The fourth FMQs of 2024 comes to a close.

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Labour MS Carolyn Thomas asks “what consideration has the first minister given to Ofcom's announcement that Royal Mail could reduce letter deliveries to three days a week?"

Mr Drakeford replies "the challenges faced by Royal Mail are not best resolved by a service confined to only three days a week. The Deputy Minister for Social Partnership will meet Ofcom next week to make clear that any changes to postal services must take into account Welsh needs and any impact on vulnerable people".

A report from the regulator said the postal service was "getting out of date" and action needed to be taken.

Ofcom said another option would be extending the number of days it takes for most letters to be delivered.

Royal Mail said its current delivery network was "not sustainable" and that reform was "urgently needed".

The company, which was split from the Post Office and privatised a decade ago, is legally obliged to deliver a one-price-goes-anywhere universal service, which means it has to deliver letters six days per week, Monday to Saturday, and parcels Monday to Friday.

In recent years, the volume of letters being posted has plummeted, with half the number being sent compared to 2011 levels, while parcel deliveries have become more popular - and more profitable.

Image source, Getty Images

Conservative Janet Finch-Saunders accuses the Welsh government of having an "anti-tourism agenda" and calls for extending development rights for temporary campsites by increasing the number of days they are allowed from 28 to 60.

The first minister replies, "I understand the points that the member has made and the sector has made about if it had more days in which it was able to open caravan parks without planning permission, that would be of advantage to some people in the industry. But we also know that there have been complaints in the past of those pop-up caravan sites creating traffic that is unregulated, that there is smoke that affects people who live nearby, there is noise from people—who are, after all, coming on holiday to enjoy themselves, and they’re very close sometimes to where people live their lives. So, what the minister will be doing will be to be weighing up those different considerations. If it is possible to extend the number of days that caravan parks can pop up without planning permission, then there will have to be safeguards for people who live nearby as well."

Plaid Cymru’s Heledd Fychan raises concerns that individuals facing homelessness are currently being housed in an old Toys R Us store in Cardiff Bay.

She says "emergency shelter is needed immediately for anyone who is facing homelessness, but the conditions in which vulnerable people are being housed are very concerning to me and concerning to a number of staff who are supporting service users".

The first minister replies "in the run-up to Christmas, Cardiff becomes a magnet for people who come to the city, who find that they have nowhere to live, and turn to the local authority to assist them.

"At the same time, Cardiff, above any other part of Wales, is dealing with the consequences of the Home Office's decision to speed up decision-making in the asylum system—a good thing in itself, but with many, many people being ejected from the accommodation that they previously able to enjoy, with nowhere to go, but to the homelessness services of the local authority.

"Those two things came together before Christmas in a way that was incredibly difficult for the local authority to find a way to respond. It has used the Toys R Us site. It says that it will have stopped using that site in April of this year because it has other, more suitable, accommodation coming on stream."

Image source, Google

Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth expresses concerns that two Wales Air Ambulance bases could be set to shut, according to a review into the service.

The review shortlists the closure of sites in Welshpool in Powys, and Caernarfon in Gwynedd, with the emergency helicopters relocated to north-east Wales.

Rhun ap Iorwerth says "I believe those clinicians who fear that that will put mid and north-west Wales under a disadvantage and indeed will put lives at risk".

He asks, "the review of air ambulance provision is being conducted by the Emergency Ambulance Services Committee which is a joint committee between the seven health boards. So, the Welsh government has an ability to influence and to intervene. Is the first minister willing to recognise the real concerns and to take the necessary steps to safeguard both sites so that the Wales Air Ambulance does serve all parts of this country equally?"

Mr Drakeford replies, "I recognise the concerns of local people about the future of the service but this happens wherever there is reorganisation. And that's what's happened here. The people who are responsible for the service have been out to consult with local people and have spoken to people the length and breadth of Wales, because what they are suggesting is that nobody loses out on the service that they currently receive, but that there's an opportunity for far more people to receive the service who can't currently receive it."

Andrew RT Davies, leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd, asks for the first minister's assessment of what the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) has done after a report found sexism and racism was not properly challenged.

It was produced in the wake of a BBC Wales documentary that showed a former boss at Welsh women's rugby said she considered suicide because of the organisation's culture.

The first minister replies "a very good start has been made. But there's a lot of work that will still need to be carried out to make sure that those thoroughgoing cultural issues, which we know are deeply embedded in organisations - we've seen it in other organisations in recent times, haven't we, in the fire and rescue service, for example, in south Wales. Those cultures take hold and they are hard to shift. I think the WRU has made a good start."

Mr Davies also points out that the Welsh Rugby Union has asked Welsh ministers for three years of "breathing space" on interest payments from an £18m Covid recovery loan.

The Welsh government should make sure “there isn’t that burden placed on the grassroots game within Wales, should the WRU have to make cutbacks,” says Mr Davies.

The first minister replies the WRU "were free agents in taking up that loan. And while we are always prepared and have been prepared to talk to the union about whether the loan can be restructured, whether there are other ways in which we can assist, in the end, this was a commercially determined loan, with conditions inherited from the UK coronavirus assistance, and entered into freely by the WRU itself."

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.

His Labour colleague Jayne Bryant asks what is the Welsh government doing to support local government to balance their budgets.

Mr Drakeford says there is uncertainty whether Wales will get an extra £25m for public services off the back of a boost for English councils aimed at tackling a cash crisis.

An additional £500m was announced for social care for councils in England last week.

The first minister says, "this just illustrates the unfairness of the way that funding in the United Kingdom is organised. Local government in England will now know the settlement that it has received from the UK government. We will have to wait until the spring budget to see whether that £25 million really does arrive in Wales, or whether it's offset by other changes in our budget, which could actually mean, not that we're £25 million better off, but that we're worse off than we currently believe we will be. And that would not be the first time at all that that has happened."

Welsh public services get extra money when the UK government boosts funding to services in England, like health and councils, which are run from Cardiff in Wales.

In the local government settlement Newport council saw the largest budget increase at 4.7%, while Conwy and Gwynedd got the worst at 2%.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the fourth session of First Minister's Questions in 2024, and the fourth since Mark Drakeford announced he is quitting after five years in the job.

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.