Rebecca Evans: The spending priorities for the next three years are set out within the final budget, published in March this year. This has resulted in a number of investments in mid and west Wales, for example, in health, education and transport, alongside our longer term commitment of £55 million to the mid Wales growth fund.
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much to Siân Gwenllian for that question. I think she sets out why it is so important that we start to look at our budget through different lenses. GDP is an important source of data and we do have some experimental data looking at GDP on a Welsh-specific level. It's not usable yet, but, as Siân Gwenllian says, that is only one way of looking at things and we have to look at...
Rebecca Evans: Our approach to gender budgeting in Arfon and across Wales continues to evolve in line with our budget improvement plan and the programme for government. Three pilots are under way and, as well as evaluating their impact, we also continue to learn from international best practice.
Rebecca Evans: The Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021 put in place a new performance regime to drive improvement in local authorities across Wales. Alongside this I have agreed £800,000 funding for the WLGA Improvement Programme to support corporate improvement within councils.
Rebecca Evans: This year, the Government is providing unhypothecated revenue funding of over £5.1 billion and over £1 billion in specific grant funding to support local authorities in the delivery of their statutory and non statutory services.
Rebecca Evans: As part of our £380m cost-of-living support package, we have provided £25m to local authorities to enable them to provide discretionary support to households. Authorities can decide how to use this funding to best meet the needs of people in their areas.
Rebecca Evans: Following our announcement in February of a £152m cost-of-living support scheme, I am pleased to say that, as at 26 June, £116.4m has already reached the pockets of the eligible households.
Rebecca Evans: Okay. Thank you, Llywydd. I do welcome this motion today and the opportunity that it gives us to debate what is an absolutely vital issue. Despite repeated commitments from the UK Government that we won't be a penny worse of as a result of the UK's exit from the European Union, the UK Government has—and this is a fact—failed to honour its pledge to fully replace EU structural and...
Rebecca Evans: I think the point here is about transitioning investment towards those technologies, which we do need for the future, and if we don't invest in that technology and the innovation, then we'll be waiting forever for the alternatives to fossil fuels to arrive. So, investment in those alternatives and in the innovation and the research to find those alternatives will be absolutely critical. And I...
Rebecca Evans: If I just finish this section, and then I will happily take the intervention. They also must respond transparently and must develop credible transition plans to net zero, and, of course, they have to work closely with those who've contributed to the funds, including the workers and their trade unions, to ensure that they're engaged and fully consulted in any future approach—a point that was...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you, and thank you to Jack Sargeant for bringing forward this debate today. It definitely hasn't been a dry debate, it's been more lively than I think any of us had anticipated, but really useful as well. It is absolutely clear that net zero has to be a shared ambition for us across the Senedd, across Welsh Government and across the Welsh public sector more widely, and we've discussed...
Rebecca Evans: I'm grateful for those points, and, absolutely, that is a real option available to property owners in respect of providing a home to a local resident and also that secure income that will come to them as a result of making that choice, so that's a positive choice that property owners are able to make in all parts of Wales, and it's good to hear of those examples. Yes, I agree that there are...
Rebecca Evans: So, without knowing all of the details of the business—. You know, I'm not going to provide individual, bespoke advice, but I'll say, for the third time today, that I've already indicated that I will look to make exemptions for those properties that do have planning restrictions attached to them—so, for example, those diversified properties that are only available for let to holiday...
Rebecca Evans: So, we've been very clear to look at what evidence is available, and it is correct that there isn't a vast amount of evidence available beyond that which was was received through the consultation and that which, additionally, was provided by the Wales Tourism Alliance. But I think one of the places where we can look for reliable evidence is the Wales tourism accommodation occupancy survey,...
Rebecca Evans: Well, I am perplexed as to why anyone would be surprised by the announcement that has been made, given the fact that, by your own reckoning, there has been huge engagement: 1,500 responses provided to us by the Wales Tourism Alliance, which we obviously were grateful to receive; 1,000 responses to our original consultation; and 500 responses to our technical consultation. So, how anybody can...
Rebecca Evans: On 24 May, I laid the legislation required to change the self-catering thresholds. This followed my announcement on 2 March and a technical consultation. The legislation will come into force on 14 June, but will have practical effect from 1 April 2023.
Rebecca Evans: I answered a question on this in questions this afternoon. We debated it a couple of weeks ago. Come on.
Rebecca Evans: As I described in a previous answer to one of your colleagues, we did have a discussion at the most recent meeting of the finance sub-group where we did consider the formula and we said that we would come back to it again at our first meeting following the local government elections. So, we'll be exploring that further. Of course, the settlement is unhypothecated and it's for local...
Rebecca Evans: We remain committed to supporting reforms to improve delivery and increase the sustainability of the whole social care sector. In 2022-23 alone, we are providing over an additional £250 million for social services, including £180 million within the local government settlement, £45 million to support reforms, plus £50 million of social care capital.
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for the question. Last year, our local air quality management support fund did support local authorities to deliver some innovative projects that can prevent or mitigate air pollution issues, and bids from Newport City Council, as well as Swansea Council and Neath Port Talbot Council, were successful in receiving support through that scheme. And I know that the funding awarded to...
