Rebecca Evans: Thank you to Leanne Wood for raising both of those issues. On the first, I will make a point of speaking to the education Minister, because your request for a statement did cover quite a wide range of aspects, including testing in schools, support for people who are shielding, and also financial support for those parents who have to also take time off when their children are required to be...
Rebecca Evans: Well, Llywydd, the Senedd will have the opportunity to vote on the regulations fully within the timescale set out by the Standing Orders of this Senedd. And also it gives the legislation—the LGC, the legislation and—the constitutional affairs committee the opportunity to undertake its work. So, all of this will be done fully within the timescale set out in the Senedd Standing Orders, and,...
Rebecca Evans: Diolch, Llywydd. I have three changes to this week's business. Firstly, the statement on economic reconstruction has been withdrawn. Secondly, the debate on the legislative consent motion on the United Kingdom internal market Bill has been postponed until next Tuesday, 8 December. And, finally, the First Minister will make a statement on coronavirus December restrictions as the last item of...
Rebecca Evans: Well, two important things here. The first relates to the £10.8 million funding that was identified to be repurposed. That is only capital funding—that wasn't revenue—and £9.5 million of that relates to radioactivity and pollution prevention. It does relate to slippage this year regarding Cardiff council's clean air quality plan to meet legal limits for nitrogen dioxide under the...
Rebecca Evans: In the second supplementary budget, the environment, energy, and rural affairs portfolio’s capital budget reduced by £10.8 million as a result of the exercise to identify those capital budgets that were likely to underspend this year due to the coronavirus crisis and could, in the first instance, be repurposed.
Rebecca Evans: I thank Paul Davies for that question. In the first instance, I think I should commit to having a discussion with the Minister for economy and transport, so that I can better understand the issues that have held up that particular scheme relating to Lower Town, Fishguard and the A487.
Rebecca Evans: We are investing in all parts of Wales to support our public services, businesses and communities. Investments in Pembrokeshire include £48.7 million for a new secondary school in Haverfordwest and £40 million for improvements to the A40. Pembrokeshire County Council has also been awarded an allocation of £6.9 million of targeted regeneration investment funding.
Rebecca Evans: I absolutely agree that, in the future, we'll need to build on the Transforming Towns programme and have a really strong focus on towns. Town centres will look different in future, but I want them to look like vibrant places nonetheless. And we need to be considering more heritage-led regeneration, and there are some great examples across the Valleys of that. Housing-led regeneration, I...
Rebecca Evans: There are very good reasons for having different thresholds in Wales as compared to England, and those are most notably around the fact that average house prices are very different here in Wales. So, the average house price in England is currently £262,000, and in Wales it is well below that, around £165,000. So, they are clearly very different housing markets and I think it's entirely...
Rebecca Evans: Transforming towns, backing the foundational economy, upgrading major infrastructure and targeting new investment for the Heads of the Valleys are important priorities for the Welsh Government. During the pandemic we have provided over £150 million in business support to protect jobs and businesses across the Heads of the Valleys.
Rebecca Evans: Thank you to Hefin David for raising that particular issue. As we move towards the end of the year, obviously I'll be keen to hear views from colleagues in the Chamber, and also engaging with stakeholders as well about the potential future of land transaction tax. Obviously, I'm keen not to make announcements too far in advance, because then you end up with situations where there's...
Rebecca Evans: The intended effect of the temporary changes to land transaction tax was to encourage transactions in the housing market during the remainder of this financial year. The latest LTT data show positive trends in transactions and tax revenue compared to the early months of this financial year.
Rebecca Evans: We would always love to give partners longer term certainty for their funding, and, certainly, it's something that the Chancellor has been able to offer schools and the NHS across the border in England, and also infrastructure projects, but hasn't been able to offer us that same kind of certainty. So, a one-year spending review, following another one-year spending round, which we had last...
Rebecca Evans: The UK Government should be doing a huge amount more in this area. We're very aware that, for too long, Wales has been at the back of the queue when the UK Government has been investing in rail infrastructure, and the rolling stock that we're currently using, much of it is nearly 40 years old. Based on known commitments for the period from 2019 to 2029, we estimate shortfalls of up to £5.1...
Rebecca Evans: We have made available an extra £113 million, approved by the Senedd for rail services last week in the second supplementary budget. We are continuing to closely monitor what further funding may be needed for the operation of services until the end of the year.
Rebecca Evans: Well, I do have to tell the Member that 2,379 payments worth over £7 million have been made from the lockdown business fund, covering over 22,000 jobs. A total of 750 micro and small and medium-sized enterprise businesses have been awarded funding through the economic resilience fund, totalling £11.6 million, and 707 payments worth over £1.9 million so far have been made from the ERF phase...
Rebecca Evans: I'm afraid to let Mick Antoniw know that we have not received the funding that has been promised on the floor of Parliament by the Prime Minister to address the impact of the flooding that we had earlier this year in Wales, which affected us disproportionately to anywhere else in the UK. Ahead of the spending review today, I did write to the Chancellor, setting out that this was an excellent...
Rebecca Evans: We'll continue to respond to the challenges of the pandemic and build on the funding we've already made available this year, including £70 million for businesses in Rhondda Cynon Taf, £50 million for the local authority, and funding provided to the third sector and art organisations in Pontypridd.
Rebecca Evans: I thank Mike Hedges for raising that. Both of these issues are ones that he has raised with me in the past as well. I did explore the first suggestion about adding additional council tax bands, but I'm advised that that couldn't be done properly without a full revaluation exercise of all of our domestic dwellings here in Wales, and that couldn't be achieved before the next Senedd term, so...
Rebecca Evans: I would love to encourage spending and growth and confidence, but I think that the Chancellor has poured a bit of cold water on that today in terms of announcing a freeze on the pay of public sector workers—public sector workers who spend their money in the local economy and now will be even more concerned about their future finances as well. So, I think that this will put the brakes on any...