7. 7. Welsh Conservatives Debate: The Programme for Government

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:27 pm on 28 September 2016.

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Photo of Jane Hutt Jane Hutt Labour 5:27, 28 September 2016

Well, you certainly have welcomed the commitments that we have made, Darren Millar, in terms of the health service. But, also, I think and I recall that you welcomed the fact that we, the Welsh Labour Government, actually put money into social care, which, of course, in England is now being cut, resulting in people remaining in hospital because there is no funding for social care. The Welsh Labour Government put social care as a forefront ambition.

We also have to recognise that this is about how we’re ambitious with learning. We have invested an extra £100 million to drive up school standards, and introduced a new curriculum to give us the skills we need and promote teaching excellence. I’m delighted that Neil Hamilton welcomes the fact that we’re working towards 1 million Welsh speakers by 2050. It sounds as though you might be leaving us, Neil Hamilton, though, from what you said, but let’s recognise that there are important points to make.

I would also like to respond to Mohammad Asghar’s points about the 100,000 quality apprenticeships for all ages. That’s what, last night, the Construction Industry Training Board—I was at the dinner, Russell George was at the dinner, Simon Thomas—welcoming the fact that we had announced 100,000 quality apprenticeships for all ages looking at the key areas: life sciences, financial services and digital technologies—welcoming the fact. In fact, James Wates, the chairman of the UK board, said, ‘When I come to Wales, I see innovation’. You know that—you heard it, those of you who were there last night. But they were also saying to us how worried they are about the apprenticeship levy. I don’t know how the leader of the opposition can think that this isn’t an issue—a UK Government issue imposed on us with no consultation, an unnecessary burden on employers, and CITB is very concerned about it. So, we’ve been very clear on this agenda and how we can take this forward in terms of our ambitions.

Dirprwy Lywydd, we do face great—[Interruption.] I’ve given way to your side quite a bit already. Dirprwy Lywydd, we do face uncertainties. We’re preparing for a draft budget amid ongoing public cuts, austerity and uncertainty, of course, since the UK’s vote to leave the EU—more uncertain times. We’re not going to pre-empt the content of our 2017-18 budget, and we have to recognise that it’s about aligning resources to our priorities. But I want to finally say that not only are we delivering on our commitments, but we know what Wales needs, we listen to what Wales needs—that they wanted us to support businesses, they wanted us to support our health service, our schools, our affordable housing programme, but they also wanted to recognise new needs, and Julie Morgan described those in terms of our childcare offer. Let’s just look at that childcare offer. It’s one of the key priorities of this Government. It delivers a better deal on childcare that anywhere else in the UK, building on the foundation phase, providing working families with 30 hours of free childcare for three and four-year-olds for 48 weeks of the year. This includes term-time and holiday provision. I’m so glad I’ve had the opportunity to say that and broadcast this in this debate today. This is the most ambitious priority for us as a Welsh Government. In Liverpool on Sunday, the First Minister quoted Nye Bevan, when he said,

‘only by the possession of power can you get the priorities correct.’

And, as the First Minister stated, we’ve set out our priorities, we’ve set out what we will do to achieve them, and we can do them constructively with your engagement through the compact with Plaid Cymru across this Chamber. But we are clear that the people of Wales voted for our programme, and we have a mandate to deliver it.