Alun Davies: I’m grateful to you, Presiding Officer, and at the outset of this contribution I’d like to declare an interest, in that I’ve recently joined the board of the Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Association for Wales. I’m grateful to the Minister for opening this debate, and grateful to her also for reminding us that, when we debate and reflect on these matters in November, we reflect on...
Alun Davies: I'm grateful to you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'm speaking this afternoon on behalf of the committee. We considered the regulations during our meeting yesterday. As the Minister outlined, we reported immediately afterwards. The Minister has already outlined that these regulations form part of the suite of subordinate legislation required to support the implementation of the Renting Homes...
Alun Davies: —supporting local need and local distributed supply, because I think that offers us an opportunity to do far more. And that means the Welsh Government removing a lot of the problems that exist, because, certainly, one of the great barriers we find is that other public sector bodies withhold consents and permissions that make and create barriers for the development of small-scale renewables.
Alun Davies: I'm grateful, Deputy Presiding Officer, and grateful to you, Minister, for your statement this afternoon. You made some very powerful statements at the beginning of your statement about the place of coal in our history and not our future. But there are, of course, already some consents and permissions within the system. Can you confirm—? I don't want to tempt you into making any comment on...
Alun Davies: As the vice-chair of the group on the armed forces, I'd like to echo the points that Darren Millar has made. The armed forces liaison officers form a critical part of the infrastructure of the provision of services, and the representation of need within local government across Wales. We were able to extend the funding—I think it was for two years—which runs out now in March, and it would...
Alun Davies: I'm grateful, Presiding Officer. Like others, Minister, I very much welcome the statement you've made this afternoon. I very much welcome the initiative that you're taking. I'd like to follow on from other Members in the approach this afternoon, and perhaps take a different view to you. The statement you've made has outlined that this state-owned entity will be focusing on larger scale...
Alun Davies: I enjoy the Minister's statements and I enjoy the conversations that he embarks upon across the Chamber. In discussing a lot of his different priorities for the investment bank he's made it very clear that he wants to see the development bank acting in a very agile way, looking for opportunities, and also investing in a creative way, and I very much welcome what he said this afternoon about...
Alun Davies: Of course, the last time we met, First Minister, the Tories were telling us that Liz Truss was the best Prime Minister that we've ever had and that Conservative economic policy was unchallengeable. We've seen some change in that in the last few days. But, what we haven't seen, of course, is any change in the reality of Tory economic incompetence, which means that Wales doesn't get the...
Alun Davies: I will take up every second of that generous offer. Let us not go down the route—. I've seen proposals in my own constituency where turbines of 180m, 650 ft, are being proposed within 1 km of some settlements. That's the size of the valley sides in my constituency. It's a wholly inappropriate development, and I believe that that is going to undermine support for the wider, more important...
Alun Davies: The Member for Aberconwy makes my second point for me. The first role potentially for Government is more of a passive role; it provides the environment by which other people can take decisions and make investments. The second role, I think, is a far more interesting role. The way I framed the question, of course, provides the answer to where I'm standing, and that's an active driver of...
Alun Davies: Reading through the report of the committee—I'm very grateful to the Chair of the committee for his introduction this afternoon—and reading through the Government response, my overwhelming feeling was that there wasn't a great deal of difference between the two, that there's a great deal of shared ground, particularly in terms of ambition and vision, between both the Government and the...
Alun Davies: Will you take an intervention?
Alun Davies: I'm glad to hear you making this case—I think it's an important case to be made—but, of course, what those organisations also have in common is that they support the devolution of the Crown Estate to Wales, which would provide a financial boost for those developments. I presume you will also support that now.
Alun Davies: Minister, will you take an intervention?
Alun Davies: I’m grateful to you, and I’m grateful to you for bringing this forward so quickly. You said in your introduction that the Government hadn’t had sight of this. Just for clarity, because of the matters you’re discussing in terms of transfer of functions to the Secretary of State, can you confirm that the Welsh Government had no sight of this, and that Welsh Government officials had no...
Alun Davies: What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the economic impact of the UK Government’s levelling-up policies in Blaenau Gwent?
Alun Davies: I'm grateful to you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'm grateful to the Minister also for his statement this afternoon. I very much welcome this from the Welsh Government, and I'm sure that you'll find a very warm welcome in Brussels as well. This is something that's been brought up with me a number of times, when I've been visiting Brussels over recent months, and there is an overwhelming welcome...
Alun Davies: Thank you, Minister, for your statement this afternoon. I’ll start by welcoming the remarks of the Conservative spokesperson, actually. I know how difficult these contributions can be, but you did seem to be struggling towards contrition. I hope that he’s able to complete the journey over the coming weeks. We know that the failure of the UK Government to manage the overall economy is...
Alun Davies: Minister, we're aware that the United Kingdom Government has routinely misled people about the future of European Union funding streams, and we're aware of the mistruths that have been told over a number of years to Ministers here, to Members here, and to the people of Wales. But we're also seeing the incompetence of the United Kingdom Government over recent months endanger the Horizon...
Alun Davies: [Inaudible.]
