Summary

  • Mark Drakeford faces questions on matters including the NHS, children in care and impact of Brexit.

  1. Hwyl fawrpublished at 14:37 British Summer Time 5 July 2022

    The twenty-first FMQs of 2022 comes to a close.

    Thanks for following - join us again next week.

    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 CymruImage source, Senedd Cymru
  2. LGBTQ+ action planpublished at 14:33 British Summer Time 5 July 2022

    On the proposed LGBTQ+ action plan, Conservative Laura Anne Jones says "we all want to see rights for trans people extended, but, essentially, not at the expense of women and girls' rights and it's absolutely vital that we get this right.

    "However, given the Welsh Government's determination to prioritise inclusion above all else, above the dignity and safety of women and girls, and above fairness and opportunity, it is, in my opinion, not the right approach, and will result in us seeing many detrimental effects for half the population in Wales if we are to go on this blinkered path that this government is setting."

    The first minister says the "Welsh Government takes women's safety very seriously. Through impact assessments, engagement with the LGBTQ+ expert panel, and over 1,300 consultation responses, we continue to evaluate potential effects of our LGBTQ+ action plan on women's rights and safety."

    Laura Anne Jones
    Image caption,

    Laura Anne Jones

  3. 'People who use our services are not problems to be solved'published at 14:29 British Summer Time 5 July 2022

    Asked by Labour MS Hefin David what support the Welsh Government provides for children with additional learning needs, the first minister replies "when the Senedd returns this autumn, we will have completed the first year of the three-year planned implementation of our Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018. That implementation is supported by £21 million each year to bring about service improvements."

    He adds, "for too long, services make, as their first question, what is wrong with you? Whereas I want the first question to be asked to be: what strengths do you have? What assets do you possess? How can we work with you, from those strengths, to help address the problems that you are currently facing? People who use our services are not problems to be solved."

  4. First minister on his bikepublished at 14:18 British Summer Time 5 July 2022

    Asked what progress has the Welsh Government made to increase the number of pupils travelling to school by bike, scooter or on foot, the first minister declares an interest as he says he is personally currently trialling the use of an electric bicycle.

    He says the "Hands Up survey, led by Public Health Wales, has provided a nationwide assessment of the way in which primary school children travel to school. The follow-up study will capture the extent of active travel improvement in the post-pandemic context."

  5. Active travel planpublished at 14:14 British Summer Time 5 July 2022

    Building proposals under the twenty-first century schools and colleges programme "will not be approved in future unless there is an active-travel plan to go alongside the physical building proposals," says the first minister.

    Active travelImage source, Getty Images
  6. Brexitpublished at 14:02 British Summer Time 5 July 2022

    Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price refers to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer's speech in which he says the UK "will not go back into the EU" under a Labour government and his commitment to keeping the UK out of the EU single market, customs union and free movement rules.

    Mr Price asks whether the first minister agrees.

    The first minister replies "the world has moved on. The United Kingdom is no longer a member of the European Union... The speech given by the leader of the Labour Party is focused on our future relationship with the European Union, a relationship in which we are no longer members of the European Union."

    He says the position of the Welsh Government is "we are in favour of the closest possible frictionless trade with the European Union. The idea that you can simply pop back into the single market or the customs union is fanciful. We may wish that we could, but we simply can't."

    Mr Price says "one example of how Wales loses out from being outside the single market, which is now Labour Party policy, is what's happened to the ports of Holyhead, Fishguard and Pembroke. As your Government predicted, the Welsh ports, subject to the full weight of the new barriers to trade, have lost business through direct-to-Europe sailings from the Republic and, also, through Northern Irish ports that currently are enjoying an indefinite grace period to export through Scotland. It's now more attractive to send goods from the Republic to Belfast and on to Scotland than it is to export them through Wales."

    Adam Price
    Image caption,

    Adam Price

    FlagsImage source, Getty Images
  7. Children taken into care and ending up living in a B&B or a hostelpublished at 13:50 British Summer Time 5 July 2022

    Andrew RT Davies, leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd, asks why a BBC documentary has found teenagers are still being placed in B&Bs and hostels - six years after the Welsh Government said it wanted to "eliminate" it.

    The first minister replies "I think there are a number of reasons that lie behind that unfortunate fact. The biggest one is that we take too many children away from their families here in Wales. This is a point I have tried to make every since I was the health Minister and responsible for social services. We take children away from their families in Wales at twice the rate that children are taken into care in England, and the result of that is that our local authorities find all their budgets, all the staff that they have, having to deal with the number of children who are already in the care of that local authority. When new needs arise and children have to be attended to, there isn't the capacity there to respond in the way that we would like."

    Mr Davies says "the government in 2015 made that commitment to phase out the use of B and Bs, hostels and budget hotels. Do you still stand by that commitment? I appreciate seven years have passed, but is it still a government priority to stick to that commitment? And if it is a government priority to keep that commitment, will you commit today in the time that you have left as first minister to make sure that that commitment is implemented"?

    The first minister replies "I absolutely want to see a position in which young people are not looked after in those very unsatisfactory circumstances."

    Michael Sheen: Lifting the lid on the care system is on BBC iPlayer now and on BBC One Wales at 21:00 Tuesday 5 July.

    Andrew RT Davies
    Image caption,

    Andrew RT Davies

  8. 'Coronavirus has not gone away'published at 13:40 British Summer Time 5 July 2022

    "Coronavirus has not gone away," warns the first minister.

    He says 1,500 NHS staff in Wales are off work today because they have Covid.

    Mark Drakeford says a further 600 NHS workers were isolating because they are close contacts of Covid cases.

    He says that was more than 2% of the NHS Wales workforce, and showed the “continuing impact” of the virus.

    Mark Drakeford
  9. 'Crisis' in access to dental servicespublished at 13:37 British Summer Time 5 July 2022

    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.

    Conservative Tom Giffard says there is a "crisis" in access to dental services.

    First Minister Mark Drakeford says "99% of NHS dental contract value in Swansea Bay University Health Board and 88 % in Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board will now be undertaken by practices that have opted in to dental contract reform. Working under reform principles creates capacity for new patients to access NHS dental care."

    Dentist
  10. Croesopublished at 13:12 British Summer Time 5 July 2022

    Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the twenty-first 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.