Mark Drakeford: Well, I share the Member’s view of the horror of antisemitism and there’s no doubt at all that there has been a rise in such incidents, and that we all have an obligation to play our part in resisting that. Universities, in the end, Llywydd, are autonomous bodies. The Welsh Government cannot instruct, but the Minister has made it clear in his dealings with universities that while he...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, I thank Darren Millar for that. The Welsh Government has adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism in full and without qualification. Our 'Anti-racist Wales Action Plan' provides the framework through which we will take concerted action to tackle antisemitism, including our ongoing support for victims of hate crime.
Mark Drakeford: I certainly agree that people who feel that decisions made in relation to their own care ought to have the right to challenge that decision, and that right of challenge ought to be available to them in a way that is real, that's accessible, and where they feel that their voice has been properly heard. So, in taking forward any recommendation, one of the ways in which we will want to make sure...
Mark Drakeford: I thank the Member for that, Llywydd. Under the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014, the Welsh Government provides local authorities with guidance in the form of codes of practice and statutory guidance. Topics covered include autism services, prevention, assessment, eligibility and care planning, charging and financial assessment, children who are looked after, safeguarding and...
Mark Drakeford: I thank Carolyn Thomas for that very important supplementary question, because she puts her finger exactly on the flaw at the heart of the current UK Government's prospectus. The Chancellor said that his was a budget for growth, but he failed to do the most basic things on which growth depends. It tells us why, since 2010 and the current run of Conservative Governments, growth in the United...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, I thank Carolyn Thomas for that question. The UK Government’s budget contained almost nothing for public services. Following a decade of Tory austerity, the latest budget continues to let down the people, communities and businesses across Wales who rely on the essential services local authorities provide.
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, I think the Minister has shown her willingness to listen to cases made in the industry by the way in which—and I know that Russell George welcomed it—she has provided an exemption for properties that can only be occupied for certain times in the year. But let's be clear about what the changes are there to do. They are there to make sure that proper businesses are able to...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, the 'Welcome to Wales' strategy sets out our three key ambitions for the sector: to increase spend in the visitor economy, to spread benefits to all parts of Wales and to extend the tourism season, promoting Wales as a destination to be visited all year round.
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, I absolutely echo what Sarah Murphy has said in congratulating Sandville hospice. It is a fine example of the work that hospices do in every part of Wales. It has always been an outstanding example of voluntary and committed effort that people make in improving services in the way that the Member has set out, and the fact that Sandville hospice has been able to offer that service to...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, phase 1 of our programme for government commitment to palliative care has been completed. Phase 2 reported at the end of January. The full programme will conclude by January of next year, as part of our continuing investment in a high-quality service across Wales.
Mark Drakeford: Thank you to Jane Dodds for the additional question.
Mark Drakeford: The Minister set out in her oral statement here on the floor of the Senedd practical action that is being taken to increase the provision of NHS dentistry for children, including the pilot that the Minister set out in secondary schools—a pilot being carried out in north Wales in the first instance, and we hope, if it is successful, to be able to do more of that elsewhere. In Powys, to which...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, we're always willing to look at ideas that come forward from practitioners. The fact of the matter is that dentistry, uniquely of primary care professions, is paid for the work before they do it, not after it. At the end of the year, there always has been, under the previous contract as well as the current contract, a reconciliation, when you look to see what a practice has...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, 20 per cent of dental practices in Wales are private practices; that is simply a fact of life, and it has been a fact of life since the NHS was established. There is nothing new in that at all. I see regularly from dental interests this theme that contracts are being handed back across Wales. I spoke to the Chief Dental Officer for Wales myself last night about this. He tells...
Mark Drakeford: I thank Cefin Campbell, Llywydd. Contract reform, financial incentives, additional investment and diversification of the profession are among the actions being taken to improve access for the people of the Member's region.
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, it's a very good question indeed that the leader of Plaid Cymru raises, because the 2017 Act was a Conservative Government Act. It wasn't an Act made here, it wasn't an Act that reflected the policy preferences of the Welsh Government; it was an Act that a Conservative Secretary of State took through the House of Commons and put on the statute book. What happened, I believe, is...
Mark Drakeford: Well, I don't think it probably does mean anything actually here today because there are existing commercial, contractual relationships in place that govern the price of water today. The leader of Plaid Cymru is right to say that the Welsh Government has a direct interest in how those contracts are shaped for the future. I do not, myself, sign up to a nationalist view of water; I don't object...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, I believe that the position may have moved ahead a little today. I am relying simply on a newspaper report of the end of this morning. The Guardian is reporting that the Environment Agency has turned down the Thames Water plan and instructed it to return to the drawing board and to come forward with a better plan, including the plan to extract water from Wales via the River...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, let me return to the leader of the opposition's first questions, because he asked what support the Welsh Government provided to the board. So, let me put them on the record again. The Welsh Government supported the board through financial assistance—£82 million over and above what the board would otherwise have had available to it. Secondly, the Welsh Government corralled a...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, I think the leader of the opposition must allow me to answer his questions, rather than to tell me in his question what I have said. It's my answers that lie on the record, rather than his interpretation of them. First of all, let me say that I do share what the leader of the opposition said about the many years of distinguished public service that the former chair of the board...
