Mark Drakeford: Surely the greatest threat to public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom comes from the proposals of his Government at Westminster to privatise Channel 4—utterly friendless as proposals and simply ideologically driven by the previous culture Secretary—the failure to find a proper basis for ensuring that funding of the BBC can be guaranteed into the future, and the failure of the UK...
Mark Drakeford: I thank Hefin David. There are two different sums of money that are available through the Welsh Government. There is the Welsh public interest journalism fund, and nine awards have been made from it already. The Caerphilly Observer was one of the beneficiaries of it, along with organisations like Llanelli Online and Wrexham.com, all of which were very regular participants in the series of...
Mark Drakeford: I thank Hefin David for the question. Of course, the sector plays an important role in informing people here in Wales, and in helping us to create content for our citizens. We support the sector through a range of actions. We work with the sector and help them to resist the proposals of the UK Government in this area.
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, the leader of Plaid Cymru has had three opportunities this afternoon to explain to people in Wales how he would fund the proposals that he puts in front of us. Every time he gets to his feet, he spends more money. Every time he does it, he can't offer us a single suggestion—not a single suggestion—as to which Welsh public service would have to be reduced in order to fund...
Mark Drakeford: Well, it's an interesting argument that the leader of Plaid Cymru makes. He wants to persuade us that elasticity of demand for public transport could be affected in the way that he suggested, and yet he has to tell me at the same time that patronage of the rail industry is nowhere near what it was prior to the pandemic, despite the over £100 million that the Welsh Government has spent in...
Mark Drakeford: Well, I'm aware of the schemes, and I'm aware of the two merits that the Member mentioned, Llywydd. They do a third thing as well: they reduce the revenues available to those companies that provide those services, so lowering fares leaves a gap that has to be filled. The leader of Plaid Cymru will be aware of the tens and tens of millions of pounds that the Welsh Government has had to provide...
Mark Drakeford: Well, I thank again the leader the opposition for that. I am very familiar with the second-offer scheme that we had here in Wales over a decade ago, having been heavily involved in it at the time. We already use capacity outside the area in which somebody lives in order to be able to accelerate treatment wherever we can. We are using capacity in the not-for-profit sector. We are encouraging...
Mark Drakeford: I thank the Member for that question, Llywydd. Very long waits in Wales continue to fall as well. They were 4 per cent down in the last month for which figures are available. A word of caution about assuming that everything is fine in any other part of the United Kingdom in relation to the NHS, and some of the claims that are made: when you look at the exceptions that lie behind them—'We...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, the health Minister will be very happy, I know, to provide Members with an update on the more detailed results of the summit. In general, the leader of the opposition is right to draw attention to the pressures that the health service is under and the very hard work that is going on to try and recover the ground that was lost during the pandemic. Very long waits in the Welsh NHS...
Mark Drakeford: Well, an all-Wales inquiry would not be of any help to someone wanting to look forward, as the bulk of the Member's question did, to conditions in care homes in Wales over the coming winter. I'm grateful to the Member for the question, Llywydd, because it just enables me to remind everybody in the Chamber and beyond that coronavirus has not gone away. We saw, earlier in this summer, record...
Mark Drakeford: Well, thank you to Heledd Fychan for those additional questions. She's right to say that I have, once again, met the bereaved families group earlier this month, so not many days have elapsed since that meeting, and, in the extraordinary circumstances of last week, I think it's understandable that not every question has been responded to immediately. So, for the sake of clarity, then, Llywydd,...
Mark Drakeford: I thank the Member for that question, Llywydd. Certain categories of care home residents are already included within the national programme of work announced in January this year by the health Minister. Learning from the early period of the programme is being used to support the care home sector in investigating remaining COVID-related deaths.
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, unfortunately the Member mixes up two completely different issues. I am, of course, aware of the inspection report into Christ the Word. I was able to discuss this with the new leader of Denbighshire council and with the cabinet member responsible for education. It is, as the Member, I imagine, is aware, a complicated situation because it is a voluntary aided school. It is the...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, provision of education in Denbighshire remains the responsibility of the county council and, where relevant, the diocesan authorities. They operate within the framework established by the Welsh Government and this Senedd. This September, for example, schools across the nation will begin delivery of the new Curriculum for Wales.
Mark Drakeford: Welsh Government are committed to ending homelessness across Wales and, in support of this, we are investing over £197 million in homelessness and housing support services, as well as a record £310 million in social housing this financial year alone. This includes allocation of £8 million from the social housing grant to Ynys Môn local council.
Mark Drakeford: Despite the Prime Minister's latest fuel aid package, people in Newport East, and across Wales, are facing the biggest fall in living standards since records began. We work closely with local authorities and other stakeholders to understand the ongoing impacts of the cost-of-living crisis at a local level.
Mark Drakeford: We are reviewing and assessing all opportunities to redirect additional resources to those most in need, and to reduce the burdens on business. The announcement made last week to introduce an energy price guarantee is a step in the right direction, however, it is clear more needs to be done, and we shall continue to press the UK Government to support our businesses.
Mark Drakeford: In June, we spoke in this Chamber of the stresses of a life lived so unrelentingly in the public gaze—every moment captured, every remark dissected, every smile or frown a story. Now that story comes to an end; the life that gave rise to it stilled in the peace which that final sleep will bring to us all. We have assembled here following this morning's proclamation ceremony, the first for...
Mark Drakeford: We offer our sincerest sympathies to the new King and his family. Our thoughts are with the new Prince and Princess of Wales. We wish them every success in this new chapter in their lives of service. In Welsh, there is a proverb: colli tad, colli cyngor; colli mam, colli angor—to lose a father is to lose advice; to lose a mother is to lose an anchor. We wish them strength to grieve in their...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, in a remarkable life, the last 24 hours of the Queen's reign were amongst the most extraordinary. No-one who watched it unfolding will forget the sight of someone so determined to fulfil her constitutional obligation, confirming a new Prime Minister, something that only she could undertake, despite the unavoidable impact on her reserves of strength. Nothing more could have clearly...
