Mark Drakeford: We are working with public bodies to embed Foundational Economy approaches in their activity to help retain wealth within our communities and improve their wellbeing. Actions taken will shorten supply chains to reduce carbon emissions; build a strong Welsh supply base; and improve employment conditions and pay for workers.
Mark Drakeford: Teachers in South Wales East benefit from the initiatives introduced to support households through this cost-of-living crisis. In relation to teachers’ pay, an offer that is the equivalent of an 8% pay rise, with 6.5% consolidated, is a strong one in the context of a reducing Welsh Government budget.
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, the Member's party went to the people of Wales in the last Senedd election promising the largest road-building programme ever in the history of Wales, and that proposition was roundly rejected by the people of Wales. Of course, the Member can continue to put in front of people the thing that people have rejected many times already. There is a fundamental difference of view between...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, I think it's important just to set the record straight here: it was emergency funding, as the Member said. And emergency funding cannot be indefinitely extended beyond the point where the emergency led to the millions and millions of pounds that have been found by the Welsh taxpayer to support the bus industry while the emergency was in operation. Over £150 million, over and above...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, implementation of the Burns commission proposals provides the most effective way of promoting sustainable travel. Publication this month of the Burns delivery unit annual report sets out the real progress already made, and future plans for walking, cycling and using public transport in south-east Wales.
Mark Drakeford: I thank Jane Dodds for that, and of course I agree with the basic proposition that she has set out that further investment across the United Kingdom in dental services would be very welcome. The Welsh Government did not set an affordability limit in our evidence to the pay review body, so the 3.5 per cent affordability level that she mentioned is advice provided by the UK Government for...
Mark Drakeford: I thank James Evans for that, Llywydd. Members will know that originally on the order paper today was a statement from the Minister on advances in dental services in Wales, and one of the things that she would have reported to the Senedd was ideas for dealing with dental services in rural areas, and the possibility of mobile dentistry in secondary schools. So, the Member has slightly...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, prevention not intervention has to be the aim of good-quality dental care for children. The Designed to Smile scheme is now operating fully again, and nearly 240,000 children have been treated in general dental services since April 2022. Of that number, over 55,000 are new patients.
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, I thank Siân Gwenllian for that supplementary question. I agree, of course, that it was very disappointing that the UK Government wasn't prepared to support the bid that Gwynedd Council had submitted. Llywydd, I had the opportunity back in January to meet with the council leader and others in the centre of Bangor and to hear from the council leader about the projects that are there...
Mark Drakeford: Thank you very much, Llywydd, to Siân Gwenllian for that question. The proposed centre formed part of the bid made by Gwynedd Council to the UK Government's levelling-up fund; the bid was unsuccessful. Welsh Government officials are helping local partners to pursue alternative funding. The Minister for Economy will discuss this during his meeting with the leader of Gwynedd Council on 6 March.
Mark Drakeford: I thank Sam Kurtz for the question.
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, the National Assembly, as it was then, and the Senedd, has always taken always taken a precautionary approach to the issue of genetic modification of plants; I think we are right to do so. I think if we could be guaranteed that it would be done in the way that Sam Kurtz outlined, that would be a different matter, but we can't be guaranteed, because these are inherently and...
Mark Drakeford: Well, I thank Mike Hedges for that further question. I think these are really important issues that deserve to be more thoroughly and regularly publicly aired. There's good news, I think, in responding to him: the note that I have tells me that atrazine, hexachlorobenzene and methomyl are already banned for use in the United Kingdom and here in Wales. Rotenone has its use limited now to...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, our policy is to reduce, to the lowest possible level, the effect of pesticide on people, wildlife, plants and the wider environment. There has been a steady reduction in agricultural pesticide use in Wales over the devolution period, but there is more that we can and will do in the future.
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, the King's Fund report was published in November 2022, not in November 2020, when the decision was made. I advise the Member to read what was said by the British Medical Association on 6 December, when they said that the problem of the Welsh NHS was that 'wolf' had been cried too often, including by them, and I think he's just at it again today. The Welsh NHS, every single day,...
Mark Drakeford: Well, given his contribution so far this afternoon, I think the Member will wish to reflect on his use of the word 'glib' in relation to anybody else's contributions. Let me tell him now that that I utterly reject what I regard as a disgraceful charge that the decisions made in November 2020 were motivated by anything other than the advice that the Welsh Government received from the...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, the Labour health Minister took responsibility yesterday, and there are 60 minutes for Members to ask questions of the Minister later this afternoon.
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, the immediate action is to appoint a small number of individuals to discharge the legal functions and to stabilise the organisation. You know that a chair has been appointed and there will be three other members alongside the chair, and their job in the short term is to stabilise the organisation, to concentrate on the appointment of a new chief executive. What I would say to...
Mark Drakeford: I understand a number of the points that the Member makes, and what I think he needs to do is to allow the story to continue to unfold. What you saw yesterday was the first set of measures that the Minister has taken. There are very real criticisms of executive members and those, too, will need to be attended to. The fact that those actions were not taken yesterday should not be taken as...
Mark Drakeford: Well, I don't think, myself, Llywydd, that it could have come as a shock to anybody who was reasonably well-informed about the operation of the board. I'm looking now at the letter sent by Janet Finch-Saunders, a member of the leader of the opposition's own group, to the Minister in which she called for the entire removal of the board, including independent members who are found to be unable...
