12/01/2016 am.pm

Good afternoon, welcome to the programme and our weekly

coverage of questions to the First Minister.

It's an election year - the Assembly election takes place

on 4th May this year, and we might have an EU

First Minister Carwyn Jones will face questions from AMs

for the first time in 2016 shortly, the day after he went head to head

with the Ukip leader Nigel Farage in Cardiff in a debate about UK

I dare say that debate will get a mention today, as well as

questions on the order paper which include how the Welsh

Government is coping with winter pressures on the NHS,

the recent floods in North Wales as well as questions from the three

Don't forget you can follow all the latest on Welsh politics

on our twitter feed - we're @walespolitics.

Well, business in the chamber is already underway,

so let's take a look now at today's questions to the First Minister.

Good afternoon. National Assembly of Wales is now in session. The first

item this afternoon in questions to the First Minister, question one is

Kirsty Williams. Happy New Year, Presiding Officer and First

Minister. Will the First Minister make a statement on the Welsh

glove's policy on schools federations in Brecon and

Radnorshire? We are committed to school to school working as part of

a school improvement system which underpins our policy in qualifying

for life, and it is for schools and local authorities to decide whether

Federation is the best option. Your policy is that Federation can be a

viable alternative to school closures, especially in raw areas

where school closure may mean young children travelling considerable

differences to schools, and recognising schools as wider social

aspect is as part of a thriving community. What steps you take to

ensure your policy and tension in your documents is carried out by

local authorities and they actually give due consideration to Federation

as an option rather than simply looking at closure, as they

currently do, with the case of small primary schools in Brecon and

Radnor. We would encourage any local authority to consider Federation.

Schools have had the power to federate by choice since 2010, and

to encourage greater Federation in 2014 we have allowed local

authorities to federate schools as well as schools themselves. It is

certainly an option that local authorities should be looking at

whenever they face decisions over schools, we would expect them to

give full consideration to the regulations. Question two, William

Graham. Will he make a statement on the

impact of extreme winter pressures? The NHS always plans for this as the

busiest time of year. Health boards and trusts managed effectively into

generally. There has been resilience, despite material

increases in demand which have provided some peaks in pressure

managed locally. I am grateful for his answer. As you recognise we have

had an seasonal worship -- weather, particularly mild so little frost or

snow resulting in breakages or fractures. We have not had a major

flu outbreak. Yet we still have extreme pressure on the health

service in South Wales. Does this mean correct resources are not

allocated? We have seen an increase on Sundays in A of 25%, there have

been higher ambulance calls and arrivals at emergency units. Yet the

system has coped. A attendances are often highly in the summer, cuts

and grazers, fractures, they do not involve a long stay. In the winter,

especially with the damp weather, respiratory conditions are the

issue, especially with older people they require a longer stay and

sometimes admission to hospital. That is why pressure builds in the

winter, especially at this time of year. Despite those pressures, we

know that the Ambulance Service and the LHPs have managed and we are

confident at their plans. Lindsay Whittle. TRANSLATION: Thank you.

Could you outline how well glove efforts clear with social services

and primary care providers is working so far to reduce Nasr --

unnecessary hospital admissions. Looking at DeLay transfers of care,

they are reducing in Wales. -- delayed transfers. The Immediate

Care Fund will help in terms of people being able to remain at home

and to come home. It is not simply a question, as the member will know,

of dealing with pressures as they arise in the hospitals that also

being able to ensure that people can go home as quickly as possible. We

are seeing a downward trend in Wales. Questions from the party

leaders, first we have the leader of Plaid Cymru, Leanne Wood.

TRANSLATION: Thank you, Presiding Officer, happy New Year. SPEAKS IN

ENGLISH. You participated in the first major public debate on the

future for Wales in the European Union. You went head to head with

the voice of the far right. You think your performance helped or

hindered the Welsh campaign to remain in the EU? I will leave that

to others. It is a hugely important issue. It is the major

constitutional issue we will face this year. I will never stop making

the case for Wales' membership of the EU to protect the 200,000 jobs

which rely on membership, to recognise the billions of pounds of

funding we have had and for access to one of the biggest single market

in the world. I will make that case for the next few months.

I guess it is of two people to decide whether or not you helped or

hindered that case. It is my view that those who try to frighten

people into voting a certain weight run the risk of a backlash. People

want to hear a positive case for Wales remaining in the European

Union rather than a new version of Project Fear. You said last night

that EU reform was not on the agenda. Have you given up holding a

better Europe, just as you have given building a better Wales? It is

the Prime Minister who has set his face in favour of reform, it is for

him to deliver the reforms he has suggested. I think there are some

areas where the European Union needs to reform, it needs to be more

transparent. The commission needs to be less powerful, the parliament

more powerful. It can do without moving around between Brussels and

Strasbourg, as it does, but she and I will both agree there is a lot

long -- wrong with the structure of the UK as well which needs

reforming. It is not walking away from the EU, but securing the reform

to keep it at the heart of Europe. People are yearning for political

change at all levels, they want a positive vision and they are fed up

with politicians telling them that this is as good as it gets. A new

Europe is possible, I believe, just as a new Wales as possible. But you

fail to put that positive vision in that debate last night. We got an

insight last night, I think, as to how you intend to approach the

period leading to the referendum. I hope you will reflect on the debate

last night and give serious consideration to changing tack.

Moving on from last night, can you outline to us what contingency

planning your Government has or is undertaking for Wales' removal from

the European Union? Have you sought legal advice on the ramifications of

Wales voting in bits being taken out, and what action will the Welsh

Government take in terms of its relationship with the European Union

if we are no longer a part of it. In other words, do you have a plan B?

The leader of Plaid Cymru and I have had sensible discussions where we

have talked about how it might be possible to put in place a

cross-party campaign to put the case for Wales' membership of the

European Union. She fails to outline how she would have done anything

different, what message she would put forward. It seems she has

already given up. What she is talking about is what we will do if

we leave. I have not given up yet. I will continue to make the case for

Welsh membership of the European Union, for Wales' prosperity, for

the needs for Wales to be at the heart of Europe. It is not in

Sorrento and should he give up, which seems to be the message she

puts across. The Leader of the Opposition, Andrew RT Davies. Thank

you, Presiding Officer. Happy New Year, First Minister. I think it is

correct in the second week of January to wish people are happy New

Year, happy New Year to everyone in the chamber. We saw the terrible

eagle in North Wales of the flooding. There can be nothing more

depressing than walking into someone 's home and seeing their lifetime's

possessions thrown outside because of the flooding and the effects,

some of those possessions completely irreplaceable. I am sure the natural

resources Minister will talk upon this in his statement, in many of

the villages and towns affected by the flooding, Nelson time has

passed, not for the victims, because they will be living with it for

weeks and months ahead, but many public bodies have had the chance to

make an assessment. Have you had request from the local authorities

for additional support over and above what the Government has made

available from the consequential that the Westminster Government has

given out for the flooding at this date, and will you be making it

available as quickly as possible? Agog at this stage, no, but we have

a fund of about ?3.3 million that local authorities can bid into. It

is money that'll be made available to deal with schemes like flooding.

I visited the North, the flood defences were largely held. Speaking

to local representatives, there had been difficulties not just with a

river overflowing its banks but ground water was coming through

people's houses. That did not happen this time. On the a 55, money was

never a problem. The county council has been working to put such a

scheme in place. There was never a question of further funding not

being made available. I'm happy to see that the scheme can move

forward. There is a flood defence in place in one village, they were

overtopped again. It was a question with ground water. What an RW is

saying is there is a need to look at the in tyre system, the entire area,

to stop the flow of water coming in there. The message for us is this,

we enter an age where it becomes ever more difficult to predict where

flooding might occur. We know there are some areas of Wales that have

suffered flooding, Conwy Valley is one such example, bursts NRW and

local authorities will need to examine carefully about whether will

be pressure and then to deal with it. Thank you for that and said, I

appreciate many of these questions may be addressed by the natural

resources Minister in his statement. Sums -- some solutions can be

brought forward by the rule of development fund, allowing farmers

to use land as flood plains. I declare an interest as a farmer in

the rural development plan. Elsewhere in the UK, the rules and

regulations around ditch clearance, allowing ditches to be cleared

without hindrance to allow water capture on their land, will be

removed as of April the 1st. Will the Welsh government be taking

forward some of these proposals? For many communities it is the big shiny

projects that people look at which cost many millions of pounds, I get

that, that there are small steps that we can take, and I would

suggest using them will development plan to play an active role in flood

prevention, and adopting measures in other parts of the United Kingdom to

allow with ditch clearance and water containment could be welcomed in the

Arsenal to allow communities to stem this flooding problem. It depends on

being members of the European Union. He is right to say... I use the

common value as an example, you cannot simply guard against flooding

by building a wall. The issuing Conwy Valley is there were flood

defences around the farmland, so the farmland was protected but the

settlements were not. In order to control flooding there are occasions

where the farmland must be allowed to float, farmers are part of that,

there were discussions with them in advance of that project. You can't

channel a body of water and try to build walls are rendered all the

time, it will, as ground water, it has to be allowed to float into its

natural flood plain to enable houses to be protected. The Conwy Valley is

a good example where farmers and the local community work together to put

in place an effective flood scheme. Thank you, First Minister. The other

issue which happened over the Christmas recess and as recently as

yesterday was the road network with the adverse weather that was

protected by weather forecasting. In North Wales, for example, around the

icy conditions, there were 68 accident yesterday. The M4 in your

own area was shut at least half a dozen times, and around the Newport

area and equal number to that as well because of the adverse weather.

There is an SU in my minds about the way that the trunk road agency in

Wales manage these Kieran 's. I would be interested to know whether

you will commission a study to see exactly how they are managing the

maintenance of these roads to look into these adverse weather

conditions that are causing both the flooding and icy conditions, road

closures. We can argue about the European Union, the Middle East,

global politics, but for most people, when they get outside their

front door, they want either to get to work, to get the kids to school

or get to a critical appointment. Those in North Wales yesterday could

not do that, many people in South Wales could not do it yesterday over

the festive period. By simple maintenance, in many issues, these

could be resolved. Will you look at how the trunk road agency is

engaging so that we can be satisfied? It is not to do with

maintenance. I understand that most of the accidents were on local

authority roads, although there were some instances on trunk roads. What

I am informed by local authorities is that the weather was not

predictable. As a result, the roads had not been gritted. In terms of

what we saw between Christmas and New Year, I saw the M4 flirted --

flooded, something that I have never seen before. We saw the same thing

happen on the A55. We face challenges are flooding in areas

thought not to be at risk of flooding. That is a challenge for

NRW in order to carry out an assessment of where the pressures

will come in the future. Gubler now the leader of the Welsh Liberal

Democrats, Kirsty Williams. Were military sea and new receipt

framework was launched, you said it would transform literacy and new

receipt and Wales. Last year, your school impact said the programme had

no impact in improving literacy levels. One year on, would you

expect progress to have been made? It didn't say that, the findings of

the interim report present a positive pig of the early stage in

fermentation. Bearing in mind the field work was carried out between

September 2013 and December 2014, that is the period in which

programmes such as the testing were first introduced to schools. This is

an evaluation that has taken place in the very first period of the

testing. It shows overall a positive picture. We will continue with the

National literacy and new receipt programmes.

What devaluation does say, and I quote: they have found no robust

evidence to suggest that the literacy and numeracy framework has

supported an improvement in pupils' outcomes. It is four years since the

programme was launched. Half the time a child will spend in primary

school. That is their one chance, First Minister and it is your

responsibility. What is your expectation? When will your

programmes the real outcomes and real delivery for our school

students? The leader of the Liberal Democrats is mistaken. The

evaluation took place between September 13 and December 2014, as I

said. That is the period in which the programme was first introduced

to schools. While good progress has been made, we want to see further

progress, that is true. Speaking as a parent, I'm delighted that I am

able to see the progress my children are making in school. Many parents

take the same view. She asked when we will see improvement. We are

seeing the best GCSE results ever in Wales. Not as a result of this, that

is true. But it does show that what we are putting in place is improving

education and the frameworks will show improvement over the next few

years. I am delighted that your children are making progress, but I

am interested in everybody's child. Every child in this country deserves

to go to a decent school, a school that has not just been put into

special measures like one of the flagship schools in your own county

borough has been, every child in Wales should go to an outstanding

school. The state of the nation report last year said the scale of

progress required by Wales to ensure that its children, all our children,

can compete academically with others is dramatic. We need dramatic

progress from your government for our children. You have had 16 years,

that is the second longest running government in modern history. If it

cannot be in the first 16 years, when are we going to see the

dramatic progress that our country needs? And why should any parent or

any people Wales believe and have hoped that your government can

deliver it for them? The leader of the Liberal Democrats has wilfully

misrepresented what I said. I'm delighted that I am able to see how

our children are progressing. If you look at Wales, we have the best GCSE

results ever. We see schools being built. No schools were built when

her party was in power in Westminster. We see new complaints

of schools being built across Wales. We see new primary schools being

built across Wales, and we are seeing delivery in education. When

her party were in power in Westminster, and major pledge they

put forward to the people of Britain is they would not increase tuition

fees. That was broken immediately. When it comes to keeping promises,

we will not be lectured by the Liberal Democrats. We now move back

to questions on paper and question three is Angela Burns.

Thank you, presiding officer. Good afternoon, First Minister, will you

make a statement on the floods in Wales? Good afternoon. Over the

lifetime of this government we will invest ?33 million in coastal and

flood management in West Wales. First Minister, when you and your

government going to get to grips with planning policy? You have a

policy which enables county councils to allow house builders to develop

in areas of flood risk, as evidenced by the recent build in my

constituency which have been flooded in the last three months, let alone

the last few years. However, that same planning policy has been used

to stop ?100 billion investment into South Carmarthenshire, on the

grounds that the country is building in an area of risk. When you look at

the topography, if that this to flood, we would have chunks of

Swansea and a significant proportion of Llanelli under water as well. It

is a ridiculous and conflicting situation. It has been raised before

this disparity in planning policy and the allowing of one thing, not

another thing. Houses versus jobs versus lives versus risk. When will

you and your government finally get to grips with this and make it

coherent and consistent? More rain fell in Caple period than anywhere

else in the UK over the last week of December. And yet we did not see

flooding there. We did see flooding income we are, why? Because of the

failure of her party to invest in flood defences in England. Those are

not my words, they are the words of others in the House of Commons

committee. There was not enough investment put in. We cannot accept

any kind of lecturing from the party opposite because of their failure to

invest in flood defences in England. I know it is uncomfortable for them,

but there we are, it is the truth. I remember as the Minister responsible

for injured using a measure, the Conservatives said we cannot have

this policy where you cannot build in an area where there is a one in

1000 year flood risk. It is too extreme.

It is crucial that local authorities followed the rules and where that

does not happen, it is important that they follow the planning

guidance which is crystal clear. TRANSLATION: Thank you, Presiding

Officer. No party in government has taken climate change seriously

enough but that is very important indeed, when turning to the impact

of floods in West Wales, a number of businesses and individual homes have

been affected in places such as Tenby, Saundersfoot and so on, and

we have seen in England that local authorities have been providing

grants to enable those to get back on their feet and in Scotland they

have provided a grant of ?1500. I was pleased to see that the

Institute of Wales has launched a fund to restore things after the

flooding today. Is it your intention to support such grants in Wales, to

support businesses and help people to get back onto their feet or two

get back onto -- or to contribute to the fund? TRANSLATION: This is

something we are considering. Some people have insurance and some

people have been paid partial payments towards any immediate

demands for their homes and businesses. This is something we are

considering and I am sure that the Minister will be able to answer

these questions in detail during his statement. TRANSLATION: Thank you,

Presiding Officer, happy New Year. The drains have been worth their

weight is the recent floods. I understand there are further plans

to roll out similar schemes across Wales between now and 2020. What

plans does the Welsh Government have to undertake a full evaluation for

how that scheme has worked in practice, so we can build in as many

learning points as possible, to make other locations as resilient in the

future? The member is right to point out that controlling flooding is not

just about building walls. It is about stemming the flow of water, by

planting trees quite often in the Upland areas. I have seen examples

in Montgomeryshire where that has happened. Trees absorb the water and

help stem the speed of the water coming down the hill tribes. The

issue of so-called ASM issue of not building driveways particularly that

are in perm or to water. Part of the challenge we face is many of our

road surfaces were built at a time when standards were far lower. Water

does not soak through the road. It comes off the road, down a camber

and into some people's houses. Many of the roads were built to a far

lower standard than we would build now. What we try to do is look at

sections of the 835 to improve those sections and avoid the risk of

flooding. He quite right to point out that there are a number of ways

to deal with flooding rather than simply building walls all the time.

Question four, Keith Davies. TRANSLATION: Thank you, Presiding

Officer. Will the First Minister make a statement on local authority

as it transfers? TRANSLATION: It is a matter for the local authority and

of course I would expect them to consult in detail with the local

communities. TRANSLATION: Thank you, there have been plans to transfer

parks to community councils or private organisations including one

in Llanelli which engendered a petition signed by over 5000 people

to keep the park in public ownership, and that will be

presented to the council tomorrow. Do you agree that local authorities

should hold consultations with the public on any proposal to transfer

assets, and to conduct due diligence of any private organisation that

wishes to take part in any such as the transfer?

TRANSLATION: Well, the public assets are local authority assets, and so

councils should consult with the communities and also with the

residents of those communities when they are considering the transfer of

assets, and of course they should also undertake a full analysis of

the risks, when they transfer public assets to any third party.

Guidelines are available from the Welsh Government, namely the

guidelines on community asset transfer and that was published by

asked last year. First Minister, following the recent

government assessment and cos alterations, on protecting assets of

community value, what consideration had you given to the 78% of

respondents who actually support the power to initiate as a transfer from

public sector bodies? Well so far behind in Wales, compared with how

the UK government are handling this. In the same consultation, 68%

actually reckoned that we should have greater opportunities for a

first refusal basis. How are you taking forward the community assets

transfer, and why are you not taking forward solid proposals like the

community right to bid here in Wales and allow them to make the decisions

about how they retain their local assets? The reason why this is being

carried on in England at a great rate is because of the massive cuts

in funding that the local authorities are receiving. We know

they want to cut funding by 12% here in Wales which seems ambitious

compared to colleagues elsewhere in England. Our view is where thousands

can no longer continue to support assets, we would seek them to seek

community solutions, making disposal of assets are key solution.

Fortunately, local authorities are not under the same pressure and

Wales, as they are in England where the cuts are so large.

TRANSLATION: Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Keith Davies

describes a situation which existed in Carmarthenshire 12 months ago,

where the council was led by the Labour Party at that time and

threatened clubs and societies at a local level as they did not take

responsibility for these assets, that they would face an increase of

1000% in the rent that the councils were charging them and Plaid Cymru's

opposition managed to overturn that decision and they continue to do

that in leading the council. Will you congratulate M indoor in

Carmarthenshire for holding a discussion with local clubs and

societies about the assets and huge cuts on local authority funding, in

a situation where they are facing very difficult situations indeed.

TRANSLATION: Well, we can all see in this chamber that Carmarthen Council

has changed its leadership and I see now that the member is alluding to

the council in a very different way to the way that he talked about the

council when the Labour Party were in charge and I'm sure there will be

more fun and games over that in the ensuing months. I would say to any

county council of course, to consult in great detail with the local

people to ensure their voices are heard. Question five, Lindsay

Whittle. What special measures is the Welsh Government taking in order

to eradicate child poverty by the year 2020? Our child poverty

strategy published last year does set out our priorities with tackling

child poverty. This includes the roll-out of a healthy child Wales

programme, doubling the numbers are accessing flying start, closing the

attainment gap and reducing the number of children living in

workless households. We know that the UK Tory government

policies on tax credits and welfare reform are not helping poorer

families and children in Wales to say the least, but can you explain

why, after 16 years in office, this Welsh glove has still left Wales

with the highest level of child poverty in the United Kingdom?

Bearing in mind, his party wearing Government for four years, something

that they try to sweep into the cupboard. We don't. I think we

should emphasise this. We have a child poverty strategy, it reaffirms

our ambition to eradicate child poverty by 2020, we will continue to

move towards achieving that ambition.

In Swansea East, Flying Start ensures that children started

nursery with the developmental age equal to backward logical age.

Community First give support by evening homework herbs and holiday

support. This he agree that it is important to carry on with these

schemes for the benefit of the children? It is right to highlight

schemes that this Government has introduced to help many families and

children. We will never waver from a commitment, we will always make it

to our poorest families and it is at the heart of what we stand for other

party. Although the proportion of children living in poverty is at its

lowest since the 1980s, Wales has the highest child poverty amongst UK

nations, second highest amongst 12 UK regions. This system using a

measure of child poverty, which seems to show it reducing, economies

are shrinking and families are getting poorer. What consideration

have you given to looking at measures being played in England to

look at the matters that lead to the underlying causes of poverty such as

educational attainment, drug and alcohol abuse and family breakdown

and, of course, work with this? The definition of poverty in England has

changed in order to make it look better than it actually was. He asks

me to deal with what is the fundamental cause of poverty in the

UK. It is the conservative Government, no question, with all

the policies you have introduced. -- the Conservative Government. One of

the problems with people living in poverty is that they are on low pay,

his party proposes to cut their pay even further. We used to say in this

country that if you get a job, your financial circumstances will

improve. The Conservatives will say, even if you get a job, you will not

be any better off. That is something no government since 1945 has ever

said to its people, and it is shameful that the Tories have done

that. The UK Government 's changes to the

Social Security system will have serious repercussions on child

poverty levels. The data contained in the Bevan foundation 's recent

support highlighted the numbers of children in Wales in households in

receipt of some sort of benefit. We know that 284,000 children in Wales

are in households receiving tax credits, 86% of these children a

household where someone works. How is the Welsh Government taking this

into account in your strategies to tackle child poverty? Can I thank

the member for highlighting the heartlessness of the policy being

pursued by the Conservative Government. The Leader of the

Opposition laughs, your wasters, the heartlessness of the policies, or

vendetta against those on low pay and the help given to those with the

most money. We should not be surprised, that is what his party

stands for. We are well aware of the disproportionate effect of the UK

Government welfare reforms in Wales. We know the impact is not spread

equally. We know those households already on the poverty line,

families with children and disabled households, disabled households,

will be amongst the hardest hit. We will take account of that is part of

the child poverty strategy. I can't say we will be able to deal with all

the damage that the Conservative Government is doing, but we know

that they continue in their vendetta against the lowest paid, the

disabled and the children. Will the First Minister make a state went on

the role of business improvement districts in Wales? Has been

excellent progress, with five areas voting to establish business

improvement districts. This is a positive movement with business

communities. They work with a range of part is in these areas and

provide significant investment to support investment. -- support

regeneration. Neath Inspired is the name of the new business district in

these town centre, formed with Welsh government funding after a

successful balloting of local businesses. The % -- town centre

businesses have seen the advantage of priorities, regeneration benefits

and local partnerships. Going live on the 1st of April, Neath -- Neath

Inspired would result in ?500,000 of additional funding. Can you add what

measures the Welsh government is undertaking to promote the formation

of more business improvement districts? We are pleased to see the

new district is being established, we expect four further ballots in

2016. We want to see the conclusion of the whole programme before we are

in a position to reflect and consider how we take this forward.

What is encouraging is there is plenty of interesting around Wales.

In my region, we are already fortunate to have a very formidable

business improvement district in Swansea. The success is due in no

small part to businesses' ability to work in partnership with the local

authority on priorities, often the same of the council but not always,

rather than being dominated by the council. With the new bids in Nice

and the establishment of a group in Bridgend, would you agree that bids

need to be led by local businesses and any suggestion that a council

Bliss decisions may be contingent on a bit behaving in a particular way

would be inappropriate? Clearly those bids have to chime with the

priorities of the local authority. I expect businesses and local

authorities to work together, as we have seen in other towns in Wales,

to provide benefits for towns. The member has already highlighted the

Labour councillor in Swansea and the work done in working with businesses

to provide improvements. TRANSLATION: Thank you. Of course,

there is huge potential for business improvement districts to give an

economic boost to those trading areas, it is entirely right to say

that the consultation with businesses within that industry set

the foundations for those areas. Would he agree with me that it is

crucial to consult with wider stakeholders within those areas,

including residents within the community? TRANSLATION: Not just the

local businesses are interested in this. Other organisations are

interested in order to create the right trading environment or ethos

in the area. It is extremely important that orgies work in

partnership in order to ensure that the towns themselves are improved

for everybody's benefit. Business improvement districts obviously have

potential for greater economic and fits, but for many smaller

communities or individual high streets within larger cities, not

the city centre themselves, perhaps a full business improvement district

is a step too far, and then may be benefits to facilitating networking

within those local communities that is perhaps short of a business

improvement district. I wonder what support the Welsh government can

give to local communities like those in Cardiff or other high street

areas to develop those networks of informal trading relationships? I

bids are important for some length. We have viable places, which helps

in terms of developing areas that are particularly important, centres

of particular importance, Cardiff high street seems to be doing very

well. There are other parts of Cardiff, well field Road is another

example, where districts have traditionally been doing very, very

well. When we look at a city the size of Cardiff, and many other

settings, we don't just look at the centre but we understand there are

other retail areas outside of the city centre important to those

areas. Question seven. What action is the Welsh Government taking to

prevent the repetition of floods in Llanddulas. We know it experienced

coastal flooding the storms of 2013. We have put money in towards the

construction of coastal flood defences, they have substantially

lowered the flood risk in the village. I know three houses were

affected by flooding in the course of the last few weeks. Heartbreaking

for those involved. We have millions of pounds' worth of support

available for local authorities. I would expect, counsel to investigate

the sources of flooding and bring forward an appropriate solution.

Thank you for the detailed response. Like you, I was very disappointed to

note that flooding had re-occurred in Llanddulas, it faces flooding

from a river flowing very close to those properties you mentioned.

Those households have faced flooding five times since 2010. Even though

investment has been put into the coastal defences, part of that

flooding has been as a result of coastal problems. Other which was

different flooding which affected them over the Christmas period. What

discussions is the Welsh government having with Conwy Council to

encourage them to bring forward a bit, in conjunction with Welsh Water

and Natural Resources Wales, to get the problem sorted once and for all

for the families, albeit smaller number, who have been affected. The

flooding was caused by surface water from the adjacent highway. The local

authority was unable to deploy a pump, we understand, it was already

deployed elsewhere. In their assessment, there were more

properties at risk in that other area. It is for Conwy Council to

bring forward the proposals for consideration, I will of course

encourage them to do so in order to help those people affect it.

TRANSLATION: There is a more general question rising as to where flood

prevention work has taken place in the light of an increasing challenge

of climate change, where sea levels are rising. What process is in phase

to assess whether the works completed in the last few years are

still appropriate as we face the greater challenges of flooding in

the future? TRANSLATION: That is not what happened over Christmas stock

not in the Conwy Valley or many other areas. It was not the water

over topping the walls. We have seen the problem previously in the Conwy

Valley, when the water came into the river, and in Aberystwyth we had

another problem. That was not the case this time. Having said that,

Natural Resources Wales always assess how effective the bag and

peers safeguarding communities are, bearing in mind the climate change

we are witnessing. TRANSLATION: You referred to the fact that we need to

look at the A55. You state that the quality of the road ruled initially

is now unacceptable given all the rain that we have seen over the past

few months. But also the Wrexham bypass, the A5, they have either

been closed temporarily or that have been temporary speed restrictions

which create problems for travellers. Will the trunk roads

agency look at all the roads in the areas affected to ensure that

programmes looking at government expenditure in the future are

targeted at the right areas? TRANSLATION: The agency is

responsible for the trunk roads, the major roads, and not the local

roads, which are the responsibility of the local authorities. As regards

the A55 and the M4, although it is Government responsibility, local

authorities maintain the roads on behalf of the Government. That is

also true of the a 55. We would expect any agency to consider all

the risks in every stretch of the road that they are responsible for

in order to ensure that they are assessed and to mitigate those

risks, ultimately. STUDIO: That was First Minister's

Questions for you today, the first 2016. If you want more coverage of

the National Assembly you can go online to BBC Wales' Senedd Live

page. That is it for the first First Minister's Questions of 2016. An

election year. Don't forget, for all the latest political news you can

watch Wales Today later at 6:30pm. The Sunday politics will be coming

up later, but from all of us, thanks for watching.