First Minister's Questions: As it happened on 29 March

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

Hwyl fawr

The eleventh FMQs of 2022 comes to a close.

Thanks for following - join us again on Tuesday 26th April, after the Easter recess.

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

Flooding in mid Wales

Conservative Russell George calls on National Resources Wales to deliver on promises he says were made two years ago to undertake work to alleviate flooding in mid Wales.

He explains, "my concern is that commitments were made to local county councillors, myself and residents, two years ago, by Natural Resources Wales, and that work hasn't been undertaken. Of course, residents fear that they will now carry out refurbishment works to their properties—properties that I visited myself recently—only then to be flooded in another two years or at a future event. So, can I ask, first minister, that in the funding that you've talked about today, which I very much welcome, priority is given to projects that have already been put in place and previously discussed, and that's where the priority lies for that particular funding?"

The first minister replies, "the Welsh Government has provided funding directly to both Powys County Council to help with the development of schemes. and NRW, to help with the practical implementation of those schemes, and there are, as the Member says, plans for construction works at Llandinam, for example, but in other parts of the Member's constituency as well, and I'm very happy to take up with the Minister responsible the need to make sure that those works are carried out in as timely a fashion as possible."

BBC

Russell George

'£315 a year worse off'

Plaid Cymru's Delyth Jewell points out that Cardiff University’s Wales Governance Centre say that after the chancellor's Spring Statement, average Welsh households will be £315 a year worse off.

The first minister replies, "here is a Conservative Chancellor who went about the spring statement on the basis of trying to burnish his own credentials as a tax-cutting Chancellor in order to improve his chances in the leadership election that he expects to fight any time soon.

"So, the Chancellor's eyes were not focused on helping the 5.5 million people who are economically inactive in this country, or the 11 million pensioners who find themselves significantly worse off as a result of breaking his own promise to up pensions in line with the triple lock.

"Twenty seven million people out of 31 million people will still be paying more tax after the Chancellor's election gimmick of a 1p cut in income tax in 2024, and that just tells you where the Chancellor and the Conservative party's interests lie."

Reuters

Chancellor Rishi Sunak unveiled his Spring Statement as the costs of fuel, energy and food soar

Reliant on heating oil and LPG

Liberal Democrat Jane Dodds calls for protections against price rises for people across rural Wales who are reliant on heating oil and LPG.

The first minister replies, "the Welsh Government continues to press the UK Government to support households who, through no fault of their own, are facing an energy and cost-of-living crisis. The cost of heating oil was last discussed with UK Government officials last week, on 23 March."

BBC

'West Wales ideal to host a stage of Tour de France'

Cefin Campbell suggests that west Wales would be ideal to host a stage of the Tour de France.

The first minister replies, "we continue to collaborate with England and Scotland to develop a bid to bring the Tour de France to the UK in 2026. Discussions are ongoing, and of course as a government here in Wales, we are doing everything within our power to highlight the possibilities that exist here in Wales."

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Geraint Thomas won the Tour de France in 2018

P&O Ferries: 'unacceptable and illegal'

The first minister says the decision "by P&O Ferries to fire its loyal workforce without consultation and with immediate effect is unacceptable and illegal. We have made it clear to the UK Government that they must not stand by and allow an accelerated race to the bottom on workers’ rights in this industry or any other."

BBC

PA Media

Effect of Covid on maternity services

On the effect of Covid on maternity services, Plaid Cymru's Sioned Williams refers to the case of a constituent - her "awful experience of having to undergo pregnancy scans on her own without her husband due to Covid rules".

The first minister replies, "I feel enormous sympathy for the individual whose circumstances she related."

"During the whole of the pandemic, some of the most difficult circumstances that have had to have been faced by the NHS have been over maternity care and the involvement of both partners in what should, in normal circumstances, be one of the most exciting times in their lives.

"But as I've explained many times on the floor of the Senedd, the decision about whether people can be involved has had to be a clinical decision, made by the person who has the best opportunity to make sure that the health of the mother and the health of the unborn baby can be protected to the maximum possible extent."

He acknowledges the "heartache" caused by the "protections".

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'Devolve benefits to Wales'

Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price sets the case for devolving benefits to Wales.

He points to research from Cardiff University’s Wales Governance Centre which said that giving Wales the same powers over benefits as Scotland could boost the Welsh budget by £200m a year.

Mr Price argues, "It's simply not good enough to say, 'Oh, it'll be all right when there's a Labour Government', when, since the Reform Act, Wales has never, ever elected a majority of Tory MPs, and yet we've had Tory governments for more than two thirds of the time."

The first minister replies, "I am interested, and want serious work to be done on the devolution of the administration of the welfare system. I think there is a growing case for that, and we would administer housing benefit, for example, differently if it were devolved to Wales. That is different to the break up of the tax and benefit system on which people in Wales have relied over a great deal of the time that the Member points to.

"It was a Welshman, not Aneurin Bevan, but James Griffiths, who put on the statute book the underpinnings of the welfare state, which has stood people in Wales well over much of the period since James Griffiths passed the national insurance and allied Acts back in 1947. Griffiths was a great Welshman, and a great socialist. I think the recipe that he put forward continues to be the one that benefits people in Wales."

In 2016, the UK government gave Scotland control over 11 welfare benefits and the ability to create new social security benefits in devolved policy areas.An equivalent package of powers would give Wales responsibility for Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payment and Attendance Allowance, along with smaller benefits including the Cold Weather Payment, Discretionary Housing Payment and Winter Fuel Payment.

BBC

Welsh Ambulance Service

Andrew RT Davies, leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd, raises the issue of ambulance response times.

He says, "on the red-alert calls, you had a literally one in two chance of having that call responded to. On amber calls, you've got a less than one in five chance of that being responded to in the 30-minute target time. Sixty-five per cent of red calls should hit that eight-minute response time. As I said, you've got a 50:50 chance now in Wales, regrettably, of having that happening."

He asks "when will we see the improvements that the people of Wales deserve?"

The first minister replies, "for 48 weeks in a row, until the pandemic hit us in March 2020, the ambulance service in Wales met its targets. I don't recall ever once being asked by the leader of the opposition about it then."

"The truth of the matter is, as he will know, that the pandemic has caused major challenges for the ambulance service, because every time an ambulance goes out and may transport somebody who has Covid, and with current rates of Covid in Wales, that means a very significant number of people who the ambulance service has to deal with, then the ambulance has to be deep cleaned again before it can go back on the road.

"The figures for the last month show the ambulance service holding its own in Wales, despite the fact that the number of calls to the service has been running at all-time record highs over this winter."

BBC

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The military has been assisting the ambulance service across the UK

Chancellor's Spring Statement 2022

Asked by Llyr Gruffydd about the implications for Wales of the Chancellor's Spring Statement 2022, the first minister replies that "a decade of austerity has left the poorest households in Wales ill-equipped to deal with the cost-of-living crisis. In the spring statement the Chancellor had an opportunity to provide essential help to those who need it the most. He let them down and that was unforgivable."

Llyr Gruffydd points out that sharp rises in standing charges on standard electricity bills will see customers face very different cost increases depending on where they live.

Customers in north Wales will see the daily payments double from April.

Those in London and the east of England will see increases of less than 60%.

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Antisemitism

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.

Sam Rowlands, Conservative MS for north Wales, asks what action is the Welsh Government taking to eradicate antisemitism in Wales.

First Minister Mark Drakeford replies that "for over a decade the Welsh Government has funded the Holocaust Educational Trust."

It’s mission is to "educate every person from every background in the UK about the Holocaust and its contemporary relevance".

Sam Rowlands calls on the first minister to "join me in urging and setting the expectation that all of our universities in Wales should adopt the IHRA [International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance] definition of antisemitism".

The first minister replies, "it is my expectation that no public body in Wales tolerates antisemitism".

Reports of anti-Semitic incidents reached a record high in the UK last year, according to figures from a Jewish security charity.

The Community Security Trust (CST) provides security for Britain's Jewish community, and monitors anti-Semitism.

The charity says it recorded reports of 2,255 anti-Jewish hate incidents in 2021, up 34% on 2020.

Its annual report says the rise was driven by reactions to violence in Israel and Gaza.

Well over half of the incidents were in Greater London, with 1,254 cases, making it the worst year ever recorded in the city.

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Change to usual timetable

Today, Questions to the First Minister take place after the Business Statement and Announcement - an opportunity for members to request that the government makes a statement or holds a debate in the Siambr on a matter of concern to the member – because of Mark Drakeford’s attendance at the thanksgiving service at Westminster Abbey for the life of Prince Philip, who died in April last year, aged 99.

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BBC

Croeso

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the eleventh 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.