Lesley Griffiths: Thank you. In relation to your question around privatisation and outsourcing, obviously, the private sector plays a crucial role in the Welsh economy and the delivery of some of our public services, but we are committed to providing those services in a way that puts people first and not profit first. The motivations for outsourcing or insourcing can be many and varied, and expertise and...
Lesley Griffiths: I think you raise a really important point about the effect of climate change in countries right across the world, and this is why we are so adamant here in Wales that we need that just transition. The Minister for Social Justice will be happy to bring forward a statement on that.
Lesley Griffiths: Thank you. The Welsh Government has put a significant funding into coastal defences and flood defences in general right across the country, and you're quite right: it is really important that our communities, our homes in Wales and our businesses feel protected from the effect of climate change, which we are absolutely living with now. I know the Minister does bring forward written statements...
Lesley Griffiths: Thank you. There are three changes to today's Plenary agenda. I have added a statement from the finance and local government Minister on the response to the UK Government financial statement. Consequently, the statement on world heritage in north-west Wales has been postponed until next week. And finally, the legislative statement on the Agriculture (Wales) Bill has been moved to the last...
Lesley Griffiths: Obviously, I don't have any knowledge of the two GP practices that you referred to. I do know from my own postbag in Wrexham that access to GP services is not where we would want it to be in north Wales. I know that the health board have just appointed a new—I'm not sure if it's a director but it's certainly an officer in relation to primary care, and I'm due to have a meeting with her to...
Lesley Griffiths: Thank you. It's been a challenging year for the health board, and we've had serious concerns about quality, governance and performance, resulting in an increased escalation status to targeted intervention for vascular services and the Glan Clwyd Hospital site. The health board has responded swiftly and there are signs of improvement.
Lesley Griffiths: Thank you. As I said, £43 million of funding was made available to deliver our commitment to introduce the real living wage to social care workers. I think that's been very welcomed by the sector. The additional payment scheme for core social care staff, which was aligned to the introduction of the real living wage, made payments of £1,498 to over 63,000 social care workers across Wales in...
Lesley Griffiths: Thank you. The real living wage for social care workers remains a priority for the Welsh Government. The sector urgently needed support with recruitment and retention issues, exacerbated by challenges presented during the COVID-19 pandemic. We made £43 million available to local authorities and health boards for 2022-23 to deliver this support.
Lesley Griffiths: Well, we can see the turmoil of what the mini budget last Friday did. It's incredible the chaos that has been caused by Liz Truss, just a few days after moving into No. 10. I'm really pleased that you had the event, because clearly it's something that we need to raise awareness about, and tackling the impacts of child poverty is a priority for this Government and we will continue to support...
Lesley Griffiths: Thank you. As with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Welsh Government is prioritising activities that support vulnerable households in the here and now, to help them through this very difficult period. Citizens in Cynon Valley are benefiting from initiatives such as our cost-of-living payment, our fuel support scheme and our discretionary assistance fund.
Lesley Griffiths: In the time it has taken you to ask me that question, I would imagine the interest on the debt being accrued by the UK Government would have paid for all those things. I don't have a list of the properties and assets that you just read out to me, but what I do know in relation to the M4 relief road is that our policy and strategy for the disposal of surplus property is clear that when it's no...
Lesley Griffiths: Thank you. We have a clear policy and strategy for acquiring, managing and disposing of property assets. The principal aim is to maximise overall value from our assets. All potential transactions are scrutinised by experienced property professionals to ensure value for money and other public value outcomes are achieved.
Lesley Griffiths: Thank you. Well, unfortunately, as you know, I didn't really want to bring those regulations forward. I don't think anybody likes being told what to do. But the voluntary approach hadn't worked, and I do think it was important we brought those regulations forward, which target activity known to cause pollution, wherever it takes place. So, I think that all-Wales approach is about a...
Lesley Griffiths: Thank you. Well, the Welsh Government's made it very clear that fracking will not take place in Wales, and any fracking that takes places in England, if it crosses over the Welsh border, that would require a Welsh petroleum licence, planning and also environmental permits. And, obviously, we wouldn’t grant any licences that enabled this. Water quality in Wales is continuously monitored,...
Lesley Griffiths: Thank you. Improving water quality is a priority for this Government. We are taking a long-term, integrated catchment approach focusing on multi-sector co-operation and nature-based solutions to drive improvement. Investment, such as metal mine remediation programme, legislative drivers, such as the Water Resources (Control of Agricultural Pollution) Regulations 2021, and a robust regulatory...
Lesley Griffiths: Reducing impacts from storm overflows is absolutely a priority, and we need a cross-sectoral holistic approach to achieve that. What we are doing as a Government is focusing on sustainable, nature-based solutions to divert as much surface water away from the sewerage systems as possible. Reducing the number of CSO spills is but one of the levers that are needed to improve the quality of our...
Lesley Griffiths: Thank you. So, I have had issues raised with me around that and it's certainly something we're looking at very closely. In relation to inheritance tax, yes, it was something that we looked at and we're still looking at as part of the design of the scheme. As you know, we're in the second stage of the co-design now. And obviously, inheritance tax is a non-devolved issue, so I've asked...
Lesley Griffiths: Thank you. The proposed sustainable farming scheme will support farmers across Wales to become more resilient and produce food in a sustainable manner whilst addressing the challenges presented by the climate and nature emergencies. We are undertaking a range of analysis to inform scheme design, which includes regional and sectoral.
Lesley Griffiths: It is really important that we continue to work together. I think it's very unfortunate that the Prime Minister hasn't picked up the phone to the First Minister. She's really got nothing to be afraid of, he's a very straightforward person to deal with. But, I think you make a really important point around COVID not going away. The figures that I've got are that an average of 10 patients are...
Lesley Griffiths: I think you're right in saying that the pandemic absolutely changed the way we all lived; every single one of us was affected by the pandemic. I don't think it's fair to say that no lessons were learned; I think we learned lessons as we went on. Certainly, being a member of the Government, I recognise that we absolutely had the latest scientific advice and medical advice on a daily basis, and...
