National Assembly for Wales

I am committed to ensuring all children in Wales receive a suitable education, are safeguarded and have the opportunity to benefit from universal services. 

I have accepted, in principle, the recommendation by the Children’s Commissioner for Wales for a statutory register for home-educated children and will be working with the Commissioner to take this forward.  

To help support local authorities identify home-educated children in their area, I will be challenging current ways of working to ensure we maximise opportunities for further strengthening collaborative approaches to protect the rights of these children to receive an education and to be safe. 

CYSUR Safeguarding Children Board has been working to develop a regional response to safeguarding electively home-educated children and officials are in regular contact with the Board to assist its implementation.

National safeguarding practice guidance in relation to electively home-educated children will also be developed. Keith Towler from the National Independent Safeguarding Board has agreed to chair a multi-agency task and finish group to lead this work early next year.    

From January 2017 Arriva Trains Wales (ATW) have provided an hourly service on the Rhymney Line between 9am – 5pm, and have done this on a commercial basis. ATW are also trialling hourly Sunday services before Christmas on the Aberdare line, again on a commercial basis. We support and welcome these additional services that are being provided without additional subsidy. We have no plans within the term of the current franchise to fund the provision of Sunday services on the City Line but would welcome the introduction of such services should ATW believe there is a positive business case for them to do so.

My ambition is for the new Operator and Development Partner to improve connectivity across Wales and the Borders via the new Wales and Borders rail franchise. I want passengers to be able to use services as and when they need it, therefore we have incentivised/encouraged the Operator and Development partner to include additional Sunday services within the future franchise.

Following the Public Local Inquiry, the Inspector’s Report was received on 18 October. We are currently considering the Inspector’s findings, recommendations and all issues raised before making a final decision on the scheme.

Major road schemes of this nature will inevitably raise many issues of concern, particularly for people whose property is directly affected. These concerns are subject to detailed scrutiny at Public Inquiry. In the interests of natural justice and to ensure compliance with due process it is vital that these concerns are carefully considered so that every person has had the opportunity of a fair hearing. This does inevitably take time, however, it is important that we ensure that the decision-making process is thorough and that full and proper consideration is given to all relevant factors.

I anticipate being able to make a decision on how the scheme will progress in the new year.

Revenue forecasts for land transaction tax were published in the draft Budget on 3 October, with accompanying information in the Tax Policy Report and Bangor Business School’s scrutiny and assurance report. The revenue forecasts will be updated in the final Budget on 19 December alongside an update to Bangor Business school’s report. Further information will be published in the impact assessment accompanying the regulations for the rates and bands of land transaction tax in January 2018. The most recent forecast for stamp duty land tax revenues in Wales was published by the Office for Budget Responsibility as part of its Economic and Fiscal Outlook on 22 November.

Revenue forecasts for land transaction tax were published in the draft Budget on 3 October, with accompanying information in the Tax Policy Report and Bangor Business School’s scrutiny and assurance report. The revenue forecasts will be updated in the final Budget on 19 December alongside an update to Bangor Business school’s report. Further information will be published in the impact assessment accompanying the regulations for the rates and bands of land transaction tax in January 2018. The most recent forecast for stamp duty land tax revenues in Wales was published by the Office for Budget Responsibility as part of its Economic and Fiscal Outlook on 22 November.

Revenue forecasts for land transaction tax were published in the draft Budget on 3 October, with accompanying information in the Tax Policy Report and Bangor Business School’s scrutiny and assurance report. The revenue forecasts will be updated in the final Budget on 19 December alongside an update to Bangor Business school’s report. Further information will be published in the impact assessment accompanying the regulations for the rates and bands of land transaction tax in January 2018. The most recent forecast for stamp duty land tax revenues in Wales was published by the Office for Budget Responsibility as part of its Economic and Fiscal Outlook on 22 November.

The information requested is not held centrally. The Cardiff and Vale accounts, which are laid annually before the Assembly, do include numbers and total costs of compensation packages split by pay bands. The most recent set of accounts is for 2016-17, and note 5.5 on page 25 of the financial statements on provides this information.

http://www.assembly.wales/laid%20documents/agr-ld11064/agr-ld11064-e.pdf

Wales is signed up to the World Health Organisation (WHO) elimination agenda for hepatitis B and C. There are targets to reduce viral hepatitis incidence by 90% and reduce mortality due to hepatitis B and C by 2030. The Welsh Viral Hepatitis Subgroup of the Liver Disease Implementation group has considered the actions required to meet these targets. As a result of this planning we are one year ahead of schedule with the Hepatitis C Roll-Out Programme and there is currently no waiting list for treatment in Wales.  The Blood Borne Virus Network across Wales has outperformed expectations in this regard.

As a next step, the Viral Hepatitis Sub Group has developed and submitted a framework to the Liver Disease Implementation Group which outlines how we can collectively attain the WHO elimination target for hepatitis C. This framework has resulted in the issuing of a Welsh Health Circular (WHC/2017/048) to health boards and Public Health Wales in October 2017 which requests that measures are put in place to:

1. Reduce and ultimately prevent ongoing transmission of HCV within Wales;
2. Identify individuals who are currently infected with HCV including those who have acquired HCV outside the UK and are now resident in Wales; and
3. Test and treat individuals currently infected with HCV who are actively engaged in behaviours likely to lead to further transmission.

Delivery of these elimination requirements should be included in Integrated Medium Term Plans and will be monitored through Joint Executive Team meetings where health boards and Public Health Wales will be expected to report back on progress.

http://gov.wales/docs/dhss/publications/171016whc048en.pdf

Natural Resources Wales are leading this flood alleviation scheme and therefore have direct responsibility for liaising with the community. Concerns around the works should be addressed to them or voiced at the regular consultation events.

As flood risk management now falls within my portfolio, I met with Natural Resources Wales (NRW) together with officials on 11 December, to discuss the Roath Flood Alleviation Scheme.  This meeting came in light of concerns expressed by a number of people in the area. 

I wanted NRW, the responsible flood authority in this case, to provide additional clarity and demonstrate that, on balance, the best option had been selected to deliver the necessary flood mitigation measures whilst minimising the impact of the scheme on the community and the area.

NRW explained to me why they chose the options they have and the tree felling is an unfortunate necessity in order to carry out the works.  In replanting trees to replace those lost they are seeking to re-establish the character of the original period landscape and this means that in some cases they are replacing the existing trees with fewer trees in order to have different specimens that need more room to grow.  In other cases NRW are planting more trees and planting additional trees on adjacent sites.

On balance, I am persuaded that NRW, faced with difficult choices, have selected the best option for the scheme with the least impact on the area.

The Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs played no role in postponing the tree felling works in Roath Mill Gardens and Roath Brook Garden.

I asked Natural Resources Wales to pause works at Roath Brook and Roath Mill Gardens in order to provide additional clarity and demonstrate due consideration had been given to all options for reducing flood risk whilst minimising the impact of the scheme on the local area.