Rebecca Evans: Again, I'm grateful to Helen Mary Jones for raising two important issues this afternoon. I know that the Minister for Education will have listened carefully to the request for a Wales-wide extension in respect of consultations and the examples that you've given about the extensions of three such consultations in Carmarthenshire. She'll give due consideration to that request, I'm very sure. On...
Rebecca Evans: I'm grateful to Mark Isherwood for raising the Llangollen railway in the Chamber this afternoon, and it is absolutely, as he describes, a concerning situation. I will invite him to write to the Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism in the first instance, who I know will discuss this matter with the Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales, to provide a written update on the...
Rebecca Evans: Diolch, Llywydd. There is one change to this week's business. The debate on the four sets of climate change regulations has been postponed until next week. Draft business for the remaining two weeks of term is set out on the business statement and announcement, which can be found amongst the meeting papers available to Members electronically.
Rebecca Evans: I will do, briefly; thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I just welcome the opportunity to hear from the Chair of the committee. The non-domestic rates system provides really vital revenue for funding local government services here in Wales. Revaluations do play an important role in ensuring that bills accurately reflect the market conditions and that non-domestic ratepayers contribute their...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you. I welcome this opportunity to explain the background to this legislative consent motion. I am grateful to both the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee and the Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee for considering and reporting on the memorandum. Both committees consider that there is no impediment to the Senedd agreeing to the legislative consent motion. I note...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for raising this. It was nice to see lots of smiling faces and clapping colleagues on screen when you were making your contribution there. Of course, it was a very, very different match day for all of us, but I think that the team obviously knew we were all rooting from our sofas, so, excellent result and I absolutely share all of your enthusiasm for that. The Minister with...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for raising the specific issue of garden centres. I know my colleague, the Minister for economy and transport has an OAQ session tomorrow, so there might be an opportunity there to raise this. But I know that this, alongside all of the other concerns that have been raised this afternoon about children returning to school, baby classes and so forth, are all things that we consider as...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for raising this and, clearly, it is very, very concerning indeed. I will ask the Minister for economy and transport to expedite his response to your particular correspondence on this issue, given the importance of this to the local community and the need to respond very quickly. But Welsh Government will always seek to put in place our packages of support for workers when they do...
Rebecca Evans: The Minister for Education will have heard that request for the further detail and the clarity, and I know that, as soon as she is in a position to say more about the next steps, she will obviously be very keen to do so. But, as I say, the Minister will be listening, and I'll make sure that I do have a further conversation following Plenary, this afternoon, to explore what the next steps...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for raising this. The Welsh Government has been calling on the UK Government consistently, right throughout the crisis, to introduce some targeted support for the aerospace sector. And I know my colleague, the Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales, has consistently raised this sector support, and actually the issue of extending furlough, in his regular meetings with UK...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for raising these issues. I do echo the sentiments that have already been made by my colleague, the Minister for Mental Health, Well-being and the Welsh Language, who has said that the comments to which you refer were completely unacceptable, because, of course, we are a nation that's really proud of our history and our culture, and our Welsh language is absolutely integral to that....
Rebecca Evans: Thank you to Nick Ramsay. It gives me a great opportunity to highlight to colleagues that, at 3 o'clock this afternoon, the final budget will be published, and therein you will find further detail on the allocations that we're making for next year, including spend on mental health. In terms of stroke services, I'll make your request known to the Minister for Health and Social Services in that...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you to Alun Davies for raising both of those issues. As he was speaking, I was looking ahead to the three weeks we have after this one to see if there will be an opportunity to have an oral statement. I will speak to colleagues following today's business statement about all of the requests that we receive. However, if we're not able to accommodate an oral statement, then I know...
Rebecca Evans: We do have the statement from the Minister for Health and Social Services as the next item of business this afternoon, and that statement is specifically an update on the vaccination scheme, so I know that this will be something that colleagues will be interested in hearing about and asking about during the questions following the statement. I will say that the Welsh Government has provided...
Rebecca Evans: I'm grateful for this opportunity to reiterate that the Government's priority is absolutely to ensure that children are able to resume their learning. We do understand what an impact this year has had on children, their learning, but also those wider benefits that children get from being in school, which is why we've invested so much this year and in our budget for next year in terms of...
Rebecca Evans: Diolch, Llywydd. There are no changes to this week's business. Draft business for the next three weeks is set out in the business statement and announcement, which can be found amongst the meeting papers available to Members electronically.
Rebecca Evans: I recognise the support that Nick Ramsay has always given to the fair-trade movement, and I'm pleased again to reiterate the Welsh Government's support for fair trade and our recognition of the difference that it can make to the lives of so many people. In terms of the request for a statement on flooding, Nick Ramsay specifically has an interest in the trunk road network, and how we can keep...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for raising the issue this afternoon. I do know that the Minister for Education will obviously have been listening very carefully to that request for a deeper analysis, if you like, of the way in which the hub provision has been used and the pupils who have benefited from it, and a better understanding of why those who haven't engaged with that didn't do so. I know that she'll give...
Rebecca Evans: On the first issue relating to vaccinations for people with a learning disability, clearly this is an extremely important issue and all of us will care very deeply in ensuring that the people who are affected should get their vaccine as quickly as possible and in as convenient and as problem-free a way as possible. I'm sure that, when the Minister does provide his update to colleagues on this...
Rebecca Evans: That's an interesting idea that I'll certainly pursue in the first instance with the Llywydd in terms of understanding how we as an organisation can learn from the experiences of those colleagues who made the decision not to return next time, or not to seek re-election, certainly, to be returned. I think that will be an interesting piece of work. On the Business Committee, we've been looking...
