4 March 2026 , Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Arfor: Ministerial evidence session
Rebecca Evans, Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning.
3 March 2026 , Plenary
& 11. The Infrastructure Consent (Fees) (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 and The Infrastructure Consent (Compensation for Changing or Revoking Infrastructure Consent Orders) (Wales) Regulations 2026
I'm very grateful to the Chair for those comments and for the work of the LJC committee, which I was pleased to provide a response to. The package of regulations does complete now the implementation of the infrastructure consenting regime. It offers a modern…
3 March 2026 , Plenary
& 11. The Infrastructure Consent (Fees) (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 and The Infrastructure Consent (Compensation for Changing or Revoking Infrastructure Consent Orders) (Wales) Regulations 2026
Thank you. I’m pleased to present the Infrastructure Consent (Fees) (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 and the Infrastructure Consent (Compensation for Changing or Revoking Infrastructure Consent Orders) (Wales) Regulations 2026 for approval. These…
24 February 2026 , Plenary
The Building Safety Act 2022 (Consequential Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2026
Yes, just to thank particularly the committee for its work. The regulations we're debating today will ensure the proper functioning of the changes to the building control procedures that come into force later this year, and those changes provide the basis for…
24 February 2026 , Plenary
The Building Safety Act 2022 (Consequential Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2026
Thank you. In December last year, regulations were made that reformed the manner in which building control approval is conducted in Wales. These were needed to enable change as a result of Dame Judith Hackitt's recommendations to improve safety and…
24 February 2026 , Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning: Local Growth Fund Investment Plan for Wales
To be clear with colleagues, I raise this all the time with the UK Government, but if I just sit and fold my arms and not engage with the UK Government and not make these plans for how we spend the money, then that's not the right thing to do. I need to…
24 February 2026 , Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning: Local Growth Fund Investment Plan for Wales
I'm really grateful for the question, and I hear what colleagues are saying around CJCs. I do think, though, that one thing that we will have the opportunity to do now, through this further transitional year, is to work with local government and our CJC…
24 February 2026 , Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning: Local Growth Fund Investment Plan for Wales
I'm really grateful for the questions, and I share that concern that we would be in a different place had we not left the European Union, but our priority here has to be about making the most of what is £0.5 billion of funding that is coming to Wales. I am…
24 February 2026 , Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning: Local Growth Fund Investment Plan for Wales
I do think it's important to recognise that the local growth fund isn't the beginning and end of our support to local government, to businesses, to academia, to the third sector and other partners, to try and support them in terms of addressing productivity…
24 February 2026 , Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning: Local Growth Fund Investment Plan for Wales
With respect, I've already answered one of these questions at least twice, but I will repeat myself. I was really clear in terms of the funding that the UK Government is providing through the mayoral strategic authorities and the capital-only £500 million…
24 February 2026 , Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning: Local Growth Fund Investment Plan for Wales
I'm really grateful for that contribution and those questions. I think that, at the moment, we are in the position where we are finalising and publishing, or on the road to publishing, our investment plan and the MOU with the UK Government. Essentially, in…
24 February 2026 , Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning: Local Growth Fund Investment Plan for Wales
I have been really clear throughout that the Welsh Government is deeply unhappy with the capital-revenue split. The question was asked what discussions have I had since I gave evidence to committee. I did meet with the Secretary of State at the Ministry of…
24 February 2026 , Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning: Local Growth Fund Investment Plan for Wales
I'm very grateful for those questions this afternoon, and it is a fact that, following our departure from the European Union, the funding that we have available is less. That was a choice that was made, and that was a choice that was understood at the time…
24 February 2026 , Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning: Local Growth Fund Investment Plan for Wales
Importantly, a regional approach also enables much stronger alignment between the local growth fund and other regional funding streams and strategies. For example, corporate joint committees already lead on regional transport and strategic development plans…
24 February 2026 , Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning: Local Growth Fund Investment Plan for Wales
I welcome this opportunity to update Members on progress in developing an investment plan with partners to invest £547 million of UK Government funding through the local growth fund for Wales between April 2026 and March 2029. In October, we announced jointly…
29 January 2026 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Local Growth Fund
Thank you for that. Before I answer that, can I just say, on that Wales-wide question that Jenny asked, because I realise that we didn't respond to that, that the Wales-wide proposals wouldn't be in year 1. So, there is no intention to introduce anything…
29 January 2026 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Local Growth Fund
So, again, that will be part of the discussion at Cabinet, but I might just ask Tom to say a little bit more about some of the tools that we could be looking at in that space, without pre-judging any decisions that might be made.
29 January 2026 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Local Growth Fund
But you do have regional growth and regional transport plans. Each of those will have embedded monitoring and evaluation frameworks. You will have strategic development plans also being developed at the CJC level. In that sense, you have the tools and you've…
29 January 2026 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Local Growth Fund
Again, it's partly about not reinventing the wheel, in the sense that—
29 January 2026 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Local Growth Fund
I will absolutely agree with you that there are different views amongst local government about CJCs and the use of CJCs for the local growth fund. However, this is what we have proposed.
29 January 2026 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Local Growth Fund
If you wrote to me, I'm sure I have.
29 January 2026 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Local Growth Fund
We thought the CJCs, actually—and we consulted on this—were really well placed, because the purposes directly align with the local growth fund model. Strategic economic development, regional transport planning and land use planning are going to be core levers…
29 January 2026 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Local Growth Fund
Ultimately, the shared prosperity fund is coming to a close. So, we've tried to mitigate that by providing this additional transitional year, the UK Government's additional six months for the closure of the shared prosperity fund, and so on. But I think that…
29 January 2026 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Local Growth Fund
Yes, we've worked really well with local government to agree to the further transitional year. That's something that's only available to local authorities in Wales. So, again, it's something where we've tried to show that we've really listened. Another…
29 January 2026 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Local Growth Fund
I am surprised to hear that local government feel that they haven't or that they're not satisfied with the level and timing of engagement, because we've put in place meetings with local government ahead of every steering group meeting and at points where we…
