Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, the Member knows perfectly well that the decision is made, there will be no Welsh separate inquiry and, instead, the answers to the questions that people quite rightly want to see here in Wales will be properly, fully, and best answered by the inquiry that his Prime Minister established, and which I was able to discuss with Downing Street on a series of occasions to make sure...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, I've explained on numerous occasions here why I believe that the answers that patients and their families in Wales deserve to get when we look back at the events of the pandemic, that those answers are best secured through a Welsh participation in a UK inquiry. I welcome very much the fact today that the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group here in Wales has secured core...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, Delyth Jewell makes an important point. We know from independent analysis that London and the south-east will benefit from the changes that the Liz Truss Government has introduced three times more than Wales will benefit and the north of England will benefit. Let's be clear, Llywydd: this is a Government that believes in redistribution; it believes in taking money from the poor...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, a fortnight ago, I welcomed the fact that there was to be help for people with their energy costs. What I don't welcome—I said it then, and I'll say it again now—is the fact that the price of that Conservative Party package will be paid in the debts that will lie with our children and our grandchildren to pick up, when there was a choice to take back the unlooked-for,...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, of course the Welsh Government will do that, but the whole of this Senedd should do that. There are real questions for the Conservatives in this Chamber this afternoon. Do they defend the Prime Minister's wish not to increase benefits in line with inflation? What will that do to people in Blaenau Gwent, already living on bare-bones benefits, when she is prepared to lift the cap on...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, the unfunded tax changes in the fiscal statement will widen inequality across the United Kingdom. Areas such as Blaenau Gwent, which already face economic challenges, will be the most adversely affected.
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, Jenny Rathbone is absolutely right—one of the primary motivations for the public health Bill that failed to pass in 2016 was the desire to protect children from the gateway to nicotine addiction that is represented by the threat of e-cigarettes to children and young people. And, very sadly, the latest evidence on that is very discouraging. At a UK level, the number of...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, let me first of all pay tribute to all of those who have been involved in the smoking cessation campaigns in Wales in recent times. In 2012, we set a target for reducing smoking in Wales—the prevalence of it—to 20 per cent by 2016. We exceeded that; we got to 18 per cent by 2015. We then set another target to get to 16 per cent by 2020. We exceeded that again, and the...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, our approach to e-cigarettes is set out in our tobacco control strategy and its delivery plan, published in July of this year. As set out in the plan, we will commission an evidence-based review of the use of e-cigarettes in Wales.
Mark Drakeford: Welsh Government is committed to ending homelessness across Wales. We will invest over £197 million in homelessness and housing support services during this financial year alone. Funding the homes of the future includes £12.3 million in social housing grant to Gwynedd Council.
Mark Drakeford: Orthopaedic waiting times, like other waiting times, are not where I nor the public want them to be. We have invested £170 million recurrently to help address the backlog and I am pleased to note that waits over two years are reducing.
Mark Drakeford: The tax changes announced in the fiscal statement provide no additional resources to fund Welsh public services at a time when costs are rising sharply.
Mark Drakeford: The report highlights the pressures being faced by our workforce due to the COVID pandemic and a global shortage of nursing staff. I remain committed to ensuring that we have the right number of nurses and healthcare staff to meet the care needs of the people of Wales.
Mark Drakeford: Local Toilets Strategies are currently being reviewed, and set out how Local Authorities intend to meet their communities’ need for toilets, including accessible toilets and Changing Places. Where building work is undertaken in publicly accessible buildings, Part M (Access to and use of buildings) sets the provision for accessible toilets.
Mark Drakeford: The cost of living has been discussed at the Third Sector Partnership Council and with Third Sector Support Wales which is made up of WCVA and the 19 county voluntary councils across Wales meeting in May. Our Cost of Living Summits have also included a range of third sector stakeholders.
Mark Drakeford: Thanks to Sioned Williams for that important question. So, there is an evaluation of it all. It has led to the change in the eligibility criteria that I mentioned earlier to make sure that some people who, the first time around, the rules didn't accommodate them, didn't respond to their circumstances, will now be able to take advantage of the scheme. That's why the number of people who we...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, they are really important points that Jenny Rathbone makes. The only way that we will be able to succeed in creating banks that people can use is by using facilities that are already there and operating. And community-focused schools is one of those, but there are many, many others—rugby clubs that are open and are the focus of many communities; maybe they can do more if there is a...
Mark Drakeford: I thank Carolyn Thomas for those questions, Llywydd. In relation to public service funding, there are two different issues, aren't there? There is the issue of energy costs, and the announcement on 8 September did suggest that there would be help for public services with energy costs, as well as help to businesses, but we will not know any more than that until we see the mini budget, or...
Mark Drakeford: I thank John Griffiths for those important points. He's right; families across Wales face this coming autumn and winter with a real sense of trepidation. We've been in a sort of phoney war, haven't we, on this, really, because people are yet to see the real impact of the increasing bills that began on 1 April this year. During the long summer months, people are in some ways able to make...
Mark Drakeford: I absolutely agree with Alun Davies that, in this crisis, we have to do absolutely everything we can and that that is not a job just for the Welsh Government. We fund a single advice service here in Wales. It's one of the things that Lord Thomas, in his report on the devolution of justice, pointed out—that increasingly Welsh Governments have had to take on responsibilities for plugging the...
