13 January 2026 , Plenary
& 10. The general principles of the Senedd Cymru (Member Accountability and Elections) Bill and the financial resolution in respect of the Senedd Cymru (Member Accountability and Elections) Bill
Just on the point the Member made about it being rushed, this Senedd has been discussing the issues around this for some two years. The standards committee took quite a considerable series of evidence sessions, which I sat on as an observer. The process is an…
29 January 2025 , Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Welsh Language
Thank you. Bearing in mind we had a £1 million settlement in capital spending from the last Government, the £175 million of capital funding delivered in this draft budget is 10 times the average growth in capital funding that's been made available over the…
29 January 2025 , Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Welsh Language
7. How will the Welsh Government’s draft budget for 2025-26 deliver on the four key priorities set out by the First Minister? OQ62223
21 January 2025 , Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Thank you for the answer. I took part in an excellent digital dialogue session with pupils of Bigyn Primary School in Llanelli recently and they asked me as a result of that to raise with you the fact that their families find accessing an NHS dentist in…
21 January 2025 , Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
3. What steps is the Welsh Government taking to improve access to NHS dental services in Llanelli? OQ62189
15 January 2025 , Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: New UK Government's first six months
I will. —extended a hand to children who turned up with no-one, who turned up with nothing, and didn't have the privilege of inherited wealth and the private education that Andrew R.T. Davies had. But he doesn't care about the people; all he cares about is…
15 January 2025 , Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: New UK Government's first six months
The denial isn't just in this Chamber from the Welsh Conservatives; we heard last week about Liz Truss sending a legal letter to the Prime Minister because he'd repeated that she'd crashed the economy, something even George Osborne admits, that Liz Truss…
15 January 2025 , Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: New UK Government's first six months
I'm sure that's a great comfort to Darren Millar, because the last Tory leader that Tom supported didn't end so well, and he had quite a hand in it, as I recall. This is like being stuck in a bad sixth-form debate, Dirprwy Lywydd. Clearly, the Conservatives…
15 January 2025 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Local Government)
Okay. Thank you.
15 January 2025 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Local Government)
Well, I think my suggestion is, if we are serious about preventative work and collaboration, there do need to be dedicated streams of work for that and the NHS needs to be both carrot and stick to encourage local authorities to do that. My question is: what…
15 January 2025 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Local Government)
I understand that, but it doesn't answer the question.
15 January 2025 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Local Government)
Except that their evidence to us is that, without targeted resources earmarked for prevention, they're unlikely to achieve the radical step-change required. So, they're saying—they're facing both ways here, aren't they? So, it's a genuine dilemma, I…
15 January 2025 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Local Government)
Sure. I understand that, but the point I'm trying to make is that you have, therefore—in that trade-off, you have given up the levers you have to ensure any strategic thinking. [Interruption.] Peter Fox is saying that that's subsidiarity, yes, it is, but if…
15 January 2025 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Local Government)
Well, there is. One's statutory and one's non-statutory. There's quite a clear line.
15 January 2025 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Local Government)
You’ve given away your levers to plan.
15 January 2025 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Local Government)
Isn’t part of the problem, in terms of part of the planning being about pooling services, working on prevention, securing economies of scale, and given that you have essentially taken away as much hypothecation as you can to give greater flexibility to local…
15 January 2025 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Local Government)
That is part of financial planning, isn't it? Cost pressures are.
15 January 2025 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Local Government)
But given most of the pressures that they have described, certainly in terms of overspend coming from social care and education, is there at least work on demographic trends that you can do, in terms of the assumptions of the pressures? I accept, in terms of…
15 January 2025 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Local Government)
No, I understand that. I wonder if, at official level, there are things that you’re thinking about in this space, given all the limitations the Minister rightly identifies.
15 January 2025 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Local Government)
So, given that it’s difficult, do we just simply say, ‘Well, we can’t do it’, or are there some no-regrets measures we can do with local authorities to have at least some basis for planning?
15 January 2025 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Local Government)
It is difficult. Well, that’s the premise of the question—it is difficult.
15 January 2025 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Local Government)
But all those were known to Jane Gebbie last week, and she still says that they’re reading the tea leaves, so that doesn’t really engage with the question.
15 January 2025 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Local Government)
We had quite an interesting exchange with the WLGA last week, and one of the striking answers was on, realistically, their ability to plan for the medium to long term. And the response from Councillor Jane Gebbie was, 'We are plucking them out of the air and…
8 January 2025 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 1—Welsh Local Government Association
No, that's all I have. Thank you.
8 January 2025 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 1—Welsh Local Government Association
Your budget paper says that two thirds of your projected overspend is not inflation related.
