Because of the Israel-Gaza crisis, the lights in the
Senedd continue to be dimmed each evening.
Llywydd Elin Jones says it is “to reflect the
sentiment that such attacks represent another dark moment for humanity in the
Middle East. It is a source of great sorrow for a democratic institution such
as ours. As well as reflecting the sorrow, the darkness will also represent a
statement of solidarity with all those suffering as a result of the attacks.”
BBCCopyright: BBC
House-building targets
BBCCopyright: BBC
Mark DrakefordImage caption: Mark Drakeford
The first minister and Conservative Janet Finch-Saunders trade statistics on house-building targets.
"Three decades of Welsh Labour, and what we have is house-building targets consistently missed," she says.
The first minister says the Welsh government remains committed to its "ambitious" plans to build 20,000 low-carbon social homes for rent in Wales by 2026, "underpinned by record levels of funding - almost £1.2 billion over the first four years of this Senedd term".
PA MediaCopyright: PA Media
A&E waiting times
Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth says the Welsh government's response to claims by the Royal College
of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) that the true picture of A&E waiting times in
Wales has been seriously under-reported for a decade, has been "wholly inadequate".
"The Welsh government has changed its story three times, with public confidence in its ability to run our most vital public services diminishing with every redraft," he says.
The RCEM claims it has
established thousands of hours are missed from monthly figures.
Rhun ap Iorwerth said the royal college had “frequently raised A&E under-reporting with ministers and officials”.
Mr
Drakeford insisted the “figures are not under-reported”.
BBCCopyright: BBC
Rhun ap IorwerthImage caption: Rhun ap Iorwerth
Screening for lung cancer
Andrew RT Davies, leader of the Welsh
Conservatives in the Senedd, says screening for lung cancer in Wales lags behind the developments being made in England.
He says that in England a commitment has been made to reach 40% of the population by 2025, and 100% by 2030.
First Minister Mark Drakeford replies that the Welsh government has accepted the UK National Screening Committee's recommendation for targeted lung screening in principle and is considering how this could be delivered in Wales.
The charity Tenovus has helped to fund a pilot for 500 patients to be screened in one area, north Rhondda.
People aged between 60-74 who used to smoke, or still do, have been invited for a CT scan.
Mark Drakeford also insists A&E waiting times have not been under-reported and can be compared with England.
Andrew RT Davies referred to information published by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, suggesting that 45,000 patients had not been counted in published data between January and June.
Mr Drakeford says: “If there has been any misunderstanding of the data the misunderstanding does not lie with the Welsh government.
“We do not exclude clinical exceptions from the data reported and the data that we do report is comparable with data reported elsewhere as we always have maintained.”
He added “not a single patient's care" is affected by these figures.
BBCCopyright: BBC
Andrew RT DaviesImage caption: Andrew RT Davies
Families with children in poverty
In England and Wales, children aged 4 to 16 are eligible for free school meals if they live in a household which gets income-related benefits and has an annual income of less than £7,400 after tax, not including welfare payments.
Plaid Cymru’s Sioned Williams says, "this threshold means that thousands of children who come from families and from incomes low enough to qualify for universal credit, but that don't qualify for transitional support, miss out, and the threshold also acts as a poverty trap for families. Do you agree, first minister, that getting rid of that threshold would give some peace of mind to families that their children could access free meals once universal credit has been rolled out to everyone, and when the transition period comes to an end, and would reduce costs and increase income for families?"
The first minister
replies that the Welsh government is tackling child poverty with policies agreed in the co-operation agreement with Plaid Cymru.
He adds, "If we have the budgets available in the future, there are a great number of things that we'd like to do to help families, particularly where children live in poverty. At present, we are focusing on what we have agreed to do during this term".
BBCCopyright: BBC
Sioned WilliamsImage caption: Sioned Williams
Changes to recycling in the workplace
The Llywydd 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 James Evans seeks an update on
the changes to recycling in the workplace.
He says "I met with a number of businesses in my constituency who are concerned about this, because they are concerned that, with the bins that are going to be required, they won't have the space to put them in their premises. And I also met with some recycling companies as well, who are concerned about the number of additional lorries that they're going to have to put on".
First Minister Mark Drakeford says the changes will improve the quality and quantity of how we collect and separate waste, and that he is "quite sure that businesses will adapt to the new regulations, because, actually, the new regulations are good for businesses as well".
The Welsh government is introducing new
regulations that will require all workplaces to separate recyclable materials
in the same way that most householders do now. It will become law from 6 April
2024, subject to the will of the Senedd, and if you do not comply you could
face a fine.
The following materials will need to
be separated for collection, and collected separately:
food – for premises that produce more than 5kg
of food waste a week
paper and card
glass
metal, plastic, and cartons and other
fibre-plastic composite packaging of a similar composition
unsold small waste electrical and electronic
equipment
unsold textiles
There will also be a ban on the
following:
Sending food waste to sewers
Separately collected waste going to
incineration plants and landfills and ban all wood waste going to landfill.
Welsh governmentCopyright: Welsh government
Croeso
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of First Minister's Questions.
The meeting is held in a hybrid format, with some members in the Siambr (Senedd chamber) and others joining by video-conference.
You can click on the play button above to watch the proceedings from 1.30pm.
Live Reporting
Alun Jones
All times stated are UK
BBCCopyright: BBC 
BBCCopyright: BBC Mark DrakefordImage caption: Mark Drakeford 
PA MediaCopyright: PA Media 
BBCCopyright: BBC Rhun ap IorwerthImage caption: Rhun ap Iorwerth 
BBCCopyright: BBC Andrew RT DaviesImage caption: Andrew RT Davies 
BBCCopyright: BBC Sioned WilliamsImage caption: Sioned Williams -
food – for premises that produce more than 5kg
of food waste a week
-
paper and card
-
glass
-
metal, plastic, and cartons and other
fibre-plastic composite packaging of a similar composition
-
unsold small waste electrical and electronic
equipment
-
unsold textiles
-
Sending food waste to sewers
-
Separately collected waste going to
incineration plants and landfills and ban all wood waste going to landfill.
Welsh governmentCopyright: Welsh government
Latest PostHwyl fawr
The twenty-eighth FMQs of 2023 comes to a close.
Thanks for following - join us again next week.
Because of the Israel-Gaza crisis, the lights in the Senedd continue to be dimmed each evening.
Llywydd Elin Jones says it is “to reflect the sentiment that such attacks represent another dark moment for humanity in the Middle East. It is a source of great sorrow for a democratic institution such as ours. As well as reflecting the sorrow, the darkness will also represent a statement of solidarity with all those suffering as a result of the attacks.”
House-building targets
The first minister and Conservative Janet Finch-Saunders trade statistics on house-building targets.
"Three decades of Welsh Labour, and what we have is house-building targets consistently missed," she says.
The first minister says the Welsh government remains committed to its "ambitious" plans to build 20,000 low-carbon social homes for rent in Wales by 2026, "underpinned by record levels of funding - almost £1.2 billion over the first four years of this Senedd term".
A&E waiting times
Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth says the Welsh government's response to claims by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) that the true picture of A&E waiting times in Wales has been seriously under-reported for a decade, has been "wholly inadequate".
"The Welsh government has changed its story three times, with public confidence in its ability to run our most vital public services diminishing with every redraft," he says.
The RCEM claims it has established thousands of hours are missed from monthly figures.
Rhun ap Iorwerth said the royal college had “frequently raised A&E under-reporting with ministers and officials”.
Mr Drakeford insisted the “figures are not under-reported”.
Screening for lung cancer
Andrew RT Davies, leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd, says screening for lung cancer in Wales lags behind the developments being made in England.
He says that in England a commitment has been made to reach 40% of the population by 2025, and 100% by 2030.
First Minister Mark Drakeford replies that the Welsh government has accepted the UK National Screening Committee's recommendation for targeted lung screening in principle and is considering how this could be delivered in Wales.
The charity Tenovus has helped to fund a pilot for 500 patients to be screened in one area, north Rhondda.
People aged between 60-74 who used to smoke, or still do, have been invited for a CT scan.
Mark Drakeford also insists A&E waiting times have not been under-reported and can be compared with England.
Andrew RT Davies referred to information published by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, suggesting that 45,000 patients had not been counted in published data between January and June.
Mr Drakeford says: “If there has been any misunderstanding of the data the misunderstanding does not lie with the Welsh government.
“We do not exclude clinical exceptions from the data reported and the data that we do report is comparable with data reported elsewhere as we always have maintained.”
He added “not a single patient's care" is affected by these figures.
Families with children in poverty
In England and Wales, children aged 4 to 16 are eligible for free school meals if they live in a household which gets income-related benefits and has an annual income of less than £7,400 after tax, not including welfare payments.
Plaid Cymru’s Sioned Williams says, "this threshold means that thousands of children who come from families and from incomes low enough to qualify for universal credit, but that don't qualify for transitional support, miss out, and the threshold also acts as a poverty trap for families. Do you agree, first minister, that getting rid of that threshold would give some peace of mind to families that their children could access free meals once universal credit has been rolled out to everyone, and when the transition period comes to an end, and would reduce costs and increase income for families?"
The first minister replies that the Welsh government is tackling child poverty with policies agreed in the co-operation agreement with Plaid Cymru.
He adds, "If we have the budgets available in the future, there are a great number of things that we'd like to do to help families, particularly where children live in poverty. At present, we are focusing on what we have agreed to do during this term".
Changes to recycling in the workplace
The Llywydd 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 James Evans seeks an update on the changes to recycling in the workplace.
He says "I met with a number of businesses in my constituency who are concerned about this, because they are concerned that, with the bins that are going to be required, they won't have the space to put them in their premises. And I also met with some recycling companies as well, who are concerned about the number of additional lorries that they're going to have to put on".
First Minister Mark Drakeford says the changes will improve the quality and quantity of how we collect and separate waste, and that he is "quite sure that businesses will adapt to the new regulations, because, actually, the new regulations are good for businesses as well".
The Welsh government is introducing new regulations that will require all workplaces to separate recyclable materials in the same way that most householders do now. It will become law from 6 April 2024, subject to the will of the Senedd, and if you do not comply you could face a fine.
The following materials will need to be separated for collection, and collected separately:
There will also be a ban on the following:
Croeso
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of First Minister's Questions.
The meeting is held in a hybrid format, with some members in the Siambr (Senedd chamber) and others joining by video-conference.
You can click on the play button above to watch the proceedings from 1.30pm.