Julie James: On the administrative control, we have a report that we're awaiting from the Wales Centre for Public Policy. We have had the interim report, but we are expecting the final report shortly. So, once we've got that report, we are, of course, looking to see what that report tells us in terms of taking administrative control. I share her wish to administer welfare benefits in a more humane...
Julie James: Mark Isherwood asked me how I respond to a whole series of statistics that he read out. I respond in this way: the people who should be apologising for these appalling figures are the Conservative Government, who have implemented the most heartless, pitiless, merciless regime of universal credit that the world has ever known—[Interruption.] Let me quote you some statistics. [Interruption.]...
Julie James: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. This morning, I laid a copy of the Welsh Government’s progress report on tackling child poverty. The results make difficult reading. The headline figure—and the one I'm sure that Members today will all want to focus on—shows that child poverty in Wales has risen. This inescapable fact is something that should concern each and every one of us. In a...
Julie James: Dealing with that last point first, I'm very keen to find a mechanism that doesn't penalise the actual people living in the flats, where it is clearly the fault of the construction company or some other obvious causation. Bethan Sayed will know that that's not always as simple as it sounds to establish, and we have an example in Swansea, which all of us from Swansea are aware of, where it's...
Julie James: We've written out to all higher education institutions in Wales. I've written to all local authorities, so Kirsty Williams has written to all HEIs. I was pleased to see the response from Cardiff, but we have asked all of the vice-chancellors across Wales to provide us with similar information. We have been doing quite a lot of work before the Bolton fire, you will be reassured to know, where...
Julie James: Yes. We continue to work with all high-rise residential building owners and managing agents, our partners in the fire and rescue services and local authorities, to ensure necessary building checks are carried out. The fire in Bolton highlights the importance of joint working and robust risk assessment of all buildings.
Julie James: Well, I'm not sure how to follow that last remark. Mike Hedges made a series of points that reflect his life-long interest in local government, and I largely agree with the points that he made. Just to pick out some of the things, the three protected officer issue, we are currently conducting a review into the arrangements for protection for senior officers with particular roles in the...
Julie James: Well, on the right to adequate housing, I hear what David Melding says, and I largely agree with him. But what we're doing here is ensuring that local authorities give regard to the right to adequate housing. He will know that the Conservatives refused point blank to put that into the Housing Act 2004 at the UK level. Had they done so, we wouldn't be having this conversation. So, I'm not...
Julie James: I won't rehearse the voting issues either. In terms of the issue around when a local authority, a principal council, decides that the voting system should be changed, and that STV would better suit the need of the local people, they need to agree the change by a two-thirds majority of council seats, and the new system has to stay in place for at least two electoral cycles, for the reasons...
Julie James: Certainly, John. In terms of the prisoners' franchise, as I said in my statement, we simply haven't had the time to work through since the accepting of the committee's recommendation. We intend to bring forward, or work with the committee to bring forward, amendments at Stage 2 to enable the committee's report to be brought into effect. And by then—well in advance of Stage 2—the officials...
Julie James: As Dai Lloyd says very eloquently, the current multimember ward system with first-past-the-post in place produces some strange and wonderful results, and he won't be surprised to find that I think the current result is quite halcyon whereas the previous result was not quite so halcyon from our point of view. But he makes a very good and effective point. Clearly, not 100 per cent of people...
Julie James: Thank you, Mark Isherwood, for that series of questions and comments. In terms of the public participation strategy, we are not copying the Localism Act, because our legislation already allows for a number of things that are not current in England, and, anyway, we're not in a position where we want to copy England. What we're doing here is, in conjunction with the WLGA, developing a system...
Julie James: Sorry. [Laughter.]
Julie James: Diolch, Llywydd. Apologies for spilling water there. Llywydd, I'm very pleased to introduce the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Bill to the Assembly. This Bill consists of provisions that have been subject to extensive consultation, both with the public and local government. It will deliver a major package of reforms to the way in which devolved elections are run and the governance...
Julie James: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. The production of a national development framework is part of a concerted effort by this Government to show leadership in addressing and combating the climate change emergency we face. Only last week, more than 11,000 scientists across the world warned that we face untold suffering due to climate crisis. Their stark assessment requires us to change our...
Julie James: Yes, I think that my colleague Rebecca Evans answered this fairly comprehensively in a debate fairly recently. What I would say is if they're—I have said to all of the local authorities across Wales that, if they have evidence that this is causing them a problem, they should bring it forward. I said it at the WLGA executive committee, and I had individual meetings with various local...
Julie James: Yes, I accept that some Welsh coastal towns can have extremely high house prices, with people struggling to get on the property ladder in their own community. I'm keen to see Welsh Government support like homebuy benefit these people. And our new Self Build Wales can also offer help when it launches shortly.
Julie James: No. As I said, I think the local authority is best placed to understand the challenge that a specific sort of second home, empty home or holiday home—whatever you want to call it—can present to the supply of affordable housing in that community. That's why we introduced the powers for authorities to apply council tax premiums. Since 1 April 2017, local authorities have been able to charge...
Julie James: We recognise that, in some parts of Wales, holiday or second-home ownership does impact on the availability and price of homes. Whilst councils are best placed to understand housing need in their areas, we are supporting a range of measures, including introducing powers to apply council tax premiums.
Julie James: As I just said, we've invested over £20 million in preventing and relieving homelessness this year alone. The funding supports a range of statutory and non-statutory services to help those who do not have a secure place to live. The strategic policy statement was published on 8 October and sets out the policy framework and principles this Government will take to tackle and prevent...
