Rebecca Evans: That's certainly not the intention. You'll know that the initial focuses of work for the CJCs, when they are up and running, will be along the lines of regional and local—across those local boundaries—development in terms of economic development, and also planning. These are areas that are not currently the responsibility of public services boards, the regional partnership boards and so...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for the question and your warm words welcoming me to this particular role. Again, I look very much forward to finding those areas of common ground that we can work on together. In terms of public services boards and the other statutory boards that we have in Wales, you'll be familiar that there was a review carried out by the Welsh Government, reporting towards the end of last year,...
Rebecca Evans: I thank you for those questions. I always aim to be as absolutely transparent as I can be and I'll give my commitment to be as transparent as I possibly can be in the course of this Senedd as well. That's one of the reasons why we published three supplementary budgets in the course of last year. We were the only part of the UK to do that, because it was important to me that people understood...
Rebecca Evans: Well, I'm really pleased we were able to provide that 12-month business rate relief for businesses in the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors here in Wales, which, of course, goes further than what's available to businesses across the border, and actually cost us more than what we received from the UK Government in consequential funding, but that's because we put such a premium on...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for the question, and I very much am looking forward to finding that common ground on which we can work collaboratively in the future, and congratulations on your appointment to what is an absolutely fascinating and wonderful portfolio, which I know you'll enjoy. Welsh Government has been really keen to provide the absolute best possible package of support for businesses right...
Rebecca Evans: So, the work to which you refer was a piece of work undertaken by the economy Minister in the last Senedd term to explore what a road tax might look like, and this isn't one of the taxes that we're currently actively considering taking forward at the moment in the immediate term. However, it is something that we're interested in exploring, to understand the merits or the demerits of it. So,...
Rebecca Evans: I thank you for that important question. There are two things I'd like to offer in my response, with the first being that I'm really pleased with what we were able to achieve over the course of the last Senedd term in terms of making council tax fairer. We removed the punishment of imprisonment for the non-payment of council tax because we know that struggling to pay your bills shouldn't be a...
Rebecca Evans: Our tax principles, published in our tax policy framework, bring consistency and coherence to our wider tax system by ensuring that Welsh taxes raise revenue fairly, support wider policy objectives, are clear, stable and simple, and encourage wide engagement, to create a more equal Wales for future generations, and I am currently reviewing the principles.
Rebecca Evans: Well, in our Welsh Government budget, we set out a wide range of activities that we'll be undertaking in order to tackle and prevent child poverty. You'll have seen our additional funding for free school meals, for example, and Wales was, of course, the first country in the UK to announce that free school meals would be extended right the way through the school holidays, until Easter 2022....
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for raising this really important issue, and I know that it's of key concern to my colleagues the Minister for Health and Social Services and her team in particular. The 2021-22 budget does include a further £0.5 million to support work to prevent, tackle and mitigate the impact of adverse childhood experiences, and this is on top of the previous funding. Decisions about how this...
Rebecca Evans: Our budget supports a range of investments preventing adverse childhood experiences, but we allocated £1 million for 2021-22 on targeted support. Half will support the ACE support hub for Wales and the other half will support activity to prevent, tackle and mitigate the impact of ACEs, particularly at a community level.
Rebecca Evans: In 2020-21 local government received an additional £600 million for the hardship fund, which included £10 million ring-fenced for homelessness. For 2021-22, the hardship fund received £206 million, which includes £4 million for the homelessness prevention grant, which now stands at £21.9 million in this financial year.
Rebecca Evans: The land transaction tax rates for buyers of second homes, and all higher rates transactions, were changed last December and approved by the Senedd. They are four percentage points higher than the residential main rates. The Welsh Revenue Authority is responsible for the implementation and administration of the tax.
Rebecca Evans: The average band D council tax in South Wales West for 2021-22 ranges between £1,754 and £1,996. Local authorities in Wales are given the flexibility to set their annual budgets and council tax levels to reflect local priorities. They are accountable to their residents for these decisions.
Rebecca Evans: We are working with local authorities as they plan for local elections in May 2022. Education and communications campaigns will encourage citizens to understand the critical role local government plays and why voting matters. We will also work to tackle the barriers which prevent individuals’ active participation in local democracy.
Rebecca Evans: I nominate Mark Drakeford.
Rebecca Evans: Thank you. I welcome the opportunity to support the motion before us. The introduction of Welsh taxes, the extension in borrowing powers, and the implementation of the fiscal framework have been significant developments for this Senedd term. The Finance Committee's report is a timely reflection of what has been achieved to date, and, more importantly, of what remains to be done. The report...
Rebecca Evans: Diolch, Llywydd. I move the motion to amend the Standing Orders on political groups. After much discussion and debate, this amendment seeks to make clear not only the threshold for the formation of groups, but also the underlying principles. It sets out that a political group is a group of at least three Members belonging to the same registered political party that won at least one seat at...
Rebecca Evans: Formally moved.
Rebecca Evans: Formally moved.
