Huw Irranca-Davies: 5. What discussions has the First Minister had with the UK Government regarding the main priorities for Wales in the forthcoming autumn budget statement? OQ58692
Huw Irranca-Davies: Diolch, Llywydd, and in my short response here, can I just first of all thank the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution for the serious, thoughtful and considered way in which he's responded to this debate, and it typifies his approach to the broad remit of the work of this committee? We really welcome that. And on that basis, can I first of all turn to the comments from current...
Huw Irranca-Davies: It is fair to say that we had not expected, during the first year of the sixth Senedd, to have spent quite so much time reporting on the Welsh Government's legislative consent memoranda for UK Bills. We expressed concern at the extent to which the UK Government is seeking to legislate in devolved areas, notably in circumstances where it is with the support of the Welsh Government. Reporting...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. It's a pleasure to speak this afternoon and draw the Senedd's attention to the work of the Legislation, Justice and the Constitution Committee during the first full year of the sixth Senedd. Before I start, I would like to place on record our thanks to the Counsel General for his willingness to appear before us and answer our questions on a regular basis.
Huw Irranca-Davies: It is truly appreciated. Our remit is quite considerable, and our scrutiny responsibilities are almost always subject to timetables and deadlines set either by Standing Orders or the Business Committee. And the scrutiny of subordinate legislation is part of our bread-and-butter work. In the first year, indeed, we considered more than 250 pieces of subordinate legislation made by Welsh...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Counsel General, Luke Fletcher MS and I have just returned from attending the second meeting of the UK-EU Parliamentary Partnership Assembly in London. It was good to attend that; Alun Davies and colleagues—Sam—have attended before, and it's an emerging feast of a body, and it's growing more muscular as well. But one of the themes within that is the need for this—regardless of the...
Huw Irranca-Davies: 1. What discussions has the Counsel General had regarding the impact of the recent changes in the UK Government on the devolution settlement? OQ58678
Huw Irranca-Davies: My thanks go to Sam for bringing forward this legislative proposal. It gives a really much-needed airing here in the Senedd to the benefits of outdoor education and activity. It's very timely on the back of the new curriculum, which has been shaped by the heightened realisation of the wide benefits of learning in the outdoors. Indeed, the Welsh Government curriculum guidance states that...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Tom Giffard and I were at a briefing only in the last two weeks with Welsh local government leaders from our area, but also at a national level in Wales, having quite a frank assessment about the perilous state of local authority finances. And, of course, we also know this spreads right across the voluntary and third sector as well, at the time when the need for those public services and the...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Faced with the incredible scale of the climate change emergency that we face and the need to hit net zero, this is a very welcome statement today, and particularly the proposals around a Welsh state developer. What I want to ask you, Minister, is: you'll know that right on my doorstep—I'm not asking you to comment on the individual application, don't worry, and it's not to come to you...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Thank you. Indeed, I will be brief. Minister, thank you for the statement and also for attending the lunchtime launch of the Centre for Local Economic Strategies report, 'Owning the workplace, securing the future', on how we increase the amount of employee ownership here in Wales. We're doing well already, we think we can go further. How can the Development Bank of Wales play a role within...
Huw Irranca-Davies: I ask for only one statement and it's by way of update. There was a real sense of optimism a year ago, when the Welsh Government stepped into the breach in terms of the Caerau Arbed community energy saving programme issues, with over 100 householders—not all through the Welsh scheme, in fact, the majority through the English CESP programme—deeply affected, with their homes and their...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Will you give way?
Huw Irranca-Davies: Thank you. Would you then respond to Crisis's observations on better ways to deal with exactly the issue that you are putting forward? I agree with your passion and I agree with the fact that we need to do everything we can. They've suggested other ways. What's your response to their alternative measures?
Huw Irranca-Davies: Would you give way on that point?
Huw Irranca-Davies: I agree with the sentiment entirely, but would you please respond to the points that are made in the Crisis UK report—and I draw, like the Member opposite, attention to my register of interests as well—where they say that the very measures being proposed carry a significant risk, in their words, of an immediate flood of notices to quit and increases in rent, a wave of rent rises and...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Can I thank the committee for the report and for the debate today? I have to say that there are a lot of good recommendations and analysis within this, focusing particularly on the issues of discharge and how we deal with this. I think it's also recognition that this is exceptionally challenging, extremely complex and that there isn't a simple switch to solve this. There is a range of things...
Huw Irranca-Davies: I'm giving the Minister the opportunity to reflect on the comments made this week by the former long-serving agricultural Minister in DEFRA, George Eustice, who himself has laid into—has lain waste to—the proposals that are now coming out of the UK Government, on the back of the work that has been put in, and the work that has been put in with farmers, to actually drive greater levels of...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Can I thank the committee for their report, and the Minister for the recent statement as well related to this? I better declare at the outset my role as the salmon champion. But also, I have to say, for the decade that I've been an elected representative, I've also championed the needs and aspirations of small and medium-scale farmers, particularly those who are strongly sustainable in their...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Part of the new curriculum and the core skills we're trying to develop in our young people is also that confidence. It's some real hardcore nitty-gritty things, but it's also confident, creative children who are willing to speak out and engage. You can often tell when you walk into a class and they're chatting away—well behaved, but chatting. We just had Bryncethin primary up in the gallery...
