First Minister's Questions: As it happened on 22 March

1. Mark Drakeford faces questions from MSs, for the penultimate time before the Easter recess.

Hwyl fawr

The tenth FMQs of 2022 comes to a close.

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The Senedd will once again be lit tonight in the blue and yellow colours of Ukraine’s flag as a sign of solidarity with Ukraine and its people.

Senedd Cymru

'Precarious' working conditions

Labour MS Jack Sargeant cites examples of "precarious" working conditions facing young workers in Wales.

"One respondent told me that whilst working in the hospitality sector during the pandemic, they were discouraged from wearing a mask and told it would, and I quote, first minister, 'affect tips for female workers'. Another young person talked about being forced into a fake and exploitative apprenticeship, stating, and again, I quote, 'They didn't even sign me up for the course, so I was just paid half the wage for the same work and got no training.' Now, a common issue many faced was precarious contracts, with one individual applying for a job advertised at 40 hours a week, only to receive an offer of a zero-hours contract."

The first minister says "joining a trade union is the single most effective action that a young person can take to make sure that they have the help and the support that they would need, were they to face the sorts of circumstances that Jack Sargeant has outlined this afternoon."

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The points made by Jack Sargeant "have surely been given even more urgency in this last week by the actions of employers at P&O," said the first minister

'Access to food and fuel for those who otherwise will be forced to go without'

The first minister calls on the chancellor Rishi Sunak to use the Spring Statement on Wednesday to take "actions to provide help for those least able to manage the crisis in the most essential aspects of daily life, widening access to food and to fuel for those who otherwise will be forced to go without."

BBC

The chancellor is under pressure to address the rising cost of living

'Huge variation between local authorities' in the number of children in care

Rhys ab Owen draws attention to the "huge variation between local authorities" in the number of children in care - "Torfaen, an increase of 251 per cent, whilst Carmarthenshire has no increase whatsoever, and the local variations between somewhere like Torfaen and Newport. The fact that a child in Torfaen is five times more likely to enter the care system than a child in Carmarthenshire is totally wrong."

The first minister replies, "It is a really very significant matter of public policy here in Wales and he's absolutely right: the difference between different local authorities in Wales is absolutely striking".

He adds, "we take more children away from their families in Wales, and we've done it at an accelerating rate compared to parts of England that look like comparable parts of Wales. That is why the issue is so urgent, but it's also why we can have some optimism about it. Things can be and are being done differently and we need that better approach to be adopted throughout Wales."

'Systemic racism'

Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price refers to the anti-racism march in Cardiff to mark the United Nation's International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

He says there is systemic racism across our society, from our education system to our health system, and in our economy, and calls for action to become an anti-racist nation.

He specifically asks, "as a powerfully symbolic, but also practical, step to achieve that shared aspiration to become an anti-racist nation, will you commit to Wales joining Scotland in incorporating into law the UN's convention on the eradication of all forms of racial discrimination?"

First Minister Mark Drakeford replies, "in our race equality action plan, the advice, I think, that we have drawn on from people with lived experience of racism is that we have to move beyond a commitment not to be racist, to a commitment to be positively anti-racist in the way that we organise ourselves as political parties, as public services. That is there to be seen on all the pages, I think, of the redrawn plan—redrawn as a result of of the consultation exercise."

He adds, "I am absolutely happy, of course, to discuss the specific point that the Member has raised and to do so with that group of people who we've been able to draw on so powerfully in shaping the plan, because it's their lived experience that speaks throughout it."

BBC

Hundreds of people gathered in the Welsh capital to protest against racism in society

BBC

Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price spoke at the event in Cardiff city centre

'Chronic waiting lists for dentistry'

Andrew RT Davies, leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd, says there are "chronic waiting lists for dentistry" in Wales.

He asks, "when we see dental treatments falling by 70 per cent over the last 12 months, do you agree with me that there is a genuine problem with capacity within the Welsh dental services and people's ability to register with NHS provision?"

The first minister replies that "NHS dentistry is undoubtedly very challenged" but denies it is a matter of capacity but rather due to safe working conditions due to the pandemic.

He explains, "of all the things that the NHS does, the aerosol-generating procedures that dentistry relies upon are the most likely to spread Covid and therefore conditions continue to be that dentists have to reduce the number of patients they can see over a day, they have to have longer periods between appointments in order to carry out necessary cleaning, and that is resulting in the very difficult circumstances to which the Member referred."

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BBC

Andrew RT Davies

Covid - more people needing intensive care

First Minister Mark Drakeford says ministers will decide on Thursday whether to extend coronavirus restrictions, because the "context is changing".

Mr Drakeford says: "That's why the cabinet has decided to wait until Thursday for the latest figures and for the latest advice from the chief medical officer and so on to help us to make these difficult decisions."

"It's possible to think of a future where we could move on with certain things whilst retaining others in order to respond to the situation that's arising now."

He spoke after Plaid Cymru's Rhun ap Iorwerth said the "sensible thing to do in this next three weeks review is to not change the rules that we currently have, specifically around wearing a face mask and self-isolation".

There are "preliminary signs of more people needing intensive care" due to the upward trend in cases of the Omicron subvariant, says the first minister.

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Impact of the rising cost of living on households

The Llywydd (presiding officer) Elin Jones conducts a ballot to determine the names of members who may table questions to the first minister and Welsh ministers. Each member may enter their name into a ballot.

The issue raised by Mabon ap Gwynfor is the impact of the rising cost of living on households.

First Minister Mark Drakeford replies "the impact of the cost of living crisis will be profound".

He adds, "incomes suppressed by a decade of austerity will be further eroded by cuts to the value of benefits, rises in national insurance contributions and rapidly rising inflation."

Mabon ap Gwynfor refers to research by Sukhdev Johal and Karel Williams from Manchester University warning that we will see the cost of fuel for homes increasing by £1,500 per year; vehicle fuel costs rising by £500 a year; food increasing by 20 per cent.

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Croeso

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the tenth session of First Minister's Questions in 2022.

The meeting is held in a hybrid format, with some members in the Siambr (Senedd chamber) and others joining by video-conference.