Mark Drakeford: Formally.
Mark Drakeford: Thank you for the question. I’m afraid I didn’t see the television programme. I spent my evening in the company of my questions folder and the advice I needed before appearing before the Finance Committee this morning. But, I hear what the Member says, and of course, will reflect carefully on it in my next conversations with local authorities.
Mark Drakeford: I thank Joyce Watson for the question. Local authorities have many collaborative arrangements already in place across Wales. These arrangements not only deliver better services for people, but can do so more effectively and efficiently. Building on this, my proposals for local government reform are aimed at more systematic and mandatory collaboration between authorities in regional arrangements.
Mark Drakeford: Well, Dirprwy Lywydd, I was asked questions about this in front of the Finance Committee this morning, where I attempted to set out the way in which the budget has been aligned with the five ways of working that the Act sets out. I won’t repeat them all here, but I hope I was able to show that we have taken a long-term view, balancing the needs of current generations with future...
Mark Drakeford: Good progress is being made in implementing the Act, including, but by no means confined to, the publication of ‘Taking Wales Forward’. This committed us to develop four cross-cutting strategies, guided by our well-being objectives. I will publish the first iteration of the Welsh Ministers’ well-being objectives by 5 November, as the Act requires.
Mark Drakeford: Well, Dirprwy Lywydd, as I explained in my statement on 4 October, I spent a great deal of time over the summer in visiting all 22 local authorities in Wales, meeting leaders and chief executives. I’ve met with trade unions, I’ve met with third sector organisations and I meet with the WLGA. I’ve done my best to be out and about in all of that. The timescale for the next stage of the...
Mark Drakeford: I thank Angela Burns for the question. The proposals I announced on 4 October for mandatory and systematic regional collaboration between local authorities are intended to build resilience and enhance the effectiveness of services and outcomes for citizens.
Mark Drakeford: Well, I certainly congratulate Merthyr Tydfil and Caerphilly councils for the approach that they have adopted and the leadership that they have shown in this area. The Member began, I thought, with the most important case for the real living wage, that it actually benefits employers as well as employees, and that there are strict business advantages to companies who deploy the real living...
Mark Drakeford: I thank Dawn Bowden for that. Working in partnership with trade unions and public service employers, progress continues to be made in broadening adoption of the living wage in Welsh public services.
Mark Drakeford: Well, all opposition party spokespeople, Dirprwy Lywydd, were offered a technical briefing on the announcement that will be made later this afternoon, and all opposition party spokespeople were offered that briefing at more or less the same time. It’s a courtesy that we are keen to continue to afford opposition party spokespeople, because we would like to see people well-informed so that,...
Mark Drakeford: I listen very carefully to what rural authorities say to me, and the changes to the social services strand in the formula this year very much do respond to the argument that those authorities have put. I’m afraid the Member will have to wait with everybody else to see the specific impacts of those changes on particular authorities for next year.
Mark Drakeford: Well, as I said during the statement on the budget yesterday, the Cabinet Secretary’s decision on Communities First is not driven by budget considerations. It is driven by making better use of the funding that has been put to those purposes in the past, bringing it together with budgets for Families First and Flying Start and trying to make sure that we have more of an impact in those...
Mark Drakeford: I thank Lynne Neagle for the question. The majority of the funding provided to local government by the Welsh Government is delivered through the annual settlement. In this financial year, 2016-17, the settlement provided £4.1 billion in unhypothecated revenue funding.
Mark Drakeford: Well, the impact would be the one that I’m sure the Member would anticipate: that those investments that we are able to make, which help to shape the futures for individuals and communities and to secure the long-term success of the Welsh economy, would be set back if we did not have the money that is currently guaranteed to us as a result of our membership of the European Union. It would...
Mark Drakeford: I thank Rhianon Passmore for the question. Islwyn has benefitted from structural funding in many different ways, from the very local support of two apprentices at a Newbridge dental surgery to the far wider impact, for example, of the Aspire to Achieve programme for at-risk young people and the Business Wales SME and entrepreneurship support scheme.
Mark Drakeford: I was very pleased last week to be able to announce an additional £850,000 of European Union funding for the scheme that Mike Hedges refers to. Participating businesses in it include Tata Steel, BASF, the Royal Mint and others. They will be actively involved in formulating research projects based on the technological developments taking place within their industries. Our aim, as he knows, is...
Mark Drakeford: Thank for that question. Of course, I acknowledge the excellent work that the Sêr Cymru programme undertakes. I had an opportunity, when I was responsible the health sector in Wales, to collaborate with Edwina Hart at the time on this programme and to try and attract people to life sciences in Wales and to do the excellent work that is carried out in Swansea. Bydd cynllunio popeth rydym am...
Mark Drakeford: Well, may I thank Simon Thomas for the question? Over the life of the programme from 2014 to 2020, around £1.9 billion is available through European structural funds in Wales—£855 million, namely 44 of that allocation, has already been committed. I expect the remaining £1 billion to be deployed to the maximum extent, although our ability to do so remains dependent on the UK...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, I’m happy to confirm what I said to the Finance Committee, that if you want to design a system that has the active participation of parents within it and learns from what they tell us about the sort of childcare they will need for the future, we need to calibrate the programme to take account of those views, and that will mean a build-up over time in the capacity that we will...
Mark Drakeford: Well, our approach to childcare in Wales has always been predicated on the links between affordable, available and good-quality childcare on participation in the labour market. We’ve always wanted to make sure that childcare is there in sufficient quantity to make sure that women, in particular, are able to pursue careers in the jobs market in the way that they would wish. The Member makes...
