3. Statement by the First Minister: The Legislative Programme

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:35 pm on 16 July 2019.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 3:35, 16 July 2019

I thank the Member for those remarks. I'll try and answer the questions that he posed in them.

The legislation we will bring forward in relation to bus services will be designed to reverse the damage done to bus services in Wales by the policies of deregulation introduced by his Government. That's where the problems of bus services lie. They lie in the denial of powers to local authorities to be able to act purposefully in the public interest, despite the fact that the vast majority of revenue received by bus companies in Wales comes in one way or another directly from the public purse. And he's absolutely right that the public should have confidence that the money that they provide for that service is being put to use in the public interest. That's what our Bill will secure and it will do that alongside the other things that we are already doing: extending subsidised travel on buses for young people and paving the way for the future of bus services by having demand-responsive services operating in parts of Wales, including new services being provided in the south Wales Valleys area.

As far as GPs are concerned, I notice that the Member failed to refer to the 93 per cent satisfaction rate that people in Wales express with their GP services. And, of course, the proposals that we're bringing forward in relation to liability are as a result of our discussions with the profession and with the medical defence unions. And, of course, the contractual matters to which he referred have now been settled here in Wales. We have reached agreement with GPC Wales on contractual reforms over the coming 12 months and those agreements are manifestly better than the deal that has been struck for GPs by his Government across our border—and that is the view of the profession.

As far as the local government Bill is concerned, well, the Bill will be here for Members to scrutinise. When we say 'voluntary mergers', the word 'voluntary' means what it says and the Member will be able to see that when the Bill is published.

As far as a climate emergency is concerned, then legislation is only one of the wide range of actions that this Government takes to make real our response to the impact of climate change on our planet. Here, Llywydd, are just three things that we will be doing and they demonstrate the breadth of the ambition that this Government has. In transport, we will press ahead over the next 12 months with our determination that 20 mph zones should become the default setting in urban areas with all the impact that that has not just on the climate but with every other advantage that it brings in terms of connected communities. We will bring forward regulations to tackle agricultural pollution, because we know that pollution in the agricultural industry directly harms our environment just as it directly harms the reputation of the agricultural industry. We will bring forward legislation in the form of regulation to deal with that in the coming 12 months. By the end of the next 12 months, Llywydd, the Welsh Government will have planted the millionth tree that we will have planted in Uganda on behalf of the people of Wales. We will create a forest in Uganda twice the size of the landmass of Wales working with our partners in the Wales for Africa programme there. That is part of our commitment not simply to the people of that area but the responsibility that we owe globally in relation to the climate emergency. All of those things—and that's just three examples; there are many more that I could have offered the Member this afternoon to demonstrate the things that we're doing. And by the way, Llywydd, I don't think I heard a single legislative proposal from the opposition that they would have put forward in the final period of this Assembly.

Finally, in relation to single-use plastics, Llywydd—[Interruption.] It's too late for them to start muttering these ideas now. The leader of the opposition had ample opportunity to set them out in front of the Assembly and couldn't find a moment to refer to them. As far as plastics are concerned, we have worked with his Government, we have worked with the UK Government, with the Treasury's consultation on proposals to use tax measures to deal with plastics. And we've agreed with the Treasury on the limited set of ideas that they have brought forward. Here, we have brought forward our own proposals for extended producer responsibility and a deposit-return scheme in Wales. The consultation closed in May of this year; we are considering the responses. We will publish a summary of those responses shortly, and then we will continue to work collaboratively with others to bring forward new taxation measures.