Nick Ramsay: Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. As you know, there was cross-party support for the fiscal framework and we welcome its implementation. This morning, in Finance Committee, we took evidence from the Office for Budget Responsibility on the next big challenge—accurate forecasts of Welsh tax is no easy task. I’m sure you agree accuracy is vital, because the forecasts will be used to make future...
Nick Ramsay: Will the Cabinet Secretary update us on any inter-governmental discussions on the roll-out of tax devolution in the wake of the agreement on the fiscal framework?
Nick Ramsay: Thank you for that answer, leader of the house. Businesses in my constituency continue to be deeply concerned by the business rate revaluation. Whilst any additional support is welcome—I hear about the relief that your Government has announced—the additional discount is a drop in the ocean for those businesses facing the biggest hikes. What assessment has been made of the number of...
Nick Ramsay: 1. Will the First Minister provide an update on support available to businesses affected by the business rate revaluation? OAQ(5)497(FM)
Nick Ramsay: Cabinet Secretary, there are clearly many unanswered questions surrounding the hugely complicated process that is Brexit. In answer I think to a question from Neil Hamilton earlier, you said that Wales is way ahead of other nations at this point—I presume by that, you mean within the UK—in terms of looking at how we’re going to develop the systems after Brexit. Can you update us—? Can...
Nick Ramsay: Thanks for giving way. I think the key word you used there, Jenny, was ‘hoping’, and yes, ultimately we would hope that a lot of traffic would be taken from the centre, but my point is: until there are plans to build that second part of the eastern bay link, the first part of the eastern bay link is threatening to make things far worse for Rover Way.
Nick Ramsay: Can I welcome today’s debate on the supplementary budget? It’s probably not the budget that is getting the most press coverage in the world—at least in the UK—this week. Welsh Conservatives recognise that this budget does contain an in-year management process aimed at aligning resources with priorities—that rather difficult process, as the Cabinet Secretary referred to it in his...
Nick Ramsay: First Minister, you mentioned fast fibre in your answer to Jeremy Miles’s initial question about broadband services, and I’ll start with some good news that the village of Tintern on the River Wye in my constituency has been very luckily recently connected to a superfast broadband box, which is pleasing the village no end. On the flip side, in the rural hinterland of Trelleck Grange, a...
Nick Ramsay: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. In the last 10 years, skin cancer diagnosis rates in Wales have risen by 63 per cent, with 140 people dying every year from the disease. In the same time, melanoma incidence rates in Wales have risen by 86 per cent for men and by almost half for women. These rates are unacceptably high for a cancer that can be protected against with one simple change:...
Nick Ramsay: I’d like to thank the Cabinet Secretary for his statement this afternoon. I think we are all agreed that the economic realities that we find ourselves in mean that we do need to look at more innovative ways to fund public investment in Wales, and particularly the capital spending that the Cabinet Secretary has spoken of extensively in his statement today. Can I particularly welcome the...
Nick Ramsay: Leader of the house, it’s clearly vital that we develop stronger economic links across the world in the wake of the vote to leave the European Union and if we could still in some way access schemes such as Horizon 2020 and similar programmes following Brexit in some way then that would be a bonus, so I was pleased to hear you mention that. However, I would say a trade mission—and...
Nick Ramsay: Thanks for giving way. You can tell I haven’t got my name in for this debate, so I’ve got to do it this way. I totally agree with your last point that this doesn’t mean going back to the old model of having a local branch everywhere, but do you agree with me—I assume you do agree—that the new bank, whatever form it takes, does need to have a strong local presence, whether that’s...
Nick Ramsay: Russ George and I have done a little wager on who Mark Reckless went to university with. You got us thinking earlier. I could see Hannah Blythyn shaking her head furiously when it was raised. But there we are. Can I also thank Hannah Blythyn for bringing this important issue to the Assembly today? I also concur with the thoughts of Joyce Watson as a commissioner. Suzy Davies couldn’t be...
Nick Ramsay: I think there’s an echo in this Chamber today, Cabinet Secretary, but it’s an important subject, so I will emphasise. Monday, as you said, was another landmark day for Wales’s tax journey: the announcement of Kathryn Bishop as the Welsh Government’s preferred candidate to become the first chair of the WRA. As you know, the Finance Committee will be holding a pre-appointment session...
Nick Ramsay: 5. Will the Cabinet Secretary provide an update on progress with developing the Welsh Revenue Authority? OAQ(5)0099(FLG)
Nick Ramsay: Cabinet Secretary, thank you for your earlier answer. Can I firstly welcome the Welsh Government’s commitment to providing a full response to the committee’s report on the Kancoat situation? As you said, your response to the report will be considered in full by the committee, so I don’t want to prejudge that stage of the process, or indeed be repetitive with questioning. I’m pleased...
Nick Ramsay: First Minister, the renewal of the Wales and west border franchise is fast approaching. Has the Welsh Government at least begun the process of ordering or considering ordering new rolling stock for that franchise? I ask the question because, given that it takes up to four years to commission new rolling stock—it’s not like buying a car at the local garage—do you share my concerns that...
Nick Ramsay: You were clearly very kind to me in my short debate on the city region last week when you didn’t raise any of these concerns. I’ve listened to what you’ve just said now and what you said in your contribution earlier, Adam. And you clearly have major issues—. Well, you’re thinking outside of the box in terms of the city region. I think everyone else at the moment is saying,...
Nick Ramsay: I’m pleased to take part in this afternoon’s debate, welcoming the announcement of the UK Government’s industrial strategy. We’ve heard in the opening remarks from Russell George about some details of that strategy, placing education and skills at the heart of the economy, and re-establishing in some measure technical education, too long undervalued, as David Melding mentioned in the...
Nick Ramsay: Very briefly, I appreciate the frustrations about the lateness of the autumn statement, but, on the other hand, you do have to recognise, Cabinet Secretary, that that autumn statement did deliver an extra £400 million for the Welsh economy over the next five years—not to be sniffed at.
