The sixteenth 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.

Image source, Senedd Cymru

The first minister lists action he says the Welsh Government is taking to tackle the "climate emergency" - "creating a national forest, sustaining biodiversity, decarbonising housing, prioritising renewable energy and preventing flooding".

Asked specifically about the Gwent Levels, there is "more we know that we can do" to support their preservation, he says.

The area has hit the headlines in recent years as part of the debate around building an M4 relief road - plans that were shelved by Mr Drakeford due in part to the "very significant weight" he placed on environmental concerns.

Conservative Joel James and the first minister exchange views on what the UK and Welsh governments are doing to help small, independent brewers.

Mr James says the Welsh Government is "introducing a digital system in its deposit-return scheme that will be incompatible with the DRS [Deposit Return Scheme] being introduced in England and Northern Ireland. This incompatibility will create barriers to trade, increase production costs and, in particular, reduce the choice and availability of beer here."

The first minister replies, "we had agreed a joint set of proposals for a deposit-return scheme with the UK government. We took part in a joint consultation on those joint set of proposals with them, and it is only in the post-consultation design of the DRS scheme that the UK government for England decided to move away from the scope of materials that we had agreed with them would be included within the scheme."

"Covid has had a disproportionate impact on low-income households," says the first minister, who calls for action from the UK government to tackle the increasing cost of living.

"Surging inflation, tax increases and a failure to protect incomes will result in a fall in living standards and put significant pressure on vulnerable households. We are doing all we can, within the powers we have, to provide support to them," he says.

Image source, Getty Images

Conservative Russell George warns that holiday-let businesses in Wales will become unviable if planned law changes go ahead.

Welsh Government plans include a 300% council tax premium on second homes and making it harder for those properties to be eligible for business rates instead of council tax.

Mr George cites Paul Martin, who runs a business in Powys, who has said the 182 day occupancy threshold was unachievable outside the most popular holiday spots.

The first minister replies, "where businesses are businesses, then of course they should be regulated under a business system, and they should take advantage, where they can, of any reliefs from business rates. If you're not letting a property for half of the year, then I don't think you're properly regarded as a business. You can continue to operate, of course you can. Nobody is saying that the business doesn't continue; it's simply that, in those circumstances, you should pay council tax and make that part of your business plan."

The first minister thanks everyone who took part in the Great Plastic Count.

Households across the UK were encouraged to count all the plastic packaging they threw away across last week.

Wales was the only UK nation to keep up its recycling rate during the pandemic and has now outperformed the other nations for at least 10 years running.

Wales recycled 56.5% of household waste in 2020, ahead of the UK average of 44.4%.

Image source, WELSH GOVERNMENT

"It is just a matter of time" before there are cases of monkeypox in Wales, says the first minister.

"Wales is not immune from a disease of this sort. We're in the fortunate position, if that's the right way to put it, that, with cases occurring elsewhere in the United Kingdom, we've been able to put our response in place in advance of cases coming to Wales," he adds.

The rare virus - which causes a rash and a fever - has been seen around the world in recent weeks.

Health experts stress that the overall risk remains low, and that the disease can be contained.

Image source, Science Photo Library

Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price raises the issue of racism in schools, after a pupil lost a finger reportedly fleeing bullies.

Raheem Bailey, 11, had surgery after catching his finger on a fence at his school, but it could not be saved.

Raheem's mother Shantal has said her son, a pupil at Abertillery Learning Community in Blaenau Gwent, had been subjected to "racial and physical abuse" at the school.

First Minister Mark Drakeford says it is a "shocking" case which is under investigation.

He rejects Adam Price's call for an inquiry.

He adds "our anti-racist action plan will be published next month, which will include the education context."

“I myself am more interested in making sure that we can take those actions, actions we have agreed with so many voices with lived experience who have helped us create that plan, than I am in yet another inquiry.”

Mr Price says Raheem Bailey’s experience is “sadly by no means unique in Wales”.

He suggests an inquiry could review anti-racism training, resources for educators, data collection, bullying policies and inspection group Estyn’s role in monitoring.

Image source, FAMILY PHOTO

Andrew RT Davies, leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd, points out that the Welsh Government has confirmed it has spent £4.25m on a farm in Powys that a minister says could secure the future of the Green Man festival.

Economy Minister Vaughan Gething had said the government wants to ensure the event has a "permanent home" in Wales.

Mr Davies also quotes the festival organisers stating: "There are no plans to move the Green Man Festival from Glanusk to Gileston Farm."

The first minister denies that those are contradictory statements, explaining that the festival believes there is "more that they can do to contribute to the economy... with space to develop those possibilities."

Andrew RT Davies says: "How is it that the Green Man festival can secure £4.25m worth of government support with no business plan when any other business here in Wales would have to submit that very necessary piece of information to acquire even a fraction of that money to support their business plan?"

But Mr Drakeford says the money had bought "an asset the Welsh Government holds which is worth more than that sum" and no funding or land had gone to Green Man. He calls Green Man a "major success story for Wales", adding: "We are working with a trusted partner."

"We are working with a company that the Welsh Government has known and worked alongside over an extended period of time as it has grown to be amongst the fifth most successful of its kind anywhere in the United Kingdom."

Image source, Getty Images

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 first question comes from Plaid Cymru's Rhys ab Owen, who asks "will the Welsh Government commit to the adoption of the maintenance of new housing estates by local authorities?" He raises the case of The Mill in Canton, Cardiff.

First Minister Mark Drakeford replies that his government will not do that but "our programme for government includes a commitment to reform the way in which estate charges are levied for public open spaces and facilities. Current arrangements are over complex and too often unfair. We will bring forward proposals for reform, for both new and existing estates."

After a Senedd debate in February 2018 regarding the issues around unadopted roads, the Welsh Government established a Taskforce to investigate the issues, which published its final report in October 2020, external.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the sixteenth 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.