2. What discussions has the First Minister had with the UK Prime Minister regarding the cost-of-living crisis facing residents in mid and west Wales? OQ58550

Llywydd, no opportunity for discussion on this or any other matter has been forthcoming from the latest UK Prime Minister.

Well, I just think that's ridiculous. On this International Day of the Girl Child, perhaps Liz Truss should reflect on what we teach our children about the importance of open dialogue and debate. When you do manage to catch her, would you press the Prime Minister for an answer on the three cost-of-living actions the devolved administrations are calling for: the £25 uplift to all means-tested benefit, abolition of the benefit cap and the two-child limit, and an urgent campaign to boost benefit take-up? These actions would immediately ease the burden on many households in my region and prevent tens of thousands more people in this country from falling into poverty.

Llywydd, I thank Joyce Watson for that, and thank her for drawing attention to the fact that today is the day of the girl. The Welsh Government has played our part, alongside Governments around the globe in that. I'm very pleased indeed to let Members know that Jaime, who's been shadowing me over the last 24 hours, is in the gallery and will be watching our proceedings this afternoon. Llywydd, of course, where opportunities arise, Ministers will want to pursue the points that we've made to the UK Government through the correspondence from our finance Minister. But not only has there been no invitation to meet the Prime Minister, but all those carefully agreed components of the inter-governmental review concluded by the last UK Government, agreed by the Welsh Government, the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive, none of that is operating either. There was to have been a meeting of what's called FISC, the finance inter-ministerial committee. It was meant to happen in September; it was postponed by the UK Government. It was rescheduled for 5 October; it's been postponed again by the UK Government. Neither of those two committees—the ministerial committee and the finance committee—have met since the new Prime Minister took office. There were 11 groups set up at a ministerial level under the review of inter-governmental relations. There have been 20 meetings of those groups between March and the start of September. Not a single one of them has met since the new Prime Minister took office. It is a collapse—it's a collapse—of a set of arrangements that the last Conservative Government agreed, led and, to an extent, was making happen in the six months between March and September. We'll take whatever opportunities come our way, but the truth of the matter is that the current UK Government has turned its back not just on our economic futures, but the future of the United Kingdom as well. 

First Minister, the Health and Social Care Committee is beginning an inquiry into dentistry later this week. As you know, there are huge issues with people being able to access dental treatment, but one of the major issues is the impact that the cost-of-living challenges will have on patients. A concern raised is that patients who are receiving private treatment will now join, or attempt to join, NHS waiting lists, and, according to the Welsh NHS Confederation, that has the potential to add already further pressure on the system. Now, according to consultation responses, there are vast inequalities in oral health. People living in mid Wales, especially if you live in Powys, cannot access, as a new patient, an NHS dentist at all. So, can I ask what is the Government doing to close the inequality gap? And what is the Welsh Government going to do to support those who cannot afford to access dental treatment?  

Well, Llywydd, anything that I'm about to say, the Member can be sure, will be dwarfed by the impact of the cuts that we now know are coming our way. So, some sort of sober realism is required, even by Members on the Conservative benches. Now, as a result of the changes to the dental contract, changes that were, of course, opposed by Members on those benches, tens of thousands of new appointments will become available in the NHS dental service in this calendar year. Already, thousands more NHS patients are being taken on in every part of Wales. There was an anticipated growth, I think, of just over 120,000 dental patients as a result of the contract changes. We've exceeded half of that in the first half of the year, and that includes in the Powys Teaching Health Board—the smallest health board of all—where hundreds and hundreds of new appointments have become possible. I think that's a tribute to the work that's gone in alongside the British Dental Association to shape the new contract, but the pressures that we are about to face will be felt in dentistry, as in every other part of the services provided by the Welsh NHS. 

Good afternoon, First Minister. I just want to say that I feel it's really sad that the Conservatives on the other side of the benches don't listen to the real concerns we have around services here in Wales. I hope that, through listening—through listening—you are able to take back the very clear message that we need a dialogue between the UK Government and the Welsh Government in order to resolve our public services, because we hear that, whilst pensioners are subject to a triple lock on their state pension, those who claim other types of welfare benefits are facing the prospect of significant real-term cuts in what they'll receive. I hope, First Minister, that you will condemn that particular position, and that that will be heard by Conservative colleagues as well, and I hope things will change on that particular issue. 

I want to just look at homelessness, particularly the issue of housing in mid and west Wales, and I thank my colleague for raising this particular issue. Could you outline the steps that the Welsh Government could be taking to institute a floor for discretionary housing payments, which would give councils certainty around the pot of money that they have available to them to prevent evictions and homelessness? Thank you. Diolch yn fawr iawn.

Diolch i Jane Dodds. On a very sobering day, it's utterly sobering to imagine that the people who manage on the very least in our society and see their bills going up all the time might be faced with their benefits not even being uprated in line with inflation, as was promised in the Conservative manifesto of 2019. I agree with Penny Mordaunt, who said that it would be unthinkable for that to happen.

Last week, I asked the leader of the opposition here whether he would add his voice to the campaign to ensure that the very least well-off in our society were protected by their benefits being uprated in line with inflation. I offer him that opportunity again this afternoon. He'll join many Conservatives who believe that that ought to be the case. If it's not, everything else that we are seeing that will impact on the lives of those people will be made even less bearable by the actions of a Government that will have chosen its priorities—as we know, lifting the cap on bankers' bonuses while being prepared to cut the benefits of the least well-off. 

That is certainly felt in housing, as Jane Dodds has said. Discretionary housing payments were cut by the last Conservative Government. They are such a useful tool for local authorities, they are exactly the sort of thing that Peter Fox was referring to earlier. It is local money that allows a local authority to respond to the particular sets of circumstances that they face and what they can do to intervene with those discretionary payments to prevent the far more expensive route of families being taken into homelessness. We are doing our best in this financial year to put more money of our money in to compensate for the loss of UK money in this area. But, it will just be one more of a very long list of things that we will not be able to sustain at the current level if our budgets are reduced in the way that we now see being promised.

First Minister, when the Prime Minister finally talks with you and not just about you, can you assure her on behalf of the people of mid and west Wales that you are not at all anti-growth but that you are, most proudly, anti-greed?

Llywydd, the nonsense that we are somehow—although we are on a very, very long list of other people the Prime Minister has identified as apparently not sharing her view of the world. The Welsh economy, in the figures that the Office for National Statistics published in September, grew faster last year than any other nation of the United Kingdom. So, by what possible yardstick the Prime Minister believes that we are opposed to growth, I have no idea at all. We know—and certainly Ken Skates, in his previous responsibilities, did a great deal to contribute to this—the ingredients that make for growth. It's investment by the public and the private sectors to make sure that people who are carrying out jobs in the Welsh and the UK economy have the best possible equipment at their disposal, and it's investment in skills so that the people we have are as equipped as they can be as well to make their greatest contribution to the economy. 

The idea that the United Kingdom, which is already a low tax, deregulated economy, far in excess of much more successful economies elsewhere, needs more of that as a path to growth—there is no evidence for it and there's no confidence in it, not just by opposition political parties but by markets right around the world.