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Mark Drakeford: ...of the ministerial disability equality forum, chaired by my colleague Jane Hutt, at the end of November—a meeting that focused on the experience of people with disabilities, including a good representation of people who are themselves visually impaired, together with the chief executive of Transport for Wales and senior Welsh Government transport staff. That meeting will be followed up...
Mark Drakeford: ...whole of north Wales, and just as the Member has this afternoon, absolutely in line with his responsibilities, spoken up for his community and his constituency, so we receive similar letters and representations on the part of many other schemes across the whole of north Wales. So, the board must decide where its own priorities lie. And secondly, in that meeting, it was also agreed that the...
Mark Drakeford: ...the point that the Member has made in the different forums that we have. I'm pleased to say, Llywydd, that the Cabinet committee on the cost of living that met every week in the autumn term had representation from the third sector on that committee—the Wales Council for Voluntary Action, the Child Poverty Action Group, Citizens Advice. We heard from them all over that period. So, the...
Mark Drakeford: ...s a very fair summary of my position. And that I believe that, 'all decisions made by the Welsh Government must be seen in the context of those made by the UK Government'. Again, an absolutely fair representation of my view. They then say, 'CBFJC have therefore shifted their focus to ensuring that Wales is fully scrutinised in the UK Covid-19 Inquiry'. I think it's easier that I put their...
Mark Drakeford: ...of the Senedd—every nine months. Where's the referendum on that, I wonder? Now, I agree entirely with what my colleague Alun Davies has said. You cannot find an independent report into the representation the people in Wales need in order to take the important decisions that are made here on their behalf that believes that 60 Members is a sufficient quantum to discharge those...
Mark Drakeford: ...table the key devolved institutions—the WLGA, the Welsh Government, the social services departments, the health services—but also the non-devolved services as well. It was very good to have representation from the Home Office at the board, to see the senior coroner for Wales as a member of that board. I really do think, Llywydd, that it is a very practical and telling example of the...
Mark Drakeford: ...sure that Members are aware of the history of all of this. The Welsh Government, often at the urging of the trade union movement, committed ourselves to the independent pay review process. We made representations to it. It reported, and it recommended a 3 per cent pay increase, which the Welsh Government decided to honour. In order to fund that 3 per cent pay increase, we have a 1 per cent...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, I'm very proud to lead a Government where two thirds of Ministers are women. Indeed, my party will continue the tradition of the Senedd in making sure that representation in this Senedd reflects the Wales that we live in. I'm very glad that we've had the innovative housing grant now for a number of years. Inevitably, when you are trying things out for the first time,...
Mark Drakeford: ...statement in the second half of this summer term. I'm grateful for what Andrew Davies said about the agriculture Bill. He will remember that in the previous Senedd we agreed, partly because of representations from opposition parties, that the powers we took through the UK agriculture Bill would be time-limited—that there would be a sunset clause. Now, I think that was the right thing to...
Mark Drakeford: I do indeed get direct representation from workers in many settings across Wales. In the case of the DVLA, for example, by some strange route, a member of staff at the DVLA phoned me at home. Now, I was here in work and my wife ended up speaking to a lady, as my wife thought, in her fifties and living alone who was acutely distressed at what she believed to be the conditions under which she...
Mark Drakeford: We take all opportunities to make such representations. The Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales met the UK small business Minister on Thursday and the Secretary of State for Wales yesterday. A quadrilateral of UK Governments takes place tomorrow, where further representations will be made.
Mark Drakeford: ...this debate, but for their support during the difficult days and the challenging decisions that we have had to make in those days—Dawn Bowden talking about front-line staff and about community representation; Huw Irranca-Davies on building that national effort, of using our discretionary funds, as we have done throughout the coronavirus crisis, to help fill the gaps that there are in...
Mark Drakeford: ...is properly known to them. It is then for them to make sure that they minimise risks both to the defendants and to other people who are working in the courts system, and we will continue to make representations to the UK Government to ensure that court premises in Wales are safe for all of those who need to use them.
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, I thank Laura Anne Jones for that question, which is a proper and serious question that I know my colleague Ken Skates is thinking about and will have heard the representations from Monmouthshire. When I last spoke with Peter Fox, the Conservative leader of Monmouthshire, he was clear that local lockdown restrictions were not yet required in that county, and I hope that we will be...
Mark Drakeford: ...to be a sensible and safe way of thinking about how we can resume activity in the tourism industry. The other key factor—and Mr Davies will be very well aware of this, I know, from his local representation—is that it has to be done with community consent. He will know the level of anxiety there has been in parts of south-west and north-west Wales during the pandemic, of people coming...
Mark Drakeford: ...will be able to retain the help that they have received; we're not looking to claw it back from them. We have changed the advice to local government about self-catering accommodation because of the representations we received from local authorities in Wales, including her own Conservative-led Conwy, that the system was not operating in the way that made sure that help went to the right...
Mark Drakeford: ...95 million we've had in consequentials from the UK Government for the same purposes in England. We are working with the WLGA who, together with the Local Government Association, are jointly making representations to the UK Government for further funding to take account of the lost income issue—a very serious issue for local authorities—and we as a Welsh Government are playing our part...
Mark Drakeford: ...comes to be done, I think what we will see is that those communities who find themselves at the sharpest end of deprivation in Wales have one key characteristic in common—that they have an over-representation, compared to other parts of Wales, of families with children. And the reason that they end up in the position they are in is because of the cuts in benefits that those families have...
Mark Drakeford: ...Wales. The report will be a useful contribution to the consultation that Qualifications Wales is carrying out, but in the end, it will be Qualifications Wales that will be responsible for making representations to the Welsh Government as to how we have a qualifications system that stands alongside our new curriculum, and that all of that underpins our ambition. And we are as ambitious as...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, we work with our local authority colleagues, of course, to make sure that the contribution they can make through their representation at further education, and in the schools that they themselves run, to make sure that the skills agenda is understood and implemented there. It's one of the key things that Government does, Llywydd, to invest in people and to provide them with the...
