Rebecca Evans: Thank you for raising that question. The Prime Minister was asked almost an identical question this afternoon in Prime Minister's questions, and his response was completely inadequate—it just smacked of arrogance, and demonstrated how out of touch the UK Government is in terms of the challenges that people are facing. It is high time that the UK Government took some action in this space....
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much for the question, and, of course, our scheme here in Wales is already more generous than that being offered across the border in England, because we do have the council tax reduction scheme element of it, which is available to people in properties bands A to I. So, that obviously goes much further than the support available elsewhere. But we do recognise that there will be...
Rebecca Evans: Yes. As part of our £380 million cost-of-living support package, we have provided £152 million to local authorities to make payments of £150 to households living in properties in bands A to D and to all households in receipt of our council tax reduction scheme.
Rebecca Evans: Yes. As part of our £380 million cost-of-living support package, over 200,000 households have benefited from our winter fuel support scheme. Additionally, payments totalling over £60 million have been made to over 410,000 households as part of the £150 cost-of-living support scheme.
Rebecca Evans: Local authorities received £5.1 billion in their settlement this year to support services. Local authorities determine how they spend this, but we expect them to provide youth services. In addition, we have allocated £10.4 million through the youth support grant specifically for youth work services.
Rebecca Evans: Over the next three years, the draft budget has committed £65 million for the Welsh Government energy service to support delivery of the programme for government commitments to expand renewable energy generation and innovating in renewable technology in the public sector and through community groups.
Rebecca Evans: No, thanks.
Rebecca Evans: I welcome the opportunity to bring forward the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021 (Consequential Amendments) (Job-sharing and Assistants to the Executive) Regulations 2022 today. These regulations make provision to ensure the arrangements in respect of job sharing apply as intended when the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021 was made. Fundamental to executive...
Rebecca Evans: I think Mike Hedges is very right in terms of the interest that people have, particularly in local elections, as to where you're from, where you live and so on. So, I think that's another good idea from Mike Hedges that we can explore as we continue to develop this policy, which gives candidates and their families that level of privacy by not having their address revealed to the public, but...
Rebecca Evans: I thank Carolyn Thomas very much for those remarks and join her in, again, congratulating all councillors who have been elected. I know that Carolyn has a particular perspective, having served herself, so she'll be very familiar with the privilege that it is to be a member, but probably slightly sad to see that part of her life gone, because, when I do speak to councillors who have been...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you to Llyr Gruffydd for those questions. In terms of the method of election and voting, I think today is an important day in terms of the future of the Senedd and the way in which we'll elect future Members of the Senedd, given the agreement that our two parties have come to and the work that will now face this Senedd in terms of scrutiny of a Bill in due course, when that will come...
Rebecca Evans: I thank Sam Rowlands very much for his contribution this afternoon, and, obviously, I would associate myself with his comments about the incredible work that we all witnessed, I think, in the counts that we attended, and the care that the people involved in those counts give to the task in hand is really testament to the importance of local democracy. And again just to say 'thank you' to...
Rebecca Evans: Diolch. On behalf of the Welsh Government, I would like to thank everyone involved in the smooth operation of the local government elections in Wales last week, and every person who stood to represent their community. I'd also like to update the Senedd on the elections and how we will take forward our relationship with local authorities in the coming months. These were the first local...
Rebecca Evans: In response to Mark Isherwood earlier on in questions this afternoon, I did indicate that I'm taking some further advice following those discussions with the Wales Tourism Alliance in respect of the implications relating to planning in particular, and I look forward to receiving some further advice on that shortly. And then in terms of our overall approach, we do want to ensure that we...
Rebecca Evans: Of course.
Rebecca Evans: Diolch. There's absolutely no disagreement that tourism provides an absolutely substantial economic contribution to Wales, with tourism-related expenditure reaching more than £5 billion annually in 2019, pre pandemic, and the Welsh Government of course wants to see a thriving tourism industry and a strong recovery from COVID-19. In recognition of the impact of COVID we've provided...
Rebecca Evans: Formally.
Rebecca Evans: We did make strong representations to the UK Government at the time when the UK Government was considering introducing the levy, making that point that it does essentially represent an additional tax burden for the public sector here in Wales, and effectively it reduces the funding available to them to fulfil their duties. As the revenues from the levy have replaced existing apprenticeship...
Rebecca Evans: The apprenticeship levy was imposed on local authorities by the UK Government. Welsh Ministers were not consulted, and the UK Government did not consider its impact or the consequences on the devolution settlement.
Rebecca Evans: I think we've seen improved financial situations in councils across Wales, to be fair, and that is in part in relation to and as a result of the past three years, certainly, in terms of the budgets that Welsh Government has been able to provide to local authorities in terms of prioritising local government alongside the health service. It doesn't mean, of course, that we're not facing some...
