The National Infrastructure Commission

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:26 pm on 15 October 2019.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:26, 15 October 2019

Well, Llywydd, the resources available—the staffing resources available—to the commission have increased in recent times. The letter that the Minister, Julie James, sent to Russell George on 16 September sets out the increased research capacity that the commission will need as its work develops. I thought that the report that the committee provided was a useful report. I thought the way in which Russell George set out its conclusions in his letter to Julie James on 14 August was a constructive way of looking to improve the work of the commission in the future, and I hope that the Member will agree that the Minister's reply on 16 September was in the same spirit.

The first annual report of the national infrastructure commission was always scheduled for November of this year—there's no surprise in that. We have always followed the committee's advice in saying that reports would be published every three years after that, so 2022 ought not to come as a surprise to anybody either. We will also review the operation of the commission before the elections in 2021. But all of that is a matter of public record, Llywydd—all of that has always been the way in which the commission has been described, confirmed in the Minister's letter of September, in which she responded positively to other aspects of the committee's work, particularly in looking at ways in which the remit of the commission can be expanded to take in aspects of housing within its remit.