Carwyn Jones: Can I thank the Member, my colleague, for that question? This is one issue amongst many that we’re considering as a Government in terms of how we allocate new moneys. In terms of the community facilities programme, there has not been an evaluation yet—it’s still quite early in the life of the programme—but monitoring visits carried out to completed projects indicate that the...
Carwyn Jones: Yes. Despite the £442 million additional capital, the capital budget will still be 21 per cent lower in 2019-20 than in 2009-10.
Carwyn Jones: Nitrates are a problem in some parts of Wales. There is no avoiding that, and we have to deal with this because of the negative impact it has on the environment. It is very important to listen; we understand that. The consultation is open until Christmas, but a meeting was held between officials and also representatives of the farming unions and farmers in October to deal with these issues,...
Carwyn Jones: We are working to support the farming industry in Pembrokeshire, as in all parts of Wales, to ensure that the industry can become more profitable, sustainable and resilient.
Carwyn Jones: There are several ways of doing it. One is to make sure that people are properly assessed when they arrive in terms of where they go for treatment, making sure that ambulances are able to get away as quickly as possible. That means focusing A&E in particular centres across Wales. We’re able to provide a certain degree of specialisation—that’s been difficult—but nevertheless we know...
Carwyn Jones: Not to going ahead with it, but in terms of its scope, yes, potentially it will reduce its scope. If the European funding element of £125 million is not made up by the UK Government, then clearly the metro cannot go ahead at the same speed and in terms of the same ambition as it otherwise would have done. So, yes, there is a £125 million gap that the UK Government has to make up, otherwise...
Carwyn Jones: Ambulance performance across Wales since the introduction of the clinical response model pilot has been extremely positive, exceeding the target in every month in the first year—the national target, that is—in every month in the first year of the pilot.
Carwyn Jones: Yes. The phase 2 project of the metro has been estimated at £734 million and the final cost will be determined during procurement negotiations. That funding does include match funding from the European regional development fund, which we expect the UK Government to honour in terms of providing this funding.
Carwyn Jones: That’s not the view of the leader of the Welsh Conservatives, of course. Whether he is ploughing his own furrow on that, to use a term he’ll be familiar with, or whether he is speaking as a kind of proxy for the UK Government, only he knows, but he has said that he thinks this is an opportunity to remove powers from the people of Wales and, indeed, from the Welsh Government—a view that...
Carwyn Jones: This would mean, of course, the Welsh Government taking over payments for farmers in England, because we are far superior as a payments agency and have been for many, many years in terms of payment and in terms of speed of payment, and the last thing Welsh farmers, I suspect, would want would be to see the Rural Payments Agency delivering farming subsidies in Wales. There have been issues...
Carwyn Jones: I’ve said this from the very beginning, of course, that agriculture is devolved. This is not an opportunity to take away powers from the people of Wales; not at all. There may be a case for considering for some issues, as I’ve said before, such as animal welfare, having a pan-Britain policy, but only through agreement, and not by Westminster imposing it and saying, ‘You won’t have any...
Carwyn Jones: Community cohesion can’t be imposed. It has to grow organically from grass roots in order for it to be sustainable and robust, and so I would expect local authorities to work in genuine partnership with organisations that have experience of delivering on the ground in order to make sure that cohesion is robust within the communities that local authorities serve.
Carwyn Jones: Agriculture is a vital industry and I would say a vital culture to Wales in terms of the food it produces, the economic contribution it makes and the wider public benefit it delivers. Following the referendum, we’ve been actively engaging with stakeholders on the vision for the future for this area.
Carwyn Jones: I refer the Member again to the answer I gave earlier in terms of the community cohesion plan and, of course, the work of the regional co-ordinators in making sure that plan moves ahead. We know that there have been challenges in the aftermath of Brexit where, in some communities, there has been an increase in hate crime. That is something I hope is temporary and not something, clearly, that...
Carwyn Jones: I didn’t hear the comments, if I’m honest, but what I can say is that there has never been an occasion ever in the history of this island where there’s been one culture, ever. It’s always been a multicultural island, whether it’s in terms of religion, whether it’s in terms of linguistic diversity, whether it’s in terms of the colour of people’s skin. The reality is that there...
Carwyn Jones: Yes. Our community cohesion strategy was launched in 2009 and was recently updated. Its delivery is supported across Wales by eight regional community cohesion co-ordinators, based in local authorities and funding to continue this work in 2017-18 was approved last month by the Cabinet Secretary.
Carwyn Jones: That was a cheap shot at the leader of the Welsh Conservatives I thought. [Laughter.] The Member is not aware, I know, but it is Christmas after all. The reality is that there’s no point in simply providing people with the means to make their homes more energy efficient. Yes, that’s important, but it’s not enough in and of itself. It’s hugely important that we continue to access...
Carwyn Jones: The data were collected via a number of organisations, with Natural Resources Wales of course being one of them, so that we’re able to understand what the particulate levels are in some parts of Wales—not just the PM10s but the PM2.5s. We know that if traffic is idling, then that creates worse air quality—Brynglas tunnels is an example of that. We know that Swansea has challenges in the...
Carwyn Jones: Absolutely, we’re well placed to take advantage of tidal energy particularly. We know that the Swansea bay tidal lagoon could create an estimated 1,900 jobs during construction and beyond. It is hugely important now that the UK Government makes that step of ensuring that what will be an energy source that will last 100 years or more will actually come into being and we can generate more...
Carwyn Jones: Yes, the Scots have an advantage over us, which will no longer be there in 2018, where they control the consenting process of major energy projects, which we didn’t, and that was a major difficulty for us. Nothing over 50 MW on land, and nothing over 1 MW in the sea. In the North sea, of course, the Scots have been successful in terms of developing offshore wind in a way that we had no...
