10 October 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
I've got two more questions, Cadeirydd, if that's okay—
10 October 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
I'm sure other colleagues will come on to some other questions there. But I want to move on to building safety, if that's okay. We haven't seen the pace of delivery on building safety that a lot of people would have liked to have seen, but a lot of that as…
10 October 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
You're the housing Secretary.
10 October 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Do you think, Cabinet Secretary, it’s something that the Welsh Government should probably look into with housing associations and local authorities, to see how many have probably not even gone into the planning stage yet because of phosphates? Surely for the…
10 October 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
You don't have a figure on that one.
10 October 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Just on this point, Chair, and those 68, there are obviously going to be other social housing developments that have probably not actually come forward at all, because of phosphate regulation. Does the Welsh Government have any idea how many have not even…
10 October 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
That's fine. Just—
10 October 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Yes, before I move on to building safety, one element that can end homelessness is actually the building of houses, and we've seen that the phosphate regulations that were brought in had a major impact on house building across Wales. Have you quantified…
10 October 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
—for 2023-24 and show that homelessness has gone up again, does that mean you'd have a relook at some of the strategies and say, 'Well, are they actually working?' Even though they've been developed with the industry, if the stats are going in the wrong…
10 October 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
So, if the stats come out—sorry, John—
10 October 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Yes, thanks, Cabinet Secretary. You've outlined, in the brief time that we've been talking, some strategies that the Welsh Government have been using to address homelessness, but the figures from Stats Wales do paint a different picture, don't they?…
9 October 2024 , Plenary
Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. With the detail you've just outlined, I think it would be very useful for this Chamber if we could actually have an update from you and a statement on the changes that you've made, rather than announcing them today. If we could…
9 October 2024 , Plenary
Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
I’m sure they will, but the number of job losses is colossal. They’ve got to look at agricultural pollution, water quality, forestry, flooding—that’s just to name a few things that they do. It’ll be interesting to see how they do manage that. Cabinet…
9 October 2024 , Plenary
Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
Diolch, Presiding Officer. Cabinet Secretary, Natural Resources Wales are the agency responsible for monitoring the NVZ regulation across Wales. As my colleague Natasha Asghar said, they are facing huge funding cuts and job losses. Can you confirm today how…
8 October 2024 , Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning: Economic Growth
Diolch, Deputy Presiding Officer. Cabinet Secretary, you mentioned green growth in your statement, but green growth does come at a cost to communities. Many people in Brecon and Radnorshire are very concerned about the industrialisation of mid Wales by…
8 October 2024 , Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Mental Health and Well-being: Mental Health and Well-being
I'd like to thank you, Minister, for mentioning my mental health Bill; I won't be talking about that today. Another issue that I think is really, really important is body dysmorphia, and the amount of young people across Wales who are suffering with body…
3 October 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
The provision of sites for Gypsy, Roma and Travellers: Follow up—Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip
But the Government placed that statutory duty on them, didn't they?
3 October 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
The provision of sites for Gypsy, Roma and Travellers: Follow up—Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip
On capacity, we heard from local authorities this morning. Not every local authority has a community liaison officer to deal with this community, and sometimes other areas of the council are picking up work. So, planning might pick up a little bit, housing…
3 October 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
The provision of sites for Gypsy, Roma and Travellers: Follow up—Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip
Yes, so, with that working relationship, obviously there are probably asks that come from these groups as well back to Government. So, I’m just interested in what areas of policy are you considering changing or tweaking to address issues that come forward…
3 October 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
The provision of sites for Gypsy, Roma and Travellers: Follow up—Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip
Thank you. Cabinet Secretary, I want to talk about capacity and resources. Could you elaborate on the regular cycle of meetings between Welsh Government officials and local authorities? What are the specific goals of those meetings and what do they aim to…
3 October 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
The provision of sites for Gypsy, Roma and Travellers: Follow up —Evidence session 2
I've got just one more question about the regular meetings you have with Welsh Government. The Cabinet Secretary has said that they've been invaluable, the meetings, the regular catch-up meetings, with local authorities around capacity, around different…
3 October 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
The provision of sites for Gypsy, Roma and Travellers: Follow up —Evidence session 2
Yes, as we know, the Welsh Government are moving to a regional basis of doing certain types of work. Colleagues in planning who are on the call will know what they do around planning and on corporate joint committees. Do you think that this is an area of work…
3 October 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
The provision of sites for Gypsy, Roma and Travellers: Follow up —Evidence session 2
Do you think there's a role, then, for the Welsh Government within the structure they have here—I know that the Government will probably say not—to actually give some direct support to local authorities in terms of some revenue funding to actually put a post…
3 October 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
The provision of sites for Gypsy, Roma and Travellers: Follow up —Evidence session 2
Elliw.
3 October 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
The provision of sites for Gypsy, Roma and Travellers: Follow up —Evidence session 2
That's fine. I want to talk about capacity and resource issues. Despite the recent increase in capacity in the Welsh Government, what specific resources and capacity challenges persist at the local authority level across Wales, particularly in areas with high…
