Rebecca Evans: Can I encourage you to write to the Deputy Minister for Health and Social Services asking for some more information, in terms of the role and responsibilities of private companies providing care, in terms of the access that they should give to interested parties in order to meet with and talk to children? It’s not a case I’m familiar with, but if you write the Minister, she’ll be able,...
Rebecca Evans: On that second point, I'll give some serious consideration as to how we can ensure that we do make these announcements in a consistent way across Government, and in a transparent way, and give Members and other interested parties the opportunity to find out a bit more about people being appointed to boards and organisations, in order to get an idea of who they are and what their...
Rebecca Evans: In relation to the new body that will replace community health councils, of course the whole Assembly will have ample opportunity to explore this further and to debate the issue, and certainly there will be opportunities at Stage 2 and Stage 3 to amend the legislation, so I'd encourage Members to engage fully with that piece of legislation. In relation to the request for a debate on Changing...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you, Mike, for raising the issue of financial transactions capital, which I know he also touched on in our supplementary budget debate last week. The Welsh Government doesn't welcome the restrictions that the UK Government has placed on our capital budget through the use of FTs. We are committee, however, to using the funding to invest in infrastructure and to boost economic growth in...
Rebecca Evans: I thank you, and given the level of interest that there is in the Godre'r Graig issues, I think that perhaps a letter to all Members would be more appropriate than just to the Members who have raised it in the Chamber this afternoon. On the issue of pest control, I'm familiar with the situation in Mayals. I have also had the same representations as you've had. The environment Minister has...
Rebecca Evans: So, I'll start with the most controversial of those issues and pass on my congratulations to the England and Wales cricket team for the excellent achievement. In terms of ambulance response times, I will ask the Minister to provide an update, if there are specific instances that you have concerns about in specific hospitals. But it's worth remembering that WAST have met the ambulance response...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you, David Rees, and apologies, Bethan, for not addressing the Godre'rgraig Primary School issue. I can confirm that we are in regular contact with the council to monitor the situation and will offer our full support if it is required. But, absolutely, as David Rees says, it has to be safety first for the pupils. But I will ask the education Minister to provide an update to both Members...
Rebecca Evans: I thank Bethan Jenkins, and I know of her strong interest in the issue of eating disorders, particularly her keenness to see the report coming forward. As I mentioned last week, I think, the Minister for Health and Social Services has received that report, and it is a long, complex report. He has, I understand, met with officials to discuss it, and I hope that an update for Members will be...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for raising this issue, and I'm particularly pleased that there are still options on the table in terms of how a Swansea bay tidal lagoon could be taken forward. I'm really grateful to everybody who is working very hard to firm up those ideas. Certainly, when proposals are brought forward to Welsh Government, I can confirm that there is the possibility of that £200 million...
Rebecca Evans: Diolch, Llywydd. There is one change to this week's business. Motions have not been tabled for the planned debate on the standards committee reports, so the debate will not go ahead tomorrow. Draft business for the next three weeks is set out on the business statement and announcement, which can be found amongst the meeting papers available to Members electronically.
Rebecca Evans: Thank you, Llywydd. Whilst this first supplementary budget is relatively limited in nature, representing as it does—if you don't include the pensions money—just over 0.5 per cent of the Welsh Government's budget, it is nonetheless an important part of the budget process, allowing changes to be reported and scrutinised by the Assembly. I'll turn first to the issue that was raised by most...
Rebecca Evans: Diolch, Llywydd. I move the motion for the first supplementary budget. This is the first opportunity to amend budgetary plans for the current financial year, which were published and approved by the Assembly in January. The first supplementary budget is often quite narrow in scope, and this year is no exception. It regularises a number of allocations from our reserves and transfers between...
Rebecca Evans: I welcome this opportunity to explain the background to this LCM. I'm grateful to the Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee for considering and reporting on the LCM within the tight timescales involved. The committee considers there is no impediment to the Assembly agreeing the LCM. The UK Government introduced the Non-Domestic Rating (Lists) Bill on 12 June to provide for a number of...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you. There’s a great deal of interest in this particular agenda, and I know that the Minister for environment will be able to say more about this before the end of term, I believe through a written statement next week.
Rebecca Evans: Thank you, Jenny Rathbone. The health Minister tells me that a great deal of legislation has already been made to ensure that our law operates correctly on the day of a Brexit, be it a ‘no deal’ Brexit. I know that the FSA has been doing a great deal of work in order to prepare us for the potential of a ‘no deal’ Brexit and also to map out the challenges which do face us, but the...
Rebecca Evans: Yes, we don't yet know the detail of any announcement or have any confidence that the announcement will be forthcoming, but when it does, we’ll be very keen to ensure that any additional funding is done in the proper way, through the Barnett formula, through the statement of funding policy, which we have agreed with the UK Government, because Siân Gwenllian will be aware, for example, of...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you. I'll certainly make it a personal responsibility to ensure that you do get a response to your question about stress leave. Obviously, Welsh Government does endeavour to respond to written questions as quickly as we possibly can, but often the level of detail required in some of those requests is quite in-depth. But, if Members do have a problem such as the one that you describe in...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you, Alun Davies, for raising both of those issues. In terms of the bus services, clearly, it's an important priority area for Welsh Government. We're coming to the end of this Assembly term now, so we'll be looking towards preparing our programme of statements and debates for the next term, taking us up through the autumn term, so I'll certainly ensure that colleagues consider both of...
Rebecca Evans: Officials and Welsh Government Ministers are aware of the investigation and we're clearly monitoring the situation very closely. So, at the moment, we wouldn't be in a position to set out the next steps, because the investigation is ongoing. But we haven't promised or provided any funding to Gavin Woodhouse or Northern Powerhouse Developments for the proposed development of the Afan valley...
Rebecca Evans: I'm aware of the pressure that the national parks are under, I'm aware of the pressure education is under, I'm aware of the pressure health is under, I'm aware of the pressure local government is under. And, if we want to talk about massive cuts, we can, because, on a like-for-like basis, the Welsh Government's budget is 5 per cent lower in real terms in 2019-20 than it was in 2010-11,...
