Huw Irranca-Davies: That's really excellent news, and it's good to hear that it's coming forward very soon indeed. I should point out that electric cars, in my view, are not the be-all-and-end-all solution. Many people who will travel here to work or around the constituency will do it by walking, cycling or public transport, but they are a means forward to tackling our climate change emergency, our crisis. But...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Earlier this year, Counsel General, you will know that—it seems like two or three Prime Ministers ago now, in fact—the committee that I chair actually carried out a stakeholder engagement exercise on access to justice to Wales. One of the points that came out on that was the well-known impact of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 and the effect that has had of...
Huw Irranca-Davies: 8. What assessment has the Counsel General made of access to justice in Wales? OQ58817
Huw Irranca-Davies: 4. What progress has been made on a salary sacrifice support scheme for electric cars for Commission staff and staff of Members of the Senedd? OQ58815
Huw Irranca-Davies: What assessment has the Counsel General made of whether the new inter-governmental arrangements proposed by the Review of Intergovernmental Relations will be sufficiently open to scrutiny?
Huw Irranca-Davies: Diolch yn fawr iawn, Llywydd. Thank you very much. Just speaking in support of Jenny's points, to probe the Minister a little further, one of the things that the Co-op particularly say is that they work with local authorities on this, that it is compostable. They've strenuously avoided the issue of degradable, because they say, 'Well, this is actually at the cutting edge, it will go into the...
Huw Irranca-Davies: I really welcome this statement, and again setting out the vision of where this Welsh Government wants to go, but would he agree with me that one of the acid tests of this will be whether we, here in the Senedd, support the prioritisation of public transport and also of active travel in this? And there will be hard choices to be made on this, because that means squeezing space on the roads...
Huw Irranca-Davies: First Minister, you've laid out some of the tensions between the UK Government and the Welsh Government and, indeed, I have to say, this nation of sanctuary over the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers. But, surely, it should be impossible for the Home Office unilaterally to place refugees and asylum seekers in places without any advance notice with the communities or with Welsh...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Are you paying?
Huw Irranca-Davies: My thanks to the Petitions Committee for bringing this forward. I'm going to take a slight diversion, and that diversion runs from Chepstow to Conwy. The idea of a Cambrian trail through the Cambrian mountains was first envisaged back in 1968, and the late Tony Drake, a legend in Welsh walking and mapping of these walks, in 1994, produced the first guidebook of the Cambrian way, which went...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Thank you very much—
Huw Irranca-Davies: —Dirprwy Lywydd. No clarity at the moment from UK Government on future, medium, long-term post-EU funding. No agreement or clarity on the amount lost to Wales or otherwise. Ongoing uncertainty over Erasmus+, Horizon Europe, other European co-operation agreements. Poor or absent—absent—engagement between UK and Welsh Governments. Now, I would simply say to my Conservative colleagues that...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Oh—. Yes, I will. I will.
Huw Irranca-Davies: I entirely agree. We need to move away from this, and it needs to be based on good analysis, needs analysis, and where the money should be properly going. And to pick up on Alun's quite right point, this is not just to do with the current quantum of funding that may be lost, it's to do with long-term sustainable funding that goes to those areas and communities that most need it. We do not...
Huw Irranca-Davies: No, not at all. In fact, I would support that, but my point is this: should it be that one MP, one elected representative, ignorant of the policy framework in Wales, ignorant of the wider needs of the rail network within that area as well, such as the Maesteg and Tondu crossing, which has been waiting for 20 years for the investment from UK Network Rail—that doesn't get a mention—one MP...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Alun, thank you for taking my name in vain, but in a praiseworthy way there for a moment. But I would say that report is still there and it's still valid, I have to say, and it was put together—. I'll turn to this report in a moment, but that report on the future funding, regional funding, within Wales, I have to say set the benchmark for what we should be doing throughout the UK, and it...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Can I draw your attention to the register of interests and the multiple organisations that I belong to that have an interest within this area, including the British Veterinary Association, Ramblers Cymru and others? But could I just commend the Minister on how she is trying to bring forward a future for sustainable farming within Wales that balances what sometimes appear to be competing...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Thank you for confirming what I've actually heard in briefings that have been made available to me and to other Senedd Members of other parties about not just the financial budgetary pressures facing local authorities, but also discussing the reserves. And that figure that you've cited, that if it was all thrown at the current pressures, we might have three months before all those reserves...
Huw Irranca-Davies: As the Senedd will know, we take a very close look at the inclusion of powers in Bills to make subordinate legislation. So, Llywydd, this Bill contains five powers for the Welsh Ministers to make regulations, one power for the Welsh Ministers to issue a code, and two powers to issue directions. Now, a number of our recommendations relate to our consistent belief that the scrutiny procedures...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Thank you, Llywydd. I welcome the opportunity to participate in this debate on the general principles of the Welsh Government's third Bill of this sixth Senedd. In our report, we came to one conclusion, and we made nine recommendations. To start, I'd like to thank the Deputy Minister for writing to us with further information to assist our scrutiny of the Bill, in lieu of the evidence session...
