Browse content similar to 19/11/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Good afternoon and welcome to the programme. Now, what can we expect? | :00:30. | :00:34. | |
There are questions on the order paper about the best way to improve | :00:35. | :00:37. | |
the Welsh economy and about the recent measles outbreaks in parts of | :00:38. | :00:41. | |
the country. I'm sure that party leaders will want to ask the First | :00:42. | :00:46. | |
Minister where he stands now we have more information about which taxes | :00:47. | :00:48. | |
are about to be transferred from London to Cardiff Bay. What do you | :00:49. | :00:54. | |
want to talk about? If you want to comment on anything on the | :00:55. | :00:58. | |
programme, or any other news, get in touch. You can reach us via: | :00:59. | :01:09. | |
Business under way, so we'll look at today's questions to the First | :01:10. | :01:20. | |
Minister. First item to the First Minister. Question one. Will the | :01:21. | :01:26. | |
First Minister make a statement on finance Wales? Yes, finance Wales is | :01:27. | :01:38. | |
to provide finance to support and encourage growth. It has invested | :01:39. | :01:45. | |
?268 million in Welsh businesses, and a further ?443 million in | :01:46. | :01:53. | |
creating 13,000 new jobs. Thank you. A welcome announcement by the UK | :01:54. | :01:57. | |
Government devolving business rates to Wales is a step in the right | :01:58. | :02:04. | |
direction for our small and micro-sized businesses, but how do | :02:05. | :02:09. | |
they access finance? Of 743 loan investments made by Finance Wales | :02:10. | :02:15. | |
since 2007, 73% have acacted borrowing rates -- attracted | :02:16. | :02:21. | |
borrowing rates of 20% or higher. Some could have been along 5%. First | :02:22. | :02:26. | |
Minister, there are calls now for more reform and scrutiny as regards | :02:27. | :02:34. | |
Finance Wales, but also too, for the establishment of a Welsh Development | :02:35. | :02:40. | |
Bank. Will you support these calls? Well, we very much welcome the | :02:41. | :02:46. | |
proposal to fully devolve business rates to Wales. With regard to | :02:47. | :02:49. | |
Finance Wales, the minister commissioned a review into Finance | :02:50. | :02:54. | |
Wales and whatever the model is in the future, it's important that the | :02:55. | :03:02. | |
body is able to fund itself and that is reflected by the need on occasion | :03:03. | :03:09. | |
to ensure interest rates are set so to ensure the body is self-funding, | :03:10. | :03:14. | |
but this was discussed in the assembly last week and the minister | :03:15. | :03:22. | |
will look to take it forward. TRANSLATION: Do you believe that | :03:23. | :03:26. | |
Finance Wales has been successful in responding to the borrowing needs of | :03:27. | :03:33. | |
the sector over the past few years? TRANSLATION: Yes I do. As I | :03:34. | :03:41. | |
mentioned earlier, there are 13,000 new jobs that have been created and | :03:42. | :03:48. | |
I believe that's a very good record. In view of the fact that the UK | :03:49. | :03:52. | |
business minister Vince Cable's proposal for a business bank doesn't | :03:53. | :03:59. | |
seem to include any regional element to it, does he feel there is a role | :04:00. | :04:05. | |
for Finance Wales in order to deal with the finance in Wales? Yes there | :04:06. | :04:10. | |
is and I can say officials are working to explore how we might | :04:11. | :04:16. | |
secure British business bank funds in the future. TRANSLATION: Thank | :04:17. | :04:25. | |
you. What about food banks in Wales? We are supporting the network, | :04:26. | :04:30. | |
particularly in light of the clanks resulting -- clanks resulting from | :04:31. | :04:38. | |
-- changes resulting from welfare reform. We need to help the | :04:39. | :04:42. | |
individuals deal with the challenges they're facing. Supermarket surplus | :04:43. | :04:47. | |
has been raised with me. All three have reported a rise in numbers, | :04:48. | :04:51. | |
particularly in light of welfare changes and I'm pleased to support a | :04:52. | :04:56. | |
full collection this year. I know the FSA supports food donation, | :04:57. | :04:59. | |
provided it's fit for human consumption and free from | :05:00. | :05:03. | |
contamination and the Welsh Government is encouraging this. What | :05:04. | :05:07. | |
further action can we take through guidance to further encourage the | :05:08. | :05:11. | |
amount of surplus food donated to food banks? I can say that we fund a | :05:12. | :05:19. | |
food waste programme and we have set up a working group. It's been tasked | :05:20. | :05:24. | |
with developing a bet are understanding to the barriers of | :05:25. | :05:28. | |
surplus food redistribution and finding solutions to those. They are | :05:29. | :05:34. | |
working alongside Fair Share Recycle and retailers to undertake a trial | :05:35. | :05:39. | |
to identify the surpluses arising at stores. The suitability for | :05:40. | :05:46. | |
redistribution and processes to enable supply in local communities. | :05:47. | :05:51. | |
Later this year, that group will publish a set of guide is | :05:52. | :05:56. | |
principles, along with implementation guidelines. Can we | :05:57. | :06:04. | |
pay tribute to the faith groups who run things like the food banks and | :06:05. | :06:09. | |
have done similar provision over many generations? I do very much | :06:10. | :06:12. | |
applaud the work of all those who are involved with food banks, | :06:13. | :06:16. | |
because in the current economic climate they provide a service that | :06:17. | :06:25. | |
so many families rely on. #. I agree with my friend, Keith Davies, in | :06:26. | :06:29. | |
view of the fact that too many supermarkets have stated they throw | :06:30. | :06:33. | |
away tonnes of food every week. Can the Welsh Government not put | :06:34. | :06:37. | |
pressure on the major supermarkets to donate more to banks? This is | :06:38. | :06:41. | |
perfectly good food or perhaps you could persuade them, First Minister, | :06:42. | :06:45. | |
to sell it even more cheaply than they do now. I think I referred the | :06:46. | :06:49. | |
member to the answer I gave in response to the question to the | :06:50. | :06:55. | |
member for clan ledgely, where I outlined -- Llanelli, where I | :06:56. | :07:03. | |
outlined what was being doing done. We move to questions from the party | :07:04. | :07:07. | |
leaders. First we have the leader of Plaid Cymru. First Minister, figures | :07:08. | :07:13. | |
released this weekend show that Welsh town centres are still facing | :07:14. | :07:19. | |
a tough time with lowering numbers of shoppers and too many empty | :07:20. | :07:23. | |
shops. Plaid Cymru have outlined our plans to change the business rate | :07:24. | :07:29. | |
multiplier and to introduce further business rate relief to give small | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
and medium sized enterprises a competitive edge. What is your plan? | :07:35. | :07:40. | |
Now that we know, as of yesterday, that business rates are to be fully | :07:41. | :07:43. | |
devolved, that gives us the opportunity to develop more flexible | :07:44. | :07:48. | |
solutions for Welsh town centres. Thank you for your answer. We look | :07:49. | :07:53. | |
forward to the detail of your proposal. Interviewed on Radio Wales | :07:54. | :07:58. | |
last night, the chief Secretary to the Treasury says the UK Government | :07:59. | :08:02. | |
had decided to introduce a lock step on our potential income tax powers, | :08:03. | :08:08. | |
because of the functioning of the UK labour market. This lock step will | :08:09. | :08:12. | |
prevent Wales from being able to gain a competitive edge. What are | :08:13. | :08:18. | |
you going to do about that contraining position? Proposals | :08:19. | :08:25. | |
should have been implemented before. You with previous stated that you | :08:26. | :08:28. | |
will not contemplate taking responsibility for income tax | :08:29. | :08:32. | |
though, haven't you? Until we get fair funding. Plaid Cymru supports | :08:33. | :08:37. | |
fair funding, of course we do, and there is a lot that Wales could do | :08:38. | :08:43. | |
with a further ?400 million a year. I've asked you this before and so | :08:44. | :08:47. | |
far you've failed to answer this question, so I give you another | :08:48. | :08:50. | |
opportunity this afternoon to demonstrate your seriousness - will | :08:51. | :08:57. | |
there be a commitment by your party to a needs-based funding formula in | :08:58. | :09:03. | |
2015 election manifesto? If you are not able to make that commitment | :09:04. | :09:08. | |
this afternoon, should we just take it that your influence on these and | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
any other matters within your party is very limited? The first thing to | :09:14. | :09:21. | |
remember is that my party is a GB-wide party and it's important for | :09:22. | :09:25. | |
Wales and also for parts of England as well, so when we decide policy we | :09:26. | :09:30. | |
consult with others outside of Wales. Our position as a Government | :09:31. | :09:35. | |
is absolutely clear. We believe that reform is due. We believe that Wales | :09:36. | :09:40. | |
should be entitled to the money that the Commission has identified that | :09:41. | :09:45. | |
we should be receiving. As far as the leader of Plaid Cymru's party is | :09:46. | :09:50. | |
concerned, once again, I have to riT Tate, that whenever there is a | :09:51. | :09:54. | |
dispute between UK treasury and Welsh Government, her MPs take the | :09:55. | :09:59. | |
side of UK Treasury. Jonathan Edwards, the MP for Carmarthen | :10:00. | :10:05. | |
Eastern, whenever there is a dispute over HS2, he immediately leapt in | :10:06. | :10:11. | |
with both feet and said it was the fault of the Welsh Government. The | :10:12. | :10:15. | |
leader of Plaid Cymru can shout as much as she likes, I know she | :10:16. | :10:20. | |
doesn't like the answer. The reality is it's important that her party | :10:21. | :10:25. | |
steps up to the plate when it comes to standing up for Wales and her MPs | :10:26. | :10:32. | |
move away from their London-centric tendency to support UK Treasury | :10:33. | :10:36. | |
ministers in any dispute against Welsh ministers. It's about time her | :10:37. | :10:43. | |
party started thinking more about Wales. We move to questions from the | :10:44. | :10:51. | |
Leader of the Opposition. Thank you. First Minister, when did you realise | :10:52. | :10:56. | |
that your policy on tuition fees was unsustainable? I thought that might | :10:57. | :11:00. | |
have been the answer coming from you, so let's just recap shall we? | :11:01. | :11:06. | |
In 2010, the form eeducation minister said the Government has the | :11:07. | :11:10. | |
responsibility for Welsh domicile students wherever they choose to | :11:11. | :11:14. | |
study. Leighton Andrews went on to tell the BBC that the figures, which | :11:15. | :11:18. | |
took account of inflation, showed that the fees policy was | :11:19. | :11:24. | |
sustainable. However, the FOI that we have clearly shows that that | :11:25. | :11:31. | |
policy was mot eleed up to 2021 and -- modelled up to 2012, and yet | :11:32. | :11:35. | |
today we have a review and whether it is viable to continue. In its | :11:36. | :11:40. | |
first full financial year you are already questioning the viability of | :11:41. | :11:47. | |
it. Wasn't it not just a gimmick in 2011 for the election? I'm not sure | :11:48. | :11:51. | |
I can improve on the answer that was given mind me, by my friend, the | :11:52. | :11:56. | |
member for the Rhondda. I can say plainly that we made a commitment as | :11:57. | :11:59. | |
a Government to implement this policy and it will continue for the | :12:00. | :12:04. | |
course of this Government. You might well say you cannot improve on the | :12:05. | :12:10. | |
answer of Christmas past who sits on the backbenches, because every now | :12:11. | :12:14. | |
and again we hear a rumbling, but he obviously sits there rather than | :12:15. | :12:17. | |
around the Cabinet table, but what we have to remember is today, | :12:18. | :12:22. | |
because of your policy, a plumber would not get the same level of | :12:23. | :12:28. | |
support as a barrister, because you choose not to support vocational | :12:29. | :12:34. | |
education to the same level as you support higher education and indeed | :12:35. | :12:39. | |
you were quite happy to allow a significant proportion of the Welsh | :12:40. | :12:44. | |
Government's budget to leech out of Wales and support universities in | :12:45. | :12:50. | |
England. # is it not the case, First Minister, that instead of standing | :12:51. | :12:55. | |
up for students, you are cherry picking in HE over FE, where you | :12:56. | :13:00. | |
have announced I ?50 million worth of cuts in further education. When | :13:01. | :13:04. | |
it comes to fees, you've got as much credibility as Nick Clegg has got. | :13:05. | :13:12. | |
LAUGHTER I will leave it to the leader of the | :13:13. | :13:16. | |
Liberal Democrats to answer that final part of the question, if I | :13:17. | :13:20. | |
may. Let's examine the situation carefully. His party wants to treble | :13:21. | :13:24. | |
tuition fees for students. That's what they wish to do, to make it | :13:25. | :13:30. | |
more expensive to go to university and he uses the example. That is the | :13:31. | :13:35. | |
wrong example to offer. Barristers are not funded at all. It isn't | :13:36. | :13:40. | |
funded. It's the wrong example to give. The reality is if you enter on | :13:41. | :13:45. | |
to the Bar course there is no funding available. It's an | :13:46. | :13:51. | |
exceptionally expensive course to undertake. That is the daftest | :13:52. | :13:54. | |
example I have heard in the chamber. Perhaps he should take it up with | :13:55. | :13:58. | |
those who gave thiple that. He talk about FE. We have helped FE | :13:59. | :14:04. | |
financially as best we can, given the cuts. Where was he and his | :14:05. | :14:10. | |
protests when the allowance was abolished by his part in London? We | :14:11. | :14:14. | |
have kept them in Wales. The reality is that we are committed to students | :14:15. | :14:19. | |
more than HE and FE when all his party wants to do is make it more | :14:20. | :14:25. | |
expensive for people to get qualifications. I'm looking forward | :14:26. | :14:31. | |
to being able to here the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats. Thank | :14:32. | :14:36. | |
you. Today, the BMA have said that the main reason that there is | :14:37. | :14:40. | |
massive pressure on A departments in Wales is because of a 20% | :14:41. | :14:45. | |
reduction in the number of beds. Do you agree with them? No, I think the | :14:46. | :14:50. | |
pressures on A are more complex. We have seen the winter pressures | :14:51. | :14:54. | |
and more admissions. They've increased by 68% over the past ten | :14:55. | :15:01. | |
years. And, it is difficult to ensure that with that level of | :15:02. | :15:04. | |
demand, that demand is met. Looking at the latest figures, we are moving | :15:05. | :15:09. | |
in the right direction. Two weeks ago in MPQs the Prime Minister | :15:10. | :15:13. | |
launched a stinging attack on the Welsh NHS and your spokesman | :15:14. | :15:16. | |
responded by saying that David Cameron was inaccurate. For once, I | :15:17. | :15:20. | |
agree with him. The Prime Minister said that A waiting times had not | :15:21. | :15:25. | |
been met since 2009. He was inaccurate in saying that. Because | :15:26. | :15:29. | |
you've never met your A waiting times. Isn't it time that you did | :15:30. | :15:33. | |
admit that there are not enough beds in the Welsh NHS to cope with the | :15:34. | :15:37. | |
demands that will be placed upon it this winter? | :15:38. | :15:45. | |
Our plan is robust and we are in a good place to deal with pressures. | :15:46. | :15:50. | |
One wonders what plans you are looking at. The most recent figures | :15:51. | :15:55. | |
show that the number of people suffering from delayed transfer of | :15:56. | :15:58. | |
care in September this year is 10% up from the figure September last | :15:59. | :16:02. | |
year. Not only do we not have enough beds in the NHS, we don't have the | :16:03. | :16:07. | |
right patients in the right beds. What is your Government going to do | :16:08. | :16:13. | |
to ensure that hospital beds are volunteer -- -- available to | :16:14. | :16:18. | |
patients who need them the most and those who don't need them are | :16:19. | :16:22. | |
discharged in a timely fashion. The length of delay and time of delay | :16:23. | :16:29. | |
has fallen, days delayed fall be -- fallen by 80%. I do have to point | :16:30. | :16:38. | |
out to the leader of the Liberal Democrats that her party's record in | :16:39. | :16:43. | |
health is nothing to shout about. 4,500 nurses sacked. ?20 billion | :16:44. | :16:49. | |
worth of cuts in the English NHS. The NHS chief responsible for A | :16:50. | :16:54. | |
services in England saying he would be unhappy if one of his relatives | :16:55. | :16:58. | |
was admitted to hospital over the weekend because of a shortage of | :16:59. | :17:01. | |
consultants. We know that the financial problems in the English | :17:02. | :17:06. | |
NHS. We know that the number of trusts missing the UK's Government | :17:07. | :17:11. | |
four-hour waiting time target has more than doubled. We accept the | :17:12. | :17:15. | |
difficulties that occasionally arise in the Welsh NHS. We deal with them. | :17:16. | :17:21. | |
The figures show that. It's a shame that her party and the Conservative | :17:22. | :17:25. | |
Party cannot recognise the mess they're making of the NHS elsewhere. | :17:26. | :17:29. | |
It's perfectly valid. The Prime Minister stands up in Prime | :17:30. | :17:34. | |
Minister's Questions, he talks about the Welsh NHS as is his freedom to | :17:35. | :17:39. | |
do, but it's right with the Tories and Lib Dems in charge of the NHS in | :17:40. | :17:43. | |
Wales, we'll see fewer nurses, fewer beds, less money, more burning rupt | :17:44. | :17:50. | |
LHBs and a level of care that will continue to decline. | :17:51. | :17:55. | |
THE SPEAKER: Now we move back to questions on the paper. Will the | :17:56. | :17:59. | |
First Minister detail what the Welsh Government is doing about | :18:00. | :18:03. | |
competitiveness in Wales. We're making it ease whier for business to | :18:04. | :18:07. | |
access finance. We're developing an economic framework for investment to | :18:08. | :18:12. | |
signal future direction for economic policy in Wales. Thank you. You may | :18:13. | :18:19. | |
be aware that the UK competitiveness index last week showed Cardiff | :18:20. | :18:23. | |
falling seven places since 2010 and four of the bottom least competitive | :18:24. | :18:27. | |
UK local authorities are located in the South Wales valleys. I'm sure | :18:28. | :18:32. | |
you would agrow that this simply isn't good enough. You've previously | :18:33. | :18:37. | |
blamed a lack of tools in the box for the economic woes. Now the UK | :18:38. | :18:42. | |
Government is giving you more fiscal rules, when will you get on turning | :18:43. | :18:45. | |
the job of the economy around because you don't have anywhere to | :18:46. | :18:49. | |
hide now. We haven't got the tools yet nor a date by which those tools | :18:50. | :18:53. | |
will be in place. But we welcome them. We have to remember that the | :18:54. | :18:57. | |
level of unemployment has dropped. The level of economic inactivity has | :18:58. | :19:02. | |
dropped. If you look exports, this eare up 4. 3% over the last quarter. | :19:03. | :19:08. | |
Foreign investment doubling over the course of the past year. We have | :19:09. | :19:14. | |
seen GDP improve, gross domestic household income has improved. We | :19:15. | :19:19. | |
believe we are on course. We cannot divorce ourselves from the economic | :19:20. | :19:24. | |
policies being implemented across the UK. Without doubt that would | :19:25. | :19:30. | |
hold us back. # First Minister, over the weekend we heard fantastic news | :19:31. | :19:34. | |
from the Dubai air show that Erebus has secured over ?30 billion worning | :19:35. | :19:38. | |
of orders. Now this is incredibly -- worth of orders. This is incredibly | :19:39. | :19:44. | |
important. I know the local member for Deeside is particularly | :19:45. | :19:48. | |
delighted even more that his football team had a hammering, so | :19:49. | :19:52. | |
he's had good news this weekend. The aerospace industry is vital to the | :19:53. | :19:59. | |
Welsh economy. It protects Mandy - who beat conyaz key? Rhyl? -- | :20:00. | :20:10. | |
ConnahsQuay? Rhyl? Will you congratulate Erebus on their success | :20:11. | :20:13. | |
and update us on what your Government is doing to drive forward | :20:14. | :20:17. | |
growth through supporting high-tech manufacturing sectors? We have a | :20:18. | :20:20. | |
close working relationship with Erebus. We've provided them with | :20:21. | :20:24. | |
assistance in years gone by. They're an important employer as far as | :20:25. | :20:28. | |
Wales is concerned. Our support for the advanced tells and manufacturing | :20:29. | :20:36. | |
sector is designed to is designed to advance that sector. Working with | :20:37. | :20:40. | |
Erebus, we look forward to seeing the Erebus plan to grow from | :20:41. | :20:44. | |
strength to strength in the future. I'm delighted to congratulate them | :20:45. | :20:51. | |
on this dlent -- excellent news. You say that you want the | :20:52. | :20:59. | |
implementation, but can I pick up on a question asked earlier. Will you | :21:00. | :21:06. | |
pledge to make it a priority now to negotiate the devolving of income | :21:07. | :21:10. | |
tax in the way that silk proposed, rather than in the inflexible way | :21:11. | :21:15. | |
that is now proposed by the UK Government in order to give the | :21:16. | :21:20. | |
Welsh economy a competitive edge? The aebs to that is -- answer to | :21:21. | :21:26. | |
that is yes, I think it is important that the Silk Commission's | :21:27. | :21:28. | |
recommendations should be followed through. The proposal with regards | :21:29. | :21:32. | |
to income tax is not to implement the commission's recommendation. I | :21:33. | :21:37. | |
if fully support the implementation the mechanism -- of the | :21:38. | :21:43. | |
implementiation of a mechanism for the future. But that's not the | :21:44. | :21:48. | |
mechanism implementing proposals of silk. These are issues that no doubt | :21:49. | :21:51. | |
will form part of the debate over the next few years. Members will | :21:52. | :21:58. | |
know, I am not of the view that the devolution of income tax powers is a | :21:59. | :22:02. | |
priority. It wouldn't be possible anyway before 2017, I suspect. I did | :22:03. | :22:07. | |
see mention being made last week of a potential sun set clause which | :22:08. | :22:12. | |
certainly isn't the case as far as a referendum would be concerned. It | :22:13. | :22:16. | |
would be wrong for any UK Government minister to suggest that a | :22:17. | :22:21. | |
referendum could be held in Wales over income tax powers, but it would | :22:22. | :22:25. | |
have to be done by a certain time. That would be counter to the | :22:26. | :22:32. | |
commission's proposals. One area of particular economic growth potential | :22:33. | :22:35. | |
is the film and television industry. Just last week, you may have heard | :22:36. | :22:41. | |
that the Warner Brothers blockbuster the Man from Uncle was being filled | :22:42. | :22:47. | |
in Ceredigion, bringing many thousands of pounds into the Welsh | :22:48. | :22:52. | |
economy. However, on occasions the opportunities can be hampered by | :22:53. | :22:58. | |
delays in local planning. As recently of 2012 we have the example | :22:59. | :23:03. | |
that Skyfall went to Scotland because of specific planning | :23:04. | :23:06. | |
difficulties. In the context of that, what is your Government | :23:07. | :23:11. | |
prepared to do to ensure that maybe through the Planning Bill and other | :23:12. | :23:16. | |
methods, what can be done to ensure that Wales is open for business | :23:17. | :23:20. | |
particularly when we're seeking to ensure that we are competitive with | :23:21. | :23:24. | |
the creative industries? The creative industries is important to | :23:25. | :23:29. | |
Wales. They were part of the agenda for the British-Irish Council held | :23:30. | :23:35. | |
in Jersey last Friday. Local planning authorities have to take | :23:36. | :23:37. | |
decisions for themselves, but it's important that we understand that | :23:38. | :23:43. | |
where there are opportunities for job creation and injection of funds | :23:44. | :23:46. | |
into the local economy, the planning authorities have to bear that in | :23:47. | :23:50. | |
mind when they take their decisions. It is correct to say that Skyfall | :23:51. | :23:58. | |
was lost to the Brecon beakens and went to -- Brecon Beacons and went | :23:59. | :24:03. | |
to Scotland that is regrettable. We are responsive in terms of Welsh | :24:04. | :24:06. | |
Government and local Government as possible when it comes to ensuring | :24:07. | :24:12. | |
that we are the locations for particularly well-known films. I did | :24:13. | :24:17. | |
notice watching World Ward Z where those of you familiar with it will | :24:18. | :24:21. | |
know that the world is saved because of a medical facility based in | :24:22. | :24:25. | |
Cardiff. Even though it's clear that the facility itself isn't in Wales | :24:26. | :24:29. | |
given the crick etc in the background are a give away. That is | :24:30. | :24:39. | |
something to be proud of. What are the milestones expected to be | :24:40. | :24:43. | |
achieved by the active travel act for Wales, which has just become | :24:44. | :24:48. | |
law? It's an important piece of legislation which will result of the | :24:49. | :24:51. | |
development of integrated roots and -- routes and facilities across | :24:52. | :24:55. | |
Wales in the next few years. I'm pleased to see as part of road | :24:56. | :24:58. | |
safety act this week, your Government has announced a | :24:59. | :25:02. | |
consultation of risk assessing the routes to school for children who | :25:03. | :25:06. | |
are walking there. And thanks to the Welsh Government's safer routes in | :25:07. | :25:11. | |
communities scheme parts of my constituency are now going to become | :25:12. | :25:18. | |
a 20mph pilot zone, which is extremely welcome. This is expected | :25:19. | :25:22. | |
to have minimal impact on journey times by car and bus and will make | :25:23. | :25:27. | |
it safe for pedestrians and cyclists. How can we ensure that | :25:28. | :25:32. | |
initiatives like this link up with the objectives of the active travel | :25:33. | :25:41. | |
act? What's important is that as we work with travel, there is -- there | :25:42. | :25:46. | |
is sufficient road safety. One of the concerns is having to share the | :25:47. | :25:51. | |
road with cars. If cars are slowed down, that will encourage more | :25:52. | :25:55. | |
people, I believe, to cycle. I welcome what Cardiff Council is | :25:56. | :25:59. | |
doing. We allocated ?400,000 for those schemes. They will be | :26:00. | :26:03. | |
important schemes in areas, for example, where there are a lot of | :26:04. | :26:06. | |
students, who themselves have access to bikes. It's important that we | :26:07. | :26:10. | |
promote active travel in that way. Of course, also ensure that the | :26:11. | :26:15. | |
roads are as safe as they can be for cyclists and pedestrians in the | :26:16. | :26:21. | |
future. First Minister, I have two | :26:22. | :26:26. | |
documents, the one the climbing higher document from January 2005 | :26:27. | :26:30. | |
and the climbing higher next steps from July 2006, I have them here | :26:31. | :26:36. | |
because they had a target set of 95% of people in Wales having a foot | :26:37. | :26:40. | |
path or cycle path within a ten-minute walk of their home. Nine | :26:41. | :26:46. | |
years down-the-line, that has still not come to fruition. I ask the | :26:47. | :26:51. | |
question on the back of the last question, how confident are you that | :26:52. | :26:55. | |
the objectives of the active travel bill, which all the subscribe to, | :26:56. | :27:03. | |
how confident are you in five years, ten years down-the-line, the bill | :27:04. | :27:06. | |
will make hay difference to people's lives and that local authorities | :27:07. | :27:09. | |
will actually have enough finance at this time to make it a reality? This | :27:10. | :27:13. | |
is legislation, this is not what we could have done in years gone by. I | :27:14. | :27:18. | |
am certain with the legislation and the statutory guidance which will | :27:19. | :27:22. | |
support the implementation of the act that we will see the act's | :27:23. | :27:30. | |
objectives being met. One of the issues arisen out of sad deaths of a | :27:31. | :27:34. | |
number of cyclists in London recently is the poor design of | :27:35. | :27:42. | |
routes with cycle lanes being marked intermittently on roads. Can you | :27:43. | :27:46. | |
tell us how the bill will alleviate the situation so that we can ensure | :27:47. | :27:51. | |
that cyclists are not dying on Welsh road? The design guidance will be | :27:52. | :27:55. | |
issued as a result of the act. That will set the standards for the | :27:56. | :27:58. | |
design of walking and cycling infrastructure. The member is right | :27:59. | :28:02. | |
to point out that there are examples, I've seen them, of cycle | :28:03. | :28:06. | |
paths that come to an abrupt end with the word "end" and then people | :28:07. | :28:14. | |
are back onto the main highway. That guidance will need to be implemented | :28:15. | :28:18. | |
by local authorities. Also the delivery guidance will explain what | :28:19. | :28:23. | |
the duties in the act mean in practice, with those things taken | :28:24. | :28:26. | |
together, I believe we will see proper cycle routes that don't come | :28:27. | :28:33. | |
to an abrupt end, as we have seen in the past. Will the First Minister | :28:34. | :28:38. | |
provide an opinion on the welfare reform in Wales. We commissioned a | :28:39. | :28:43. | |
three-stage programme and this has helped us to inform our response to | :28:44. | :28:46. | |
mitigate, where we can, those impacts in Wales. The next report is | :28:47. | :28:53. | |
due to be published in the new year. Nearly 34,000 people across Wales | :28:54. | :28:57. | |
have been hit by the bedroom tax losing an average of more than ?13 | :28:58. | :29:02. | |
per week, while 6,500 households with two spare rooms are losing more | :29:03. | :29:08. | |
than ?20 per week. With Christmas ash the corner I'm worried about the | :29:09. | :29:12. | |
1700 tenants building up housing debt because of this pernicious | :29:13. | :29:17. | |
policy. I support recent Welsh Government proposals to scrap | :29:18. | :29:20. | |
mandatory ground eight, which can be used to evict them. Though I | :29:21. | :29:25. | |
understand the current envelope moratorium on ground eight has | :29:26. | :29:28. | |
worked well, working with the Housing Minister will you ensure | :29:29. | :29:32. | |
this is strengthened by a change in the law so that people do not face | :29:33. | :29:37. | |
mandatory eviction because of bedroom tax arrears. First of all | :29:38. | :29:42. | |
the bedroom tax is pernicious. There's no question about that. We | :29:43. | :29:47. | |
see the effect on people despite the assurances given by the UK | :29:48. | :29:51. | |
Government. We are exploring, as a Cabinet, ways of ensuring that | :29:52. | :29:59. | |
people don't face the difficulties of unnecessary evict. I've heard | :30:00. | :30:04. | |
calls from other parties to put forward a no-eviction policy. That | :30:05. | :30:09. | |
has an effect on other people who pay and there is a cost to that. But | :30:10. | :30:13. | |
nevertheless, it is something that we are actively giving consideration | :30:14. | :30:20. | |
to at the moment. It's three years since the private sector built in | :30:21. | :30:24. | |
welfare reform and needed to work with local Government. | :30:25. | :30:27. | |
Two-and-a-half years since the UK Government issued detailed guidance | :30:28. | :30:30. | |
on Prius for the changes. Why did the Welsh Government delay action to | :30:31. | :30:37. | |
identify exempt groups, those priority for discretionary housing | :30:38. | :30:40. | |
payments and increase supply until after the changes had taken effect. | :30:41. | :30:44. | |
I assume the member is joking given the fact that these reforms came | :30:45. | :30:48. | |
into place in April and he expects us to have build 17,000 one-bed | :30:49. | :30:52. | |
accommodation since that time. It's not good enough for the | :30:53. | :30:55. | |
Conservatives to suddenly blame us as a party and a Government for the | :30:56. | :30:59. | |
problem they introduced. One of the other members tried it last week, he | :31:00. | :31:04. | |
pointed out that people was being see vict -- evicted. It's your | :31:05. | :31:08. | |
policy. You defend. It you explain it to the people of Wales. You tell | :31:09. | :31:12. | |
those people who face eviction that's something that according to | :31:13. | :31:21. | |
your party, they deserve. TRANSLATION: First Minister, there | :31:22. | :31:27. | |
are thousands, if not millions of people on benefits and pensions | :31:28. | :31:30. | |
facing a hard winter, particularly bearing in mind that the price of | :31:31. | :31:34. | |
fuel is increasing and if that's the case, would awe gree it's | :31:35. | :31:39. | |
disgraceful that the major energy companies are sitting on money and | :31:40. | :31:43. | |
increasing prices that have been gathered for things such as eco, | :31:44. | :31:49. | |
which is supposed to insulate homes and people people on benefits cope | :31:50. | :31:52. | |
with the winter. Is there anything you can do to put more pressure on | :31:53. | :31:57. | |
the companies to release this money, which is already being gathered | :31:58. | :32:01. | |
through their high prices, but yet to be spent on low-quality homes in | :32:02. | :32:11. | |
Wales? TRANSLATION: We have schemes, but what is very important is that | :32:12. | :32:16. | |
people should be able to afford the energy that they use and one of the | :32:17. | :32:21. | |
things my party has said on a British level is we will freeze | :32:22. | :32:24. | |
prices in future and that will be of a great benefit to all. # | :32:25. | :32:32. | |
TRANSLATION: As part of the welfare reforms under the last Labour | :32:33. | :32:37. | |
Government in London, the independent living fund was closed. | :32:38. | :32:41. | |
Now, there has been a court case over this part fortnight that | :32:42. | :32:46. | |
questioned whether the funds should continue, but there is a requirement | :32:47. | :32:49. | |
for the Welsh Government to decide whether the fund is to implement it | :32:50. | :32:54. | |
nationally here in Wales or at the County Council level. When will the | :32:55. | :32:58. | |
Government make that decision? TRANSLATION: This is something that | :32:59. | :33:01. | |
we are discussing at present, but it's true to say that the fact that | :33:02. | :33:09. | |
our budget has been squeezed over the past years doesn't help matters. | :33:10. | :33:14. | |
Of course, we know that the United Kingdom Government has the record of | :33:15. | :33:17. | |
giving us the responsibility without giving us the full funding and we | :33:18. | :33:21. | |
saw that with the council tax benefit and we have seen it with | :33:22. | :33:25. | |
other issues too. So, we then have to find that funding in order to | :33:26. | :33:34. | |
maintain the same schemes. Will you outline the latest information on | :33:35. | :33:39. | |
measles in Wales? Our latest information indicates there have | :33:40. | :33:44. | |
been 39 notifications of measles since Octobe They centre on four | :33:45. | :33:48. | |
schools in the south Powys area and we continue to take action to reduce | :33:49. | :33:54. | |
the number of children affected. It seems cleaver, due to the outbreaks, | :33:55. | :33:59. | |
that they confirm that hard-to-reach groups are not responding to appeals | :34:00. | :34:07. | |
to have doses of the MMR. Public Health Wales has warned there is | :34:08. | :34:10. | |
another risk and somehow the message that it can be a very, very serious | :34:11. | :34:14. | |
condition does not seem to be getting across to the public. | :34:15. | :34:20. | |
Therefore, if current appeals to parents and olders children to have | :34:21. | :34:25. | |
this fail, will the Welsh Government look at tougher measures, including | :34:26. | :34:28. | |
invoking public health law, keeping children who have not had the MMR | :34:29. | :34:37. | |
vaccine and close contacts infected children away from school? We do not | :34:38. | :34:42. | |
support compulsory vaccination, but nevertheless Public Health Wales | :34:43. | :34:45. | |
have identified the need to tighten the law possibly in terms of | :34:46. | :34:52. | |
ensuring that a close contact of probable cases are excluded from | :34:53. | :34:56. | |
schools until the infectious period is over. That is something that we | :34:57. | :35:01. | |
are looking at at the moment. Nevertheless, it's important to | :35:02. | :35:05. | |
encourage people to ensure their children are vaccinated. If that | :35:06. | :35:09. | |
doesn't happen, it's important to ensure the disease doesn't Prince | :35:10. | :35:14. | |
Edward -- spread to those who are unvaccinated. It may be that further | :35:15. | :35:19. | |
steps should be taken to ensure the safety of those children. First | :35:20. | :35:27. | |
Minister, the outbreak that took hold in South Wales was particularly | :35:28. | :35:32. | |
damaging, I think, to the confidence that people have had sometimes in | :35:33. | :35:36. | |
the whole of the vaccination programme, because of the adverse | :35:37. | :35:41. | |
publicity received over a decade ago, as a result of some very poor | :35:42. | :35:48. | |
media reporting and some atrocious propaganda put out by a particular | :35:49. | :35:52. | |
medical professional. What work are you now doing to capture this 30,000 | :35:53. | :35:59. | |
group of young people who still aren't vaccinated? I appreciate the | :36:00. | :36:03. | |
response you have have previously given, but we know many of the | :36:04. | :36:06. | |
people are in the same Local Health Board areas and I wonder what | :36:07. | :36:11. | |
focussed work you might do to play catch-up with those 30,000 young | :36:12. | :36:17. | |
people? The new delivery framework includes the need to ensure that 95% | :36:18. | :36:23. | |
of children are vaccinated by four years old. All plans are in to the | :36:24. | :36:27. | |
Chief Medical Officer, ensuring there are measures in place and to | :36:28. | :36:30. | |
provide catch-up opportunities for children who have missed out on | :36:31. | :36:49. | |
scheduled vaccinations. The Public Health Wales report says there are | :36:50. | :36:54. | |
problems in the 10-18 and co horse who are continuing to resist efforts | :36:55. | :36:58. | |
to get them vaccinated. How will you refocus the messages and information | :36:59. | :37:02. | |
to parents to try to tackle those issues? It's difficult with those | :37:03. | :37:07. | |
who missed being vaccinated when they were young children. At the | :37:08. | :37:13. | |
time when the publicity against the vaccination was at its highest. Both | :37:14. | :37:21. | |
organisations have recommended that health professionals use every | :37:22. | :37:25. | |
opportunity they have in terms of encounters they have with young | :37:26. | :37:30. | |
adults as an opportunity to check their status and to promote | :37:31. | :37:38. | |
vaccination. One of my constituents died. In the pre-vaccination era my | :37:39. | :37:45. | |
sister ended up profoundly deaf. Wh more could be done to check the | :37:46. | :37:48. | |
seriousness of measles and increase the number of children who are | :37:49. | :37:52. | |
vaccinated by the MMR? I think part of the problem is that many parents | :37:53. | :37:59. | |
are of the generation where the vaccine was not available and think | :38:00. | :38:03. | |
it was a harmless illness, because they didn't have it. Those of us who | :38:04. | :38:08. | |
did it were lucky as measles can be serious and as we know potentially | :38:09. | :38:15. | |
fatal. Important then that we re-emphasise the message that it's | :38:16. | :38:21. | |
not mob tested with. It's far better to be vaccinated against the disease | :38:22. | :38:25. | |
that might potentially kill and that is the message I'm happy to | :38:26. | :38:28. | |
reiterate again in this chamber again and I know health | :38:29. | :38:32. | |
professionals will be doing the same. Will the First Minister make a | :38:33. | :38:40. | |
statement on co--production in public sectors? It can bring | :38:41. | :38:45. | |
benefits to public services and we are looking at ways in which | :38:46. | :38:55. | |
coproduction can become a reality. How do you respond to the statement | :38:56. | :39:01. | |
of last week's communities conference in Wales that now is the | :39:02. | :39:05. | |
time for change, but the fear is that we either don't respond quickly | :39:06. | :39:09. | |
enough or that we respond with a further programme, rather than | :39:10. | :39:14. | |
reform services and changing systems and structures breaking down the | :39:15. | :39:17. | |
barriers wen those who provide services and those who use them? -- | :39:18. | :39:23. | |
between those who provide services and those who use them? A panel has | :39:24. | :39:30. | |
been recruited to provide an independent voice for carers and | :39:31. | :39:33. | |
citizens. There is the framework I mentioned in the proposed Bill. Our | :39:34. | :39:38. | |
framework or action on independent living is an example as well of a | :39:39. | :39:42. | |
co-productive approach to addressing the barriers to equality and | :39:43. | :39:46. | |
inclusion, that are faced for example by disabled people and of | :39:47. | :39:50. | |
course there are supporting people programmes and the families first | :39:51. | :39:58. | |
programme and in communities first. TRANSLATION: First Minister, in the | :39:59. | :40:04. | |
financial context facing us at present, do you believe that local | :40:05. | :40:09. | |
authorities, when they talk about providing basic services when senior | :40:10. | :40:17. | |
officers leave or departs from the authority, should they look at | :40:18. | :40:22. | |
re-allocating those responsibility from among the management team | :40:23. | :40:24. | |
rather that making a new appointment? TRANSLATION: That's | :40:25. | :40:28. | |
something for local authorities to decide for themselves and they are | :40:29. | :40:31. | |
accountable to the people they represent. There we are. We'll leave | :40:32. | :40:34. | |
First Minister's Questions there, but you can see more coverage of the | :40:35. | :40:41. | |
National Assembly on-line from the democracy live page. Our Welsh | :40:42. | :40:49. | |
affairs editor has been watching in our newsroom. Vaughan, a lot of | :40:50. | :40:54. | |
discussion about the commissioning report and tax powers. Any clearer | :40:55. | :41:00. | |
now on where the parties stand and what they would do with them? Well, | :41:01. | :41:05. | |
I think we are a little bit clearer. Carwyn Jones made it pretty clear | :41:06. | :41:09. | |
that he was very much opposed to any idea of a sunset clause, that he | :41:10. | :41:14. | |
wanted the mechanism to transfer tax powers from London to Cardiff, but | :41:15. | :41:19. | |
that he didn't intend to use that. You also had a slight air of | :41:20. | :41:25. | |
embarrassment on the Conservative and Liberal Democrat benches, | :41:26. | :41:28. | |
because what the Westminster coalition delivered yesterday wasn't | :41:29. | :41:34. | |
exactly what the Silk Commissi recommended and what the | :41:35. | :41:37. | |
Conservatives and Liberal Democrats here were fighting for. That was the | :41:38. | :41:43. | |
freedom to vary income tax rates independent of each other. Instead | :41:44. | :41:47. | |
of that, the UK Government has put a lock step in place, which means you | :41:48. | :41:51. | |
have to cut the rates or increase the rates at the same level. We saw | :41:52. | :41:58. | |
a little bit there about the sort of debates we'll see going forward, but | :41:59. | :42:02. | |
it's still very early days. Does this lock step argument, does it | :42:03. | :42:10. | |
make it a bit easier for him to say that really he can argue it's not | :42:11. | :42:14. | |
something that would be of any benefit to the Welsh Government? He | :42:15. | :42:18. | |
can argue that. The question is, how long that lock step will last, | :42:19. | :42:23. | |
because the political reason that that is there is because it exists | :42:24. | :42:28. | |
in Scotland. It would have looked very odd if the UK Government on the | :42:29. | :42:33. | |
eve of the independent referendum had given the Welsh Government and | :42:34. | :42:39. | |
the Welsh Assembly more freed Dom that Scotland at the moment. Once we | :42:40. | :42:44. | |
are passed the independent referendum next year, I think you | :42:45. | :42:48. | |
may well see, whatever the result, a change in the lock step aroundments | :42:49. | :42:52. | |
for Scotland, or indeed Scotland going alone. I think the whole | :42:53. | :42:58. | |
question of that lock step will be open again after the referendum. | :42:59. | :43:04. | |
Briefly, a lot of talk on higher education. There is a review, but it | :43:05. | :43:13. | |
will not report until back after the elections. Not everyone impressed? | :43:14. | :43:15. | |
No. There have been heated exchanges in an urgent question that is going | :43:16. | :43:18. | |
on behind me at the moment. People are accusing the Welsh Government of | :43:19. | :43:23. | |
attempting to kick the issue into the long grass. The education | :43:24. | :43:29. | |
Minister saying that that synthetic outrage and he's determined to try | :43:30. | :43:34. | |
to achieve consensus. Vaughan, thank you. | :43:35. | :43:41. | |
That's it for today. We'll be bat at the same time next week, with more | :43:42. | :43:45. | |
coverage of First Minister's Questions. If you want more Welsh | :43:46. | :43:49. | |
politics before then, there is Wales Today this evening at 6.30pm and on | :43:50. | :43:59. | |
S 4 C at 9.00pm. The Wales kl Report with Huw Edwards tomorrow at | :44:00. | :44:01. |