Mark Drakeford: —to take advantage of those chances, particularly in skills that will be needed across a whole range of industries in the future.
Mark Drakeford: If I was to take just one example, Llywydd, of the point that the Member was making about sharing good practice and making sure that good things that are happening in one part of Wales are known about and can be developed elsewhere, then maybe, for this afternoon, I will just point to the degree apprenticeship programme. These are degree level apprenticeships, many of them in the digital...
Mark Drakeford: I thank Rhun ap Iorwerth for that question. I saw that the cross-party group was meeting once again this week, and, of course, I'm familiar as well with the work that's being done in M-SParc on Ynys Môn, and Blue Lobster, one of the companies that is working out of M-SParc, is an example of the point that Rhun ap Iorwerth was making.
Mark Drakeford: Learning digital skills is a mandatory requirement across the new Curriculum for Wales, and schools in Ynys Môn have access and resources that are bilingual and incomparable, which are provided through the Hwb programme. The Welsh Government is also funding digital literacy programmes that are free for all adult learners on the island and across the country.
Mark Drakeford: I thank Janet Finch-Saunders for that really important point. There's no doubt, Llywydd, that climate change is already happening in Wales. Intense weather events and the frequency of them during the winter are going to be part of our lives much more than they were in the past. We've seen it already in communities here in south Wales. I made a visit with the then leader of Conwy council to a...
Mark Drakeford: I thank Jayne Bryant for that and for both of the two practical examples that she mentioned. I said that Jack Sargeant had taken me to see the impact of bank closures in Buckley; it was the Member for Newport West who took me to see Sero Zero Waste, the community shop at Tredegar House, and the two fantastic young women who had taken the risk of setting it all up and who have made such a...
Mark Drakeford: I believe there's a stronger sense then ever before of the urgency of the climate emergency. The practical ways in which local action and community involvement can make a difference are vividly illustrated in 'Working Together to Reach Net Zero', the companion document to our net-zero Wales plan.
Mark Drakeford: I take very seriously the points the Member has made. I’m familiar with that piece of road and the risks that climate change pose to it. What I don’t think we can have, though, Llywydd, is a position in which everybody will agree on the basic principle that if we’re to be serious about climate change, we cannot make building a new road the default option every time there is a transport...
Mark Drakeford: Thank you for that additional question. It's important, Llywydd, for me to go back to the purpose of the roads review. We have undertaken the review because it's a fundamental part of this Government's response to the environmental emergency, which was declared with his party. What we are doing is trying to be clear with people in Wales that we can't continue to build new roads as the default...
Mark Drakeford: I thank Mabon ap Gwynfor for that question. The roads review panel has worked quickly to identify and consider projects that are within the scope of the review. We expect to receive the interim report later this month. The final report and recommendations are expected to be ready in June 2022.
Mark Drakeford: I entirely agree with the final proposition that Mr Price made; people should not put themselves in that position. I very well remember the views of the former First Minister on the WDA and its history and a number of its employees. It is the regular position of the Welsh Government to publish remit letters to organisations that we sponsor, but the Development Bank of Wales does deal in...
Mark Drakeford: Well, I certainly agree with the final point, Llywydd, that where any person is carrying out work on behalf of the public interest in Wales and is in a publicly appointed position to do so, then they are bound by rulebooks that are not of their own making, nor should they be the sole arbiter of whether they are complying with those rulebooks. I'm not familiar with the detail of the decisions...
Mark Drakeford: I expect any chief executive or employee of an enterprise or agents of the Welsh Government to observe all of the proprieties and the rules that are required of them. I'm not sure if the leader of Plaid Cymru is suggesting that there has been impropriety here, but if he is, he should say so, and if he says so, then we will investigate that.
Mark Drakeford: I thank the leader of the opposition for that and I thank him for drawing attention to the eighth year in a row in which there will be new and record investment in creating the workforce of the future for our NHS. And what Mr Davies said is right: we have cancer services of very high quality in all parts of Wales at the moment and that is a very precious resource to make sure that we sustain....
Mark Drakeford: Thanks again to Andrew R.T. Davies. We will make those announcements as fast as we are able to. There are a couple of pieces of the jigsaw that we are still completing. We hope to get additional help in this coming vaccination campaign from the fire and rescue service, for example, who do a great deal as first responders and who we think, with some extra attention, would be able to provide...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, before I begin, could I say it is very good indeed to see the Member back in his place in the Chamber this afternoon? Thank you for that important question as well. We are concluding our discussions with primary care providers in Wales. We do want them to play a greater part in the short-term but urgent need to bolster our vaccination programme ahead of the arrival, as I'm...
Mark Drakeford: Well, I thank Jack Sargeant for that, Llywydd. I too was out on Saturday, marking Small Business Saturday and meeting with businesses who do so much to keep our high streets vibrant and alive. The Royal Society of Arts, Llywydd, which first brought the idea of a community bank to the Welsh Government, had very dramatic figures of the collapse in lending to very small enterprises within a mile...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, I very much agree with what Alun Davies said there. We are committed to supporting the creation of a community bank for Wales, headquartered here in Wales, owned and run for the benefit of its members as a mutual community financial institution. I know that the aim of Banc Cambria is to provide every day full retail banking services, particularly in those communities where we've seen...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, I thank Peter Fox for that. I am familiar with Câr-y-Môr, but more in the south-west Wales context, in the Solva and St David's area, and it is a very fine example of a commercial enterprise, but with strong community roots, looking to start the first commercial seaweed and shellfish farm in Wales. I think the things that they have said to Peter Fox probably are true: a better...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, I thank Peter Fox for that question. Core funding is provided to the Wales Co-operative Centre and Social Firms Wales to support the development of co-operative enterprises, including community benefit societies. Support from the Social Business Wales service and the Community Shares Wales resilience project is also available to promote their establishment in Wales.
