Rebecca Evans: Absolutely. There will be no shifting of responsibilities unless those requests came from local authorities themselves. I absolutely see this more about devolving power from the Welsh Government to the CJCs than anything else. As of yet, we haven't had requests for large areas of new responsibility to be devolved, because this is very much an early days scenario that we're seeing in terms of...
Rebecca Evans: The four corporate joint committees established on 1 April 2021 will exercise functions in relation to strategic land use planning and regional transport planning. They will also have a power to improve the economic well-being of their area.
Rebecca Evans: Well, we have been engaging throughout the pandemic with the visitor economy forum and the hospitality stakeholder group, and some of the businesses that you've described will be represented by those groups. Obviously, things are continuing to be challenging for that sector. We've tried to make the COVID pass as simple as possible, but I do recognise that it is an additional job that we are...
Rebecca Evans: Absolutely. Thank you very much for raising that and setting on record the way in which the UK Government has sought to sprinkle very little amounts of funding, actually, across their own constituency areas, and it does mean that Bridgend, actually, has fared particularly badly from the UK Government's approach. It was de-prioritised for funding by the Conservatives in Westminster, despite...
Rebecca Evans: The support we've given the tourism industry in Wales throughout the pandemic is the most generous in the UK, with related businesses benefiting from £50 million from the Wales investment tourism fund and £56 million from the economic resilience fund.
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for raising, again, an important question. In terms of our carbon impact assessment work, I would say we're on a journey with that; we're seeking to improve the way in which we undertake those carbon impact assessments. We had some work done, by I believe it was Cardiff University, for us, in the first instance, where we looked at the health main expenditure group and looked at how...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for raising that suggestion. It's something that I will look very closely at, because I think it's important that in this area, as in so many, we actually move at the pace of the fastest, not the slowest, and we haven't got time to wait in terms of tackling the climate change issue. So, absolutely, I will take that suggestion on board. I think that we have provided local authorities...
Rebecca Evans: So, we've worked with local authorities to ask each of them to develop a plan for reducing emissions and for addressing the needs around decarbonisation. And each of those has now been submitted, and we've been looking at those plans, exploring where the strengths are, but also where there are potential gaps or areas of weakness, so that local authorities can learn from one another and have...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for raising that. It is important that councillors feel that they are able to scrutinise the leaders who are representing on the CJCs. And those arrangements obviously will be in place, and public accountability is also really important. And the CJC will be required to encourage participation in its decision making by members of the public, ensuring that individuals are able to...
Rebecca Evans: I think democratic accountability is absolutely critical, and people need to have faith in the new structures that are being put in place. And that's why it's important that the leaders of each constituent council will be the members of the CJCs, and they will obviously then be accountable to their constituent councils for the decisions that they make as part of their CJC. And the CJCs will...
Rebecca Evans: I think corporate joint committees are something else entirely, because this is something that is being led by local authorities. They offer opportunities to streamline existing collaboration agreements, and also provide the clarity and consistency that principal councils have been seeking in many areas, especially the areas for which they'll be responsible—for aligning economic...
Rebecca Evans: Yes, the price of energy is of serious concern over the course of the coming winter, which is why yesterday we introduced a £51 million-scheme to create a household support fund, and part of that will be £38 million invested in our winter fuel support scheme. What that means in practice is that eligible households who are on low incomes will be able to claim a £100 cash payment to provide...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for raising this really important issue, and I'm sure that we share a great deal of concern about those children who are growing up in poverty in Wales. Clearly, it shouldn't be happening; it is distressing. But it's happening all too often. The Resolution Foundation has found that those families that now are facing the cut of the £20 universal credit will be losing £1,040 a year,...
Rebecca Evans: Tackling poverty is at the heart of this Government’s agenda, as outlined in the programme for government. Yesterday, we announced a £51 million-package to support vulnerable households facing the cost-of-living crisis through the winter months.
Rebecca Evans: That is an interesting and important question, because we absolutely recognise that pressures in social care have a direct impact on NHS services and we're seeing some of that happening at the moment. It's interesting as well because, in terms of the national insurance contributions, the UK Government has suggested it will be putting the vast majority of that into health services rather than...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much for raising that issue. I've been having some discussion with colleagues in terms of the budget for next year, but, within this year, we've already recognised that we have a real need to further invest in children's services and particularly so because we're concerned about the number of children who are being taken into care. So, that's why, on 14 September, I allocated...
Rebecca Evans: The UK Government didn't engage with the Welsh Government ahead of the announcement. At a finance Ministers quadrilateral ahead of the spending review, I pressed the Chief Secretary to the Treasury for more details. Subsequently, my officials have met with HM Treasury officials to understand the technicalities of how the funding will flow.
Rebecca Evans: We will continue to work in partnership with Local Government to develop and maintain the mutually agreed funding formula which takes account of population, deprivation and sparsity factors in allocating £4.6 billion of unhypothecated funding to local authorities.
Rebecca Evans: Councillors may speak freely at Council meetings but at all times should comply with their Council’s constitution, the Code of Conduct and respect the laws relating to defamation.
Rebecca Evans: The settlement provided by the UK Government has undoubtedly presented us with some very challenging circumstances, particularly in respect of capital investment. Further details of our capital allocations will follow in December’s draft Budget, and Wales Infrastructure Investment Strategy.
