Mark Drakeford: Our regeneration investments continue to deliver important change to communities across Wales through the Vibrant and Viable Places programme. The recent establishment of the Valleys taskforce will build on this successful work by further addressing the needs and challenges of the region.
Mark Drakeford: A report published by the Public Policy Institute for Wales estimates that Wales needs around 8,700 new homes every year, of which 60 per cent should be in the market sector. Our target of delivering 20,000 additional affordable homes during this Assembly term will make a significant contribution towards this.
Mark Drakeford: The Welsh Government is committed to transforming the expectations, experiences and outcomes for all learners, including those with additional learning needs. The forthcoming introduction of the Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Bill will be a key milestone in the transformation journey that is already under way.
Mark Drakeford: Wide-ranging support is available towards economic development, including, Business Wales, road and information and communications technology infrastructure improvements and the Haven Waterway enterprise zone. We are enhancing Pembrokeshire’s attractiveness by creating the right infrastructure for businesses to flourish and improvements in the transport network, particularly along the A40.
Mark Drakeford: I set out in ‘Taking Wales Forward’ last week my Government’s commitment to ‘take further action on the living wage’. This is part of constructing a fair society and will build on our achievements during the last Assembly.
Mark Drakeford: The ‘North Wales Conversation—delivering a healthier North Wales’ is delivering on our commitment to engage with people throughout North Wales on the future of the health service in the region to ensure it delivers improved outcomes.
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, I don’t have the accurate information immediately to hand and I wouldn’t want to do anything other than to make sure that the Member got the best information that he’s asking for. I’m very happy to write to him to provide the answer to the question that he’s raised this afternoon.
Mark Drakeford: Thank you very much for the question. As set out in the supplementary budget, which was approved in July, £276 million in revenue funding and £107 million in capital funding have been allocated for the budget this year in the environment and rural affairs portfolio.
Mark Drakeford: Well, thank you, Llywydd. I was in the Chamber yesterday when the Member raised this with the First Minister, and I know that he’s undertaken to write to provide details, and I will certainly undertake to share in any response to the particular circumstances that he outlines. Since the matter was raised yesterday, I have made some very initial enquiries with my officials on this matter....
Mark Drakeford: If the Member is suggesting that there is no inevitable connection between the size of a local authority and its performance, then he’s obviously right. Large authorities do well on some things and small authorities do well on some things. There is no inevitability about it. That’s not to say, I think, that there are not some aspects where being able to draw on a wider population and a...
Mark Drakeford: I thank the Member for that. The Welsh Government has provided procurement guidance to local authorities for waste management contracts within the municipal waste infrastructure programme. Advice regarding the procurement of waste collection services for local authorities is also available in policy documents such as the municipal sector plan and the collections blueprint.
Mark Drakeford: I thank the Member. Local authority performance data for 2015-16 were published on 7 September. They showed that performance had improved for 65 per cent of comparable indicators over the previous 12 months. The gap in performance between authorities had also narrowed for over half of the indicators.
Mark Drakeford: I thank the Member for those points; I’ve listened carefully to them. I suppose my immediate response is that those people who have been involved in all the work that has gone on to the deal so far need to stick with it now and get it over the line. Once we’ve got a deal that is agreed and is able to be funded, then I think the point she makes about making sure that the people around the...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, it’s important to set out a certain tension in the position of the Welsh Government in relation to the Swansea city deal. I continue to want us to play our active part in shaping that deal, advising on it, making sure that it comes to a successful fruition, lobbying on behalf of it with the UK Government and so on, but, in the end, those who propose the deal have to make a...
Mark Drakeford: I’m pleased to be able to reassure the Member that the Swansea bay city region and the city deal for it are very regularly discussed, both in my contacts with the United Kingdom Government—I’ve raised it with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury; I’ve talked directly to the Chancellor of the Exchequer about it—and that that is mirrored in a series of very active meetings that go on...
Mark Drakeford: Thank you very much to the Member for that question. The Welsh Government is committed to securing a successful city deal for the Swansea bay region. It’s a matter for the region itself to put together an investment proposal to pursue funding for the city deal. Regional stakeholders do receive support from my officials and Welsh Government and UK officials with that task.
Mark Drakeford: Thanks to Jeremy Miles for drawing attention to the Citizens Advice ‘Fairness for all’ report, a very important report that I take very seriously. There are three specific recommendations for Welsh Government, two of which fall into my own area of responsibility. The first was to continue with our council tax reduction scheme. It’s an expensive scheme. It costs £244 million every year,...
Mark Drakeford: Well, there are a number of different strands in what the Member has said. I’ve no way of knowing what the position is in relation to the final point that she made. I would be very disappointed indeed if she were implying that some groups in our society are treated differently to others. That is not the way that things should be, as she knows. Her general point simply goes back to what I...
Mark Drakeford: I thank the Member for that question. We will continue to fund local government through a combination of the annual settlements and specific grants. Local authorities, of course, possess independent powers of raising both revenue and capital to fund their activities.
Mark Drakeford: I thank the Member for that. Let me begin by agreeing with what she said at the start of her question. Any Members here who’ve seen the recent Institute for Fiscal Studies report, with its account of what it calls the ‘extraordinary impact’ of 11 successive years of cuts to budgets for public services in Wales, will recognise what she said about the pressures that that brings to local...
