The next item on our agenda is the business statement and announcement and I call on Jane Hutt.

I’ve one change to today’s business. The statement on housing and homelessness has been withdrawn. Additionally, Business Committee has agreed to postpone tomorrow’s short debate. Business for the next three weeks is as shown on the business statement and announcement found among the meeting papers available to Members electronically.

With all the sort of political turmoil over the last few weeks, the ending of the PCS museum strike may not have received the attention that it deserves, and I want to pay tribute to the staff at the museum, who fought for years, it’s turned out, to protect the weekend pay of the lowest paid workers. I’m glad the Welsh Government was able to intervene to help end the strike.

However, would the leader of the house arrange for a statement by the Cabinet Secretary for the economy about the relationship between the Welsh Government and the bodies that it totally funds, such as the museum and the library, to set out what is the relationship between the Government and the management at those bodies? I think it would be helpful to understand the parameters that operate.

I thank Julie Morgan for that question. I know she has raised this on a regular basis in support of ensuring that there was a resolution to the national museum dispute. Of course, the Welsh Government offered support and also facilitated discussions to bring the parties together and to bring the dispute to an end, and, indeed, provided some additional funding to the national museum to assist with the costs of meeting an enhanced pay offer. That’s obviously recently been agreed with PCS members.

I think the question about whether the Cabinet Secretary can bring clarity to the relationship is very helpful. We do have, in fact, a framework document, which sets out our funding arrangements between sponsored bodies and the Government, but the Cabinet Secretary will clarify this, I think, helpfully in terms of not just the national museum but other sponsored bodies in terms of funding arrangements.

May I ask you, business manager, and in your role as leader of the house, for a statement by the Minister for the environment? There was an event held, as we’ve already heard, with environmentalists and farming and agricultural interests yesterday, and it was very interesting to hear that it is the Welsh Government’s intention to develop a specifically Welsh agriculture and fisheries policy. As we are facing a summer of shows and rural events, it would be very positive if the Government could consult on such a policy. You don’t have to have the policy written before the summer, just the principles, or even a clean state and just asking for ideas. So, if we could have either an oral or written statement from the Cabinet Secretary on the intention to develop such a policy and how that policy will proceed—.

And, secondly, could I also ask for a statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Education on the Estyn report published today on pupil attainment for children in receipt of care: it shows that there has been some progress, but we are still a long way behind in terms of children in care, with 45 per cent of them not being in employment, education or training post 16. I’m sure that everyone would agree that that is not acceptable in Wales, and that we do need to make significant improvement in that area. So, it would be good to hear, again either orally or in written form, from the Cabinet Secretary for Education what the Government’s response to that report is, and what steps need to be taken in order to change the situation.

Ar nodyn mwy cadarnhaol, a allaf ofyn am ddatganiad gan y Gweinidog—nid wyf yn hollol siŵr o hyd pa Weinidog sy'n gyfrifol am chwaraeon cymunedol, efallai mai’r Gweinidog dros les ydyw neu efallai mai dirprwy ydyw, pwy a ŵyr, ond, beth bynnag, ddatganiad gan y Gweinidog sy'n gyfrifol am ochr gymunedol chwaraeon? Gan ein bod i gyd yn dymuno'n dda i Gymru yn y rownd gynderfynol nos yfory. Mae'n beth gwych i'w weld.  Y diddordeb hirdymor mewn pêl-droed y mae hyn wedi’i achosi—gan fy mod i’n siarad fel un o ddilynwyr y bêl arall, ond, er hynny, mae’r diddordeb i adeiladu ar hyn yn mynd i fod yn wych. A wnaiff hi ymuno â mi i gondemnio, yn y modd gorau posibl, y rhai hynny yn UEFA sy’n dymuno difetha’r hwyl ac sydd wedi dweud na ddylai tîm Cymru fynd â'u plant ar y cae ar ddiwedd y gêm? Ni allaf feddwl am neges fwy cadarnhaol y gallai tîm Cymru ei hanfon na chael merched ifanc a bechgyn yn cicio'r bêl o gwmpas ar ddiwedd gêm bêl-droed ryngwladol. Pan ydych chi’n gweld yr hyn y mae’r chwaraewyr eraill yn ei wneud yn gorymdeithio o amgylch eu hamrywiol ddilynwyr o wahanol fathau a'u nwyddau gwerthadwy, mae gweld chwaraewyr Cymru yn canolbwyntio ar eu teuluoedd ac ar bobl ifanc yn cymryd rhan yn neges wych iawn, iawn. Gallwn adeiladu ar hynny yng Nghymru, rwy'n siŵr. Credaf y bydd datganiad, ar ôl i ni ennill y rownd derfynol, gan y Gweinidog cyfrifol, yn gosod y naws gywir ar gyfer haf o chwaraeon yng Nghymru.

Diolch yn fawr, Simon Thomas. In response to your first question, as you’ve said, and as has been acknowledged this afternoon, the First Minister and the Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths, did meet yesterday key figures from Wales’s environment and agricultural sectors, particularly focusing on the implications of the UK’s decision to leave the European Union. As has already been said by the First Minister, it included farming union leaders, rural businesspeople, as well as representatives of environmental bodies, sharing their thoughts and challenges and opportunities. I know that the Minister will want to follow this up in terms of a statement to clarify not only the discussions but the next steps in terms of developing that Welsh Government policy response.

In response to your second question, following the Estyn report, the fact that this is—. Of course, we always welcome the publication of the report and I know the Cabinet Secretary will particularly want to focus on the points that you make in terms of progress, but also where more can be done, particularly in relation to the educational attainment prospects of looked-after children. The Cabinet Secretary will respond accordingly with a statement.

I think all our Cabinet Secretaries, all of the Welsh Government and, indeed, the whole Assembly will be wishing Wales well. Those who are lucky enough to be there to not only enjoy tomorrow but, of course, the final, when it comes, I’m sure, on Saturday—.

I think it’s very important that we actually see how our Welsh team have been such tremendous role models, as you said, Simon Thomas, and the way in which they have engaged young people and families; it has been very much a family supporters expression, hasn’t it? We can see that and we’re very proud of it. It has put Wales on the world map, because of not only the talent of our Welsh players, but also the spirit and the ethos in which they have played. So, I’m sure we wish Wales well, but also look to the legacy. I know that we will all want to congratulate and thank and recognise what they have demonstrated, not just winning the championship, but how they’ve done it.

Leader of the house, can I ask for two statements from the education Secretary? Last night, I had the pleasure of attending the Gwent Music summer showcase concert at St David’s Hall, with music from schools right across south-east Wales. This regional collaboration across schools should be celebrated and promoted, I’m sure you’ll agree, and so any additional support, financial or otherwise, from the Welsh Government, would be very much appreciated. So, I wonder if we could have a statement from the education Secretary on what is being done to support programmes such as Gwent Music showcase across other parts of Wales.

Secondly, this lunchtime, I visited the British Council event in Tŷ Hywel, which I know a number of Members went to, which was trying to promote the teaching of modern languages across Wales. There has been, as I’m sure the Cabinet is aware, a drop-off in the teaching of foreign languages across Wales in recent years, rather than the increase that we would like to see, and I think, comparative with England, the situation is worse here. So, could we have a statement on what can be done to try and arrest this decline in the teaching of modern foreign languages in schools across Wales, so that Welsh pupils are just as able as pupils from across the rest of the UK—including Scotland, where they’re ahead of the game—in making sure that we are not insular but looking out to the world and able to compete on the global stage?

Thank you, Nick Ramsay. I’m sure the Gwent Music showcase was a tremendous display of talent and skill, but also of the professional expertise and commitment that went in from the music and education professions. And, of course, it would have been a partnership, I’m sure, with local government, as well as schools, and I know the Cabinet Secretary will be very interested to see the outcome of that in south-east Wales.

Of course, the other event that you mention is very important—the British Council event that you attended. We are working with the British Council, and also language institutes and universities across the world, to arrest and reverse the decline in the take-up of modern foreign languages. In fact, I recall an event in my own constituency, in Bryn Hafren school, which is taking the lead—in each consortium there is a lead school—when ‘Global Futures’ was published last year. That is a five-year plan to improve and promote modern foreign languages. So, I’m sure the Cabinet Secretary will want to update on how that is being delivered, but the British Council, and their language institute, is a key player in that ‘Global Futures’ development.

We are a very welcoming people in Wales, known for our hospitality and warmth. So, I wonder if the leader of the house may share my disappointment that, despite our very best efforts on the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee, which I now chair, following on from the expert stewardship of Mr David Melding, the Secretary of State has so far declined our invitation to come and give evidence on the Wales Bill. Now, despite the cautious welcome given to parts of this latest Bill, significant concerns are still being expressed by leading constitutional and legal experts on the potential roll-back of devolution, and the Secretary of State, quite frankly, is the only one who can respond to these concerns. So, I wonder if the leader of the house could, perhaps, together with our Presiding Officer, in seeking to safeguard the interests of the Assembly and the people of Wales, use their influence and good offices to encourage the Secretary of State for Wales to come and visit us, pointing out that it’s not just desirable and reasonable, but actually essential and indeed helpful to good scrutiny that the Secretary of State for Wales accepts our warm and polite invitation to come home to Wales.

Of course, Huw Irranca-Davies, and others in this Chamber, will have the opportunity to extend that invitation again very visibly and vocally tomorrow afternoon, in the Queen’s Speech debate. I can understand your disappointment that the invitation to the Secretary of State for Wales has been declined, because it is so important, and in our mutual best interest, to progress with the Wales Bill. But I await the invitation to be posed yet again tomorrow afternoon, I’m sure more openly, in the Queen’s Speech debate.

I wonder whether we could have a Government update statement, leader of the house, on an issue that I’ve raised before. This is the issue of—. This Chamber makes legislation and the Government makes policy, on the basis of taking children’s rights into account; obviously, we’ve committed to the due regard principle in taking the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into account. Unfortunately, most of the delivery that is done on the back of our legislation and policy is by public bodies, which are not committed in exactly the same way, and successive Ministers have been kind enough to acknowledge that there is a potential gap there, where a failure of policy aims could take place. I think it would be a reassurance to all of us here in the Chamber if we could have some update on progress of work done by the Welsh Government, speaking with public bodies, to ensure that the policy objectives of this place are not undermined by competing pressures on local authorities, for example, when it comes to deciding how they should take children’s rights into account in making their own decisions.

Well, I’m sure that the Minister for communities and children would welcome that opportunity to clarify how seriously the Welsh Government takes its commitment to the UNCRC, to ensure that children’s rights underline all our policy objectives, and, indeed, financial and budgetary purposes and objectives as well. That is part of our strategic integrated impact assessment, and, of course, it accompanies draft and final budget papers from the Welsh Government. But it is for the Minister for communities and children to, again, respond to this in terms of, I’m sure, an update, and he will be open to questions and opportunities at committee and at oral Assembly question level.

I’d like to request two Government statements, please, Secretary. Firstly, in the light of the Office for National Statistics report on avoidable mortality in England and Wales last week, whether we might have a statement on public health and the preventative health agenda, which is one important aspect of dealing with avoidable mortality, and perhaps setting us firmly on a more proactive health agenda, rather than reactive. I wonder whether we might have a Government statement that sets out the current Government’s thinking on that preventative health and public health agenda.

Secondly, I wonder whether we might have a statement on community-focused schools. I think it’s very important that we take forward policy effectively and consistently across Wales, because I think, at the current time, there are some very good examples of community-focused schools, but it is quite patchy. I’m very interested in, and I think Members here generally would be very interested in, the mechanisms and actions that can achieve consistently community-focused schools, right across Wales. Because I think it’s well recognised that achieving a partnership between home and school, and community and school, is the most effective way forward if we are to improve educational standards. We spend a lot of money on our school buildings, and to see them—some of them—lying idle at evenings, weekends, and holidays is not a good use of public resource. Also, in terms of widening access to sport, physical activity and cultural activities, it’s very advantageous if we can have that community-focused school approach in that regard as well. And, finally, I think it’s extremely important that we ensure that not just the twenty-first century schools programme—important though that is—but also, in terms of our existing school stock, we have a community-focused approach. Without that, we wouldn’t have the consistency of approach that I believe we need, across Wales.

Well, the Member for Newport East does raise some very important questions, particularly looking at that recent ONS survey. It did present the latest figures on avoidable mortality for England and Wales, and it did show those 2014 figures for the first time. But the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport did make an oral statement recently on the headline messages from the Welsh health survey, which is our way of looking at the overview of the state of the nation’s health. They, of course, have a strong bearing on how we address those figures from the ONS report. But also, I believe the commitments that we’ve made in our manifesto do build on the very strong platform that we’ve put in place to implement appropriate public health interventions.

On to your second point about community-focused schools, this is something where there’s no question that we have to use our school facilities not only to benefit pupils’ families but also the wider communities. We also need to look at this from the perspective of community use of assets. You’ve mentioned sporting facilities, but also co-location of key services. Quite a lot of our initiatives, like Flying Start, are also located in our school premises, but we also know, in terms of adult learning initiatives and school facilities, and indeed their grounds and sports facilities, of course—we need to use to the fullest extent. The previous Minister for Education and Skills did ask the Public Policy Institute for Wales to provide a review and advice on how school facilities can be used more extensively, so I would draw the Member’s attention to their report, ‘Increasing the Use of School Facilities’, which was published last March. I know that the Cabinet Secretary is considering this report and its recommendations.

I just wanted to ask a business question based on the fact that I wanted to have a statement on Government involvement in the setting up of fanzones across Wales, especially in light of the semi-finals. I’m getting quite a lot of messages as we speak here today of people who haven’t been able to get tickets for the Principality Stadium—fans who’ve followed the matches throughout the tournament. I was wondering whether we could have a statement on your involvement as a Government, and also to see whether you would appeal to Cardiff Council to open Cooper’s field as well as the stadium so that those people are not losing out, and also condemn those people today who are selling on free tickets. This is a free event and should not be made as a profit for those people who want to support the Wales football team in the semi-finals. I would urge you to take urgent action given that this is happening tomorrow, and perhaps we could have a statement from the Minister.

This is something where, of course, we want to ensure that people can attend those local fanzones. They’ve become extremely popular. It’s obviously for the local authorities to ensure that arrangements are made, and to actually provide funding support for them. Also, of course, fans can enjoy the game by supporting local businesses, pubs and restaurants as well. But I think on the point you made—the very concerning point about how people try to exploit on these occasions in terms of selling on free tickets—we’re going to have a strong statement, which we’re making, I think, as a result of your question today. The Cabinet Secretary will share that with me. I think the message, of course, overall—and responding earlier on to Simon Thomas—is that wherever you watch the game, let’s get behind Chris Coleman and the boys and do our best to cheer them on for another famous win.

I endorse Nick Ramsay’s comments about modern foreign languages, where we heard that those most likely to be adversely affected were pupils in the more disadvantaged areas. I call for two statements, the first on bullying. Today is Stand up to Bullying Day as part of the Stand up to Bullying campaign, aiming for individuals, local communities, schools and businesses to stand up to bullying and ensure their pupils or employees are provided with effective support to tackle the problem. We regularly hear in this place—in this Chamber, in committee, and in our own casework—of people who are still being bullied on the grounds of sexuality, impairment, condition or other factors. I know it’s something previous Welsh Governments have given much attention to, but we see figures here: that 68 per cent of young people polled knew of somebody who had been cyber bullied and 81 per cent reported bullying as commonplace in schools, admittedly UK and not Welsh-specific figures, but meriting a statement accordingly.

Finally, a Welsh Government statement, if I could call for this, on digital communications in the context of Ofcom’s digital communication review, which concluded that reforming Openreach was critical to improving the telecoms market in creating a more independent and customer-centric service within BT. I ask this because, and in the context, of the letter that’s gone to the chief executive of Ofcom from the communication network’s industry coalition representing millions of broadband customers, and who will be charged with delivering the next generation of digital networks. We hear every week in this Chamber Members raising issues about broadband and mobile connectivity in their own areas, and, clearly, this will be critical to that agenda.

Thank you, Mark Isherwood, for drawing attention to the Stand Up to Bullying Day, the focus today that, I know, we would all share. Indeed, I know that the Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children is looking at the policies—it’s something that, actually, is shared across the Cabinet; the education Secretary, of course—in terms of tackling bullying. We have a week’s focus in November, usually, on tackling bullying. I think you mentioned cyber bullying, but, also, we know we are greatly concerned that some of the rise in hate crimes could also have a bearing on children and young people as well, and we need to make sure that we are monitoring that and responding to it appropriately. It is very important that we are now, again, focusing on that and that the Cabinet Secretaries with appropriate responsibilities are looking at this very carefully.

I think we have to, in terms of your second point, recognise that not only is the Welsh Government at the forefront in terms of delivering on our digital infrastructure in terms of superfast broadband, not only delivering it with our money, but also, of course, delivering it thanks to the funding from the European Union, of course, so much threatened now in terms of Brexit, but obviously recognising it is a partnership that is near to reaching, of course, its target, and it will be right at the forefront in terms of Wales leading the way.

And finally, Andrew R.T. Davies.

Thank you, Presiding Officer. Leader of the house, is it possible to have a statement from the economy Secretary in relation to business rates. The incoming Government was very clear in its manifesto commitment that it was going to be making a commitment on business rates, specifically to uplift, obviously, the margin that businesses, or the threshold, should I say, that businesses would be captured by the business rate regime. The summer show season, eisteddfods—call them what you will—are all happening over the next eight weeks. Many Members will be engaging with businesses and organisations, and some sort of understanding of the Government’s thinking about how it’s going to take this commitment forward, and, indeed, the level of threshold that the Government will be bringing forward, I think would greatly inform the dialogue that Members will be having at events throughout the summer. So, a statement before the recess would be greatly appreciated.

Well, of course, Andrew R.T. Davies knows that the non-domestic rates, business rates, were fully devolved on 1 April 2015. Now, Welsh Government is responsible for all aspects of management of the non-domestic rates pool. And, of course, that includes risks associated with balancing income reliefs and payments. So, revaluation of non-domestic properties is currently under way and will come into effect on 1 April 2017, and this will update, of course, valuations of non-domestic properties. But, it is for the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government to respond to this point, and I’m sure he will be providing updates.

Thank you, Minister.