had the third sector. And now, of course, we have under the levelling-up fund an application process where applications disappear into the bowels of Whitehall somewhere, no...
Llyr Gruffydd: ...outcomes in terms of public health too. And the food sector and the agricultural sector specifically is one very important element of this work, because providing nutritious local food through schools, hospitals, care services and so on would not only create new domestic markets that would strengthen the sector economically, but it would also, of course, reduce imports. And in the...
Llyr Gruffydd: ...so on, and that's going to make a difficult situation more difficult. Food costs are increasing, fuel costs are increasing, and there are implications for local authorities, of course—in terms of schools, education services, care and all sorts of other services. The costs are increasing at exactly the same time as the demand for many of the services provided by local authorities is also...
Llyr Gruffydd: This budget does deliver on many of Plaid Cymru's main pledges in our recent manifesto. Two hundred million pounds in the budget to ensure free school meals for all primary school children, and that includes over £20 million in addition to extend free school meals over the summer holiday this year. Sixty million pounds to extend childcare to children of two years of age. Over £100 million...
Llyr Gruffydd: ...are supposed to be cost neutral, but aren't really cost neutral. There are additional costs falling on our councils, and those should be taken into account. And what of the Luke Sibieta report on school funding, commissioned by the Government in 2020? That shows substantial differences in expenditure per learner across schools in Wales, and that partly reflects the different funding...
Llyr Gruffydd: ...that perhaps one part of some communities use one system and another another. And one thing we do know, if there is a shift to another system, then there is a process, and work needs to be done in educating people to ensure that people understand the new process. But, if one part is doing one thing and another another, then that makes that process far more difficult, which means that the...
