, 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 (Housing)
Thank you for that. Just moving on to market housing, I'm just wondering why, after an additional £25 million of annual capital had been allocated to the empty homes grant, there hasn't been a decrease in the number of empty homes over the last three years…
, 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 (Housing)
Yes, but you're not expecting any of this £2 million to be helping them to come on board, because that was already in the settlement.
, 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 (Housing)
Thank you, Chair. I just wanted to ask you a quick question on the leasing scheme. We know you've put an additional £2 million into that. I just wondered if you could give us a little bit more detail on what your intended purpose is for the additional money.
, 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 (Housing)
Yes. Thank you.
, 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 (Housing)
Yes. My experience has been that, when we get to planning application time and developers are coming forward with a 30 per cent target, and then when it comes to granting them planning, they'll hold back and hold out and argue and we've seen figures come in…
, 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 (Housing)
Yes. It's a really interesting area, and as a past council leader, we've seen LDPs put in place but not deliver for about five years after or more, and I wonder how much forward planning we should be doing. I know that strategic planning is looked at by…
, 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 (Housing)
Okay. Good, thank you.
, 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 (Housing)
On what you said there, have we seen—? What's the difference in land supply costs and things now? Have we seen quite an increase for development land or—?
, 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 (Housing)
Chair, I'm not trying to make political points on this. It's trying to ascertain the facts as they are at the moment. Without the clarity on national insurance, the facts are that our aspirations won't be achieved until those negotiations perhaps deliver.
, 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 (Housing)
Yes, it's very clear, and, notwithstanding what you're trying to do in helping with the living wage, it's just a fact that the third sector are going to be under huge pressure if this element of national insurance isn't addressed, so your aspirations for what…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with the Counsel General and Minister for Delivery on the Legislation (Procedure, Publication and Repeals) (Wales) Bill
Thank you, Counsel General.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with the Counsel General and Minister for Delivery on the Legislation (Procedure, Publication and Repeals) (Wales) Bill
Thank you for that. On the same theme, perhaps you can put this right as well: why does the Bill refer to the ‘Clerk of Senedd Cymru’, as opposed to the term used in the Government of Wales Act 2006, ‘Clerk of the Senedd’?
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with the Counsel General and Minister for Delivery on the Legislation (Procedure, Publication and Repeals) (Wales) Bill
Thank you for the clarity around that. A couple of other questions from me. Why did the Welsh Government not engage with the Chief Executive and Clerk of the Senedd ahead of the Bill's introduction, given that some of its provisions relate to the clerk’s…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with the Counsel General and Minister for Delivery on the Legislation (Procedure, Publication and Repeals) (Wales) Bill
Yes, thank you, Chair. Good afternoon, Counsel General. Just following on from the theme of the Open Spaces Society, I understand that they’d suggested that the repeal of section 28 of the Commons Act 1876 should not be taken forward in the Bill. I wondered…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 1—Welsh Local Government Association
I'm not knocking councils for having reserves, you need reserves, and I'm appreciating how much you are needing them now, and using them, and you were already doing it in Bridgend, which is great. What I would ask, where there are authorities that have…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 1—Welsh Local Government Association
Just touching on reserves—and I do recognise how you are having to draw off them every year, and hopefully your treasury management will be replenishing them to a little degree and there are more favourable opportunities to do that—I would ask leaders, and…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 1—Welsh Local Government Association
Just briefly, on the whole collaborative agenda, because it was something I certainly, in my past life, could see that was fundamental, actually, to a sustainable local government family. I just wondered, can you give us a flavour—obviously, that could go…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 1—Welsh Local Government Association
Good morning, all. It’s really good to see you and to catch up with where you are. Mary Ann, you shared that there was a sigh of relief when the budget came through, but, clearly, as we all know, the variances between the distribution of Newport and Monmouth…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
Thank you, Cabinet Secretary, that's reassuring. I'm sure many people watching will be taking your advice. You touched on already lessons learnt, and not only will this project end up costing, we understand, a predicted £2 billion—wildly over budget—but the…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. I think we all hope that those benefits will come to those areas that most need it. The Cardiff capital region was about actually trying to level up things, and if this helps from the top, that's great, but we do have to…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
Diolch, Llywydd. Cabinet Secretary, I look forward to working with you in my new role, and hopefully we can work constructively together to drive up the best value for Wales from a transport perspective. Cabinet Secretary, as we heard on the news this week…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Thank you, First Minister. As you know, and as we all know, waiting lists have been spiralling further out of control, hitting a new record after nine months of consecutive increases. This dire situation is forcing many people to pay for their healthcare…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
2. What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the reasons for the increase in the number of patients using private healthcare in Wales? OQ62084
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Welsh Language
Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. Soon, this Parliament will undergo scrutiny of the tourism levy here in Wales—a new dimension to your taxation policy, should its passage be secured. My colleagues and I, as you know, strongly oppose the implementation of such a…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Welsh Language
6. How is the Welsh Government's taxation policy used to support businesses in south-east Wales? OQ61847
