Julie James: Diolch, Llywydd. I welcome the opportunity to respond to this debate. As a Labour Government, we believe that the state has a vital role in making sure wealth in the economy is distributed fairly. A more equal distribution of wealth goes hand in hand with prosperity and fair work. We do not believe in casting outside interests as a convenient enemy, however. We live in an interconnected world...
Julie James: Formally.
Julie James: How on earth you think that we can have rivers full of phosphates and build substandard housing all over green land in Wales and have a coherent approach to the climate and nature emergencies, I really cannot understand. So, you just really need to take a good look at yourself and get a coherent approach to this. I have met with a large number of interested private sector investors who really...
Julie James: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. In noting the proposal in the motion for a Bill on rent control, I think it is really important to set out the commitment in the programme for government. The commitment in the programme for government reflects the commitment in the 2021 Welsh Labour manifesto to develop a national scheme restricting rents for families and young people priced out of the private rental...
Julie James: Diolch, Rhianon. So, as I said, Jane Hutt and I have written to the Secretary of State, Kwasi Kwarteng, the Secretary of State for BEIS, calling for five pretty straightforward actions: remove the social policy costs on household energy bills and move them to general taxation as, as you've just said, they're a very regressive and unfair tax in their current form; introduce a differentiated...
Julie James: Thanks very much indeed for that, Sam. Absolutely, there are some long-term issues. The whole issue about energy security and energy self-sufficiency is certainly one of them. Our plan, of course, is to get Wales to the point where it's a net exporter of energy, so we are producing so much renewable energy here in Wales that we are able to export it, and all of our needs are met here. There...
Julie James: Diolch, Vikki. So, a couple of things there, then. The differentiated cap, we were discussing with Ofgem how that might work. We've called on the UK Government to look at putting a differentiated price cap in place. Somewhat counterintuitively as well, and they've announced it now, we also asked them to look at reviewing the price more frequently, because one of the big issues for anyone...
Julie James: Thanks very much, Jane. One of the things that we want to look at at the round-table is how we can target microbusinesses in particular. So, we have the business rates relief scheme in place, of course, so many small businesses won't be paying rates already because they'll be taking advantage of that. But we are very keen to target other help to businesses. So, one of the things we will be...
Julie James: Diolch, Joyce. So, a couple of things there. Absolutely, on the storage point, although really what we need to do is move away from fossil fuels to renewables. One of the issues about the investment and the lack of investment and the investment models is really interesting. So, the UK Government consulted last year, and then accepted, as a result of a piece of work and consultation, a model...
Julie James: Diolch. So, yes, I'll just run through, very quickly, some of those. So, Jane Hutt and I had a very good meeting with Ofgem. I'm sorry, each day blends into each other—I think it was Friday of last week. Late last week anyway. It might have been very late Thursday, I can't remember. But, anyway, it was a very good meeting, although it was quite tense, because we're not happy at all about...
Julie James: Well, where to start? So, Arbed—Arbed has had some problems, absolutely, and as Janet Finch-Saunders said herself, we have taken responsibility for those both through our local authorities and as a Welsh Government. Unfortunately, there were preceding schemes to Arbed that the UK Government propagated—many of the Members here have had terrible problems with them in their constituencies....
Julie James: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Last week, the energy regulator, Ofgem, announced the price cap that will take effect from April this year for residential energy consumers. As my colleague Jane Hutt set out on Thursday, the 54 per cent increase in the cap is clearly a devastating blow on households and hard-pressed families already struggling with the cost of living. This latest increase comes on the...
Julie James: Diolch, Llywydd. I move the motion. I am pleased to be able to bring forward the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme (Amendment) Order 2022, which makes minor technical amendments to the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Order 2020. The effects of these amendments are twofold: firstly, the regulatory and enforcement powers available to national regulators when inspecting premises...
Julie James: Thank you, Janet. I am absolutely committed to amending the legislation. The legislation was of course passed before we had the 200 nautical mile zone, so we are absolutely committed to doing that, and I'm sure there will be a suitable opportunity to put it into a relevant Bill at some point in this Senedd term; we absolutely want to do that. In the meantime, we're behaving as if the...
Julie James: Diolch, Janet. I'm committed to a resilient marine environment covering the entire Welsh marine zone. Our programme for government commits us to a marine ecosystem recovery and enhancement programme. Supporting this aim is the designation process for predominantly offshore marine conservation zones and the management actions for our marine protected areas.
Julie James: So, I'm happy to respond just partly, Llywydd. Indeed, it's not quite on the point of the original question, but, Joel, I'm absolutely aware of the issues about off-road biking, particularly scramblers, and so on, as well as mountain biking. The short answer is that I think it's very important for us to set up special areas where people can indulge in the sport of jump biking, and so on. We...
Julie James: Yes, Vikki, I absolutely welcome the decision made by NRW. Of course, NRW makes the decision on behalf of the Welsh Government on its public land, so a very large amount of public land is now covered by the decision not to allow trail hunting on that land. We certainly will be working with other public landholders—local authorities, and so on, across Wales—when there is land that is used...
Julie James: Diolch, Vikki. The Natural Resources Wales decision to ban trail hunting in the Welsh Government woodland estate was taken following the outcome of a court case against a senior leader of the Masters of Foxhounds Association, and in response to it.
Julie James: Llywydd, the Deputy Minister is the Minister responsible for clean air, so I wonder if he could be unmuted.
Julie James: Absolutely, Delyth. I completely agree that the Crown Estate should be devolved to Wales. It's completely outrageous that it's devolved to Scotland and not to us, and that, indeed, the returns from the Crown Estate go straight back to HM Treasury. They don't even go through the Barnett formula arrangement. So, I have absolutely written to say that we want the Crown Estate devolved, and we...
