Rebecca Evans: Well, I'd first start off, of course, by commending the work that Swansea Council is doing in terms of building council houses. They've really invested significantly in social housing and have a really strong vision for council housing across the city and county of Swansea. So, I would certainly begin by recognising that. And, of course, if the Minister for housing was here this afternoon,...
Rebecca Evans: We have a wide range of schemes available to support people who are facing fuel poverty. I mentioned, for example, the £90 million that we've allocated to run a second Welsh Government fuel support scheme in 2022-23, and that's supporting people on low incomes with non-repayable £200 payments towards their energy bills. That scheme launched on 26 September, and now it's been extended to...
Rebecca Evans: The Welsh Government sees the elimination of fuel poverty as a distinct priority, particularly in the context of the ongoing fuel crisis. To reflect this, in our draft budget, we have allocated more than £190 million, over the next two financial years, to interventions aimed at reducing fuel poverty across Wales.
Rebecca Evans: The Government is providing unhypothecated revenue funding of over £5.5 billion and £180m capital funding in the 2023-24 local government settlement in support of Local Authority services, including highways maintenance.
Rebecca Evans: My priorities are set out in our Programme for Government and 2023-24 Draft Budget, which I published on 13 December 2022; a Budget made in hard times, but one that maintains our commitment to prioritise public services and the most vulnerable, whilst continuing to create a stronger, fairer and greener Wales.
Rebecca Evans: Welsh local authorities have had discretionary powers to apply council tax premiums to long-term empty dwellings and second homes since 2016. From 1 April 2023, the maximum level of premium will increase to 300%. It is for individual authorities to decide whether to apply a premium and at what level.
Rebecca Evans: I'm grateful to the Chair of the committee for those comments, and, as I say, we will make those necessary changes. Just to reiterate, really, the important fact that the regulations will ensure that the figures used to calculate a household's entitlement to a reduction in its council tax bill will take account of the rises in the cost of living. I think that's really important in the context...
Rebecca Evans: I am, with apologies for the earlier confusion.
Rebecca Evans: I welcome the opportunity to bring forward these amending regulations today. The Council Tax Reduction Schemes (Prescribed Requirements and Default Scheme) (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 amend the 2013 council tax reduction scheme regulations. The scheme provides direct help to households across Wales by reducing their council tax bills, and these amendments ensure entitlements are...
Rebecca Evans: Diolch. I'm very grateful to colleagues for their comments in the debate this afternoon, and I should respond to some of the committee's recommendations on the floor of the Senedd, because I know it was the first recommendation of the Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee that I respond to their recommendations 2 and 3 during this debate this afternoon. So, I'm pleased to...
Rebecca Evans: I move the motion. The UK Infrastructure Bank is a new UK Government-owned bank launched in June 2021 that will provide £22 billion of infrastructure finance through partnering arrangements with the private and the public sectors. The bank's stated objectives are to use these funds to help tackle climate change and to drive economic growth across the UK. The bank has been established as a...
Rebecca Evans: Would you mind, Dirprwy Lywydd, if we do the intrastructure bank Bill first, because I had on my list for today's meeting the Landfill Disposals Tax (Tax Rates) (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2022? So, we'll try and resolve that. My apologies.
Rebecca Evans: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd.
Rebecca Evans: Yes, that's a really important and interesting point, actually, about the independents being a very, very large group of individuals in terms of local government. So, it is more difficult, then, to have that kind of strategic approach that we, hopefully, will be taking within our parties about identifying and nurturing a more diverse group of people for the future. I'll certainly give some...
Rebecca Evans: I'm really grateful for those points. I just want to recognise the amazing work that our youth councils do across Wales and just reflect on some discussions I had recently with One Voice Wales about the potential role for youth town and community councils; we have some already starting to pop up across Wales. What I was told is that, as well as engaging young people with the local issues, it...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much for those questions and the important point about women's representation in local government. We are absolutely far from where we should be in terms of the number of women who are taking on the role of councillors, but also council leaders. We have very, very few women council leaders in Wales, and that's something that we would want to see increased in future as well. I...
Rebecca Evans: I'm really grateful for those questions. In terms of cabinets, I think that one of the really important things that we delivered through the local government and elections Act was the removal of the barriers for job sharing arrangements within the executives of principal councils. So, that has enabled people who wouldn't otherwise have been able to undertake those executive roles to be able...
Rebecca Evans: I will.
Rebecca Evans: I’m very grateful for those comments and again, starting off with our appreciation for people who do put themselves forward to these roles, I think one of the interesting things from the councillor survey was that a large proportion of those respondents said that they’d decided to put themselves forward as councillors in the first place to improve their community and to make it a better...
Rebecca Evans: I think that we did make good progress through the local government and elections Act in terms of flexibility. That did remove some of those barriers by introducing the ability to have those hybrid meetings, which we know have been really important for people who do have caring responsibilities, family responsibilities, employment commitments that mean that the times at which they're...
