Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Social Justice – in the Senedd at 1:44 pm on 9 February 2022.

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Photo of Joel James Joel James Conservative 1:44, 9 February 2022

Thank you, Deputy Minister, but I feel, once again, that this Welsh Government is missing the point, because, rather than introducing new legislation, you need to make sure that existing legislation works first. If the future generations Act has been so heavily criticised for not working, why should we expect the social partnership Bill to work? As mentioned in yesterday's budget debate, the future generations commissioner has very publicly declared that her budget is the smallest of the commissioners and is not big enough for her to fully implement the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act. The commissioner has further complained that 43 per cent of her time is being taken up by instructing the Welsh Government on how to implement policy within its own organisation. The commissioner has, as a result, requested that her budget be increased to £1.592 million for 2022 and 2023, so that her office can, and I quote,

'plan for and meet known statutory work demands at the end of 2021-22 and beginning of 2022-23.'

The commissioner has stated that the flat-line underfunding her office receives means in real terms, and in her own words, she

'can do less while expectations and demands for support and advice across 44 public bodies grows', and

'The level of support and advice offered to Public Bodies and Ministers increases year on year.'

In this week's Equality and Social Justice Committee meeting, the commissioner stated that she was, and I quote again, massively under-resourced, which means that the commissioner is highlighting that her office would be unable to meet statutory work demands as imposed by this Government if she does not receive more funding.

If the commissioner is complaining that she is financially ill-equipped to meet her general duties, how can it be, Deputy Minister, that the commissioner has wasted a sizeable amount of her money and her budget on hiring an outside body to undertake a universal basic income feasibility study and also to conduct research into a shorter working week, which are both reserved matters that neither her office nor this Government has any control over?

Surely, Deputy Minister, you agree with me that the commissioner is wasting public money on such research, especially since UBI has never been implemented wholesale, despite trials worldwide and despite repeatedly showing that human behaviour does not fit into the socialist model of how the world works. Given the extensive criticism—