Devolved Responsibilities

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:27 pm on 11 October 2022.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:27, 11 October 2022

Llywydd, I thank John Griffiths for that, and I'll make two points if I could. First of all, to endorse what he said about the importance of the work of the commission, chaired by Professor Laura McAllister and Archbishop Rowan Williams. Members here will know that, jointly with the Senedd authorities, the Welsh Government is sponsoring a lecture series in which we will hear voices from outside Wales who have a contribution to make to thinking about our constitutional future. The first of those lectures is scheduled for immediately after Plenary next week. It will be delivered by David Lidington, the former Deputy Prime Minister in the Theresa May Government. I've read some of the contributions he's made elsewhere to these debates; he's absolutely worth hearing. I hope Members here will be able to come and hear what he has to say and to debate those issues with him. It's very important that we add to the debates we have internally those voices from outside Wales who can help us to widen our understanding and to devise futures for ourselves in the best possible way.

My second response to John Griffiths, Llywydd, is to, again, agree with him on the importance of communication. It's why, yesterday, at the weekly meeting of the Cabinet committee on the cost of living, we were joined by our social partners. So, we were joined by the voluntary sector. We will be joined by faith communities. We'll be joined by representatives of private industry and by the Wales Trades Union Congress. Local government will be at that meeting as well, and they will come fortnightly to every other meeting of that committee, precisely in order to do what John Griffiths has said—to make sure that there is direct communication from them to the Welsh Government of any views they have; any information they have that we ought to have, they'll be able to provide it. But then, also, where we are able to explain some of the actions we are taking, they will then be able to pass that on directly to their members and their organisations, who we know will have so much to do over this winter when it comes to protecting the most vulnerable from the difficult experiences that we know are bound to come their way.