Jeremy Miles: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. As Minister for Education and the Welsh Language, my most urgent priority is clear, namely ensuring that every child and young person progresses to their full potential, in spite of the pandemic. Every decision I make as Minister will be guided by the needs of learners and their well-being, with a focus on narrowing educational inequalities and ensuring...
Jeremy Miles: I thank the Member for raising this matter again. She has, of course, as she mentioned in the question, raised it before with me, and it's obviously a very, very important matter both in her constituency and right across Wales. I think there is very good evidence of joint working between the relevant agencies in Wales, which I do think—and I know she would acknowledge this—has been...
Jeremy Miles: We take rural crime very seriously, which is why we established the Wales wildlife and rural crime group. Whilst policing, of course, is sadly not a devolved matter, we will continue to work with the UK Government and the Welsh police forces to ensure that public safety needs are met right across Wales.
Jeremy Miles: I thank Janet Finch-Saunders for that supplementary, and I was delighted, in the interests of discussing questions about the rule of law with young people, to have participated recently with some students from the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol in their law and criminology conference, to discuss this very sort of issue. And in the way that she was implying in her question, much of that discussion...
Jeremy Miles: Awareness of the rule of law is integral to our work as a Government and to our efforts to make Welsh law more accessible. A number of initiatives are under way that will be brought together in a formal programme, in accordance with the legislation passed in this Senedd, at the start of the next Senedd term.
Jeremy Miles: Well, we certainly expect for Wales to receive its fair share of funding, as a result of the spending commitments recently announced in England, and that will, of course enable us to prepare a response to leaseholders who are in this position. The White Paper that the Minister has published is open for consultation until 12 April, and I'll take this opportunity to encourage people to respond...
Jeremy Miles: Welsh Government are exploring options to protect leaseholders from bearing the full brunt of costs to remediate building safety issues. It's imperative, of course, that we ensure that all options are properly scoped, risk assessed and that their consequences are fully understood before funding models are announced.
Jeremy Miles: Well, the Member knows that my function is to ensure that the Welsh Government works within its constitutional powers, but also to ensure that we can work to the furthest boundaries of our devolved powers, and that we seek all possible opportunities to ensure that the devolution settlement is reformed in a way that benefits the people of Wales. The Minister for environment has recently...
Jeremy Miles: The Welsh Government is currently working closely with police forces, the UK Government, other devolved administrations and stakeholders to explore how best to address the serious issue of dog attacks on livestock and prevent its devastating effects.
Jeremy Miles: I thank Huw Irranca-Davies for that supplementary question. Through the shared prosperity fund, it is certainly the case that the UK Government seeks to be delivering in devolved areas with no input from the Welsh Government on its plans, and without any stakeholder engagement or public consultation. And in practice, that would mean that the UK Government is taking decisions on devolved...
Jeremy Miles: The implications are clear: this is an attempt to take things back to decades ago, when Westminster supposedly knew best. Bypassing the elected institutions of Wales is not just an insult to the people of Wales, it will clearly result in worse outcomes for Wales as well.
Jeremy Miles: I thank Vikki Howells for raising this really important question. We share a desire to make sure that these work placements can happen in a way that is very streamlined and supports their delivery. ColegauCymru are correct that the nature of the trade and co-operation agreement means that education and training providers are dealing, obviously, with new visa and immigration arrangements and...
Jeremy Miles: In addition to regular discussions on immigration and Erasmus+ matters at Cabinet sub-committee, I have recently written to the Minister for immigration specifically highlighting the impact of the new rules on vocational learners from the EU undertaking work placements in the UK as part of the Erasmus+ programme.
Jeremy Miles: We have been working jointly with stakeholders to develop a five-point plan that is focused on taking specific steps to address some of the problems that hauliers have been describing to us. We hope to be in a position to publish that plan jointly before the end of the month, so I hope that progress will be made as a result of that. As your question describes, many of the specific steps are...
Jeremy Miles: Losing traffic through the Holyhead to Dublin route to ports in Northern Ireland and to longer but more direct routes from Ireland to the continent of Europe is a cause of concern. This is a result of the trade and co-operation agreement, and we are pressing the UK and Irish Governments to try and minimise the problems faced by hauliers.
Jeremy Miles: Well, I absolutely share the ambition of anybody who wants to see students from Wales being able to take full advantage of the sorts of international opportunities that were available to them under Erasmus and would be even more widely available under its replacement scheme. I think it's a very important part of our culture and a very important part of our international stance, if I may say....
Jeremy Miles: I've had a number of discussions with colleagues and stakeholders from across the education sector. They've made clear their concerns regarding the UK Government's decision not to participate in Erasmus+ and the shortcomings of the Turing Scheme as a replacement, and the damage that this will do to the ability of Welsh people to study overseas.
Jeremy Miles: Well, Llywydd, I thank Jenny Rathbone for that supplementary question and acknowledge all the work that she does to support the music sector and live music sector in particular, which is so important, obviously, in her constituency, but to Wales at large. We absolutely as a Government recognise the importance of musicians and the broader creative industries to Wales, and the combined effects...
Jeremy Miles: The issues faced by musicians and performers are not to be dismissed as teething problems; they are the consequence of the trade and co-operation agreement negotiated by the UK Government. We are working closely with the Arts Council of Wales, Wales Arts International, Creative Wales and other stakeholder groups to fully understand and respond to the impacts.
Jeremy Miles: Can I thank Mike Hedges for that very important question? I think he identifies a very significant issue and sets the right direction of travel in his question. Through the international strategy that I mentioned just a moment ago, we've been very clear that what we are seeking is value-added investment, if you like, into the Welsh economy, in the way that the Minister for the economy was...
