Written Questions tabled on 21/06/2024 for answer on 28/06/2024
Written Questions must be tabled at least five working days before they are to be answered. In practice, Ministers aim to answer within seven/eight days but are not bound to do so. Answers are published in the language in which they are provided, with a translation into English of responses provided in Welsh.
Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
Does the Welsh Government provide guidance to local authorities on hygiene and public health standards for the hairdressing and barbering industry?
Local authorities are the enforcement authority for health and safety at work in hairdressers and barbers and guidance is provided by the Health and Safety Executive. Health and safety is not devolved in Wales.
Cabinet Secretary for Education
What financial support is the Welsh Government giving to schools in Wales?
The Welsh Government provides funding to local authorities to support their funding of pre-16 provision in schools in Wales mainly through the local government revenue settlement. The settlement is not ring-fenced; the funding allocated to each authority is available to the authority to spend as it sees fit across the range of services for which it is responsible, including schools. This is in line with the Welsh Government’s policy that local authorities are best placed to judge local needs and circumstances and to fund schools accordingly.
The 2024-25 final settlement was published on 27 February 2024. Local authorities will receive £5.72 billion from the Welsh Government in core revenue funding and non-domestic rates to spend on delivering key services. This is an increase of 3.3% or £184 million on a like-for-like basis compared to 2023-24, and is on top of the consolidated increase of 7.9% provided in 2023-24.
In addition, grant funding that goes to schools has been prioritised. For 2024-25 the amalgamation of pre-16 local authority education grants provides the same level of funding against similar grants provided to local authorities in 2023-24; this is also a 3.2% rise against the 2024-25 indicative budget for those same grants.
£379m will be provided through the Local Authority Education Grant to support our schools and local authorities in 2024-25, the demand-led support is in addition and totals £108m.
Cabinet Secretary for North Wales and Transport
What plans does the Welsh Government have to ease congestion on the A48?
The Welsh Government is working in partnership with Transport for Wales, Monmouthshire County Council and Gloucestershire County Council to consider options to improve the road network including the A48, public transport provision and active travel provision in Chepstow.
How is the Welsh Government ensuring that funding given to local authorities for upgrading vehicle fleets to electric vehicles is translating to these electric vehicles being purchased and used full-time?
The progress of projects funded through the Welsh Government’s Local Transport Fund or Ultra Low Emission Transformation Fund is subject to monitoring and review which includes the completion of Annual Progress Reports.
The Welsh Government Energy Service was set up in 2018 to progress the delivery of Welsh Government climate change policy, by supporting the public sector and community energy sector in Wales to reduce carbon emissions and to generate local economic benefits.
The delivery of the Energy Service also includes grant awards to public sector bodies for Zero Emission Vehicles. All eligible grant applications are assessed offers using proof of order documents and all grant claims are assessed using receipted invoices for eligible vehicles.
Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
How is the Welsh Government collaborating with UK and international authorities to better track the entry and exit of non-Welsh fishing vessels from Welsh inshore waters?
The Welsh Fisheries Monitoring Centre (WFMC) based at Milford Haven monitors all fishing activity within the Welsh zone, and works closely with other Fisheries Administrations in the UK, and the Marine Management Organisation, as well as with other Flag Stages.
Every commercial fishing vessel operating within the UK is subject to a fishing licence regime which also extends to foreign vessels. There are no third country vessels licenced to fish within the Welsh inshore (6 nautical mile (nm)) limit.
Non-Welsh (UK) vessels which are allowed within the 6nm limit are subjected to the same restrictions around Wales as the Welsh fleet. As such, they are monitored daily as above and are also required to have fitted a Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) unit which records the vessel’s position. This requirement extends to the entire Welsh zone and in addition to its position, the speed, course and date / time stamp must also be included.
Catch and VMS data from all UK vessels is received automatically to the shared with the UK fisheries data hub. Data exchange systems are in place to send and receive data from third country vessels.
Any vessel not fishing but transiting the Welsh zone, and which might include entry and exit of the inshore 6nm limit, is closely monitored and checked as above.
What work is the Welsh Government doing to disincentivise fishing practices that lead to bycatch and instead promote other forms of fishing which are less likely to disrupt the marine ecology?
In June 2022, the Welsh Government supported the publication of the UK Bycatch Mitigation Initiative (BMI) to address bycatch in Wales. The BMI sets out high-level actions under five policy areas covering seabirds, seals and cetaceans to reduce bycatch.
To avoid impacts on trade, the UK also must comply with international standards for the conservation of marine mammals. Consequently, since 2022 it has been mandatory for licensed fishers to report any bycatch of marine mammals within 48 hours of the end of the fishing trip. Bycatch by Welsh vessels is likely to be low if any due to the predominant gear types used by the Welsh fishing industry. To date there have been no reports of marine mammal bycatch by Welsh vessels.
Linked to this, the Fisheries Act 2020 sets out eight fisheries objectives to ensure we deliver a sustainable fishing industry and healthy marine environment. The Joint Fisheries Statement 2022 (JFS) provides further details of the policies to achieve, or contribute to achieving, the objectives in the Act largely through the implementation of Fisheries Management Plans (FMPs).
FMPs are key tools to deliver sustainable and well-managed fisheries. The plans set strategic direction and provide a ‘road map’ for the management of key stocks including the development of future management measures. The design and structure of FMPs directly relate to the fisheries objectives including the bycatch and ecosystem objectives.
The Welsh Government is involved in the delivery of 30 FMPs over the lifetime of this JFS. Each of these plans will include actions in relation to the eight objectives. For example, the regulation of shore-based nets and the potential bycatch of migratory salmonids was raised as an issue during the consultation on the Bass FMP. As a result, the published FMP includes a short-term action to review the practice of shore-based and shallow inshore netting to determine whether additional protections are needed to prevent migratory fish bycatch. This action supports the bycatch objective and the wider FMP goal of minimising and, where possible, eliminating bycatch of sensitive species in bass fisheries.
How is the Welsh Inshore Vessel Monitoring System being utilised to track the health of fisheries in Welsh waters?
In 2022, Wales led the UK in introducing an Inshore Vessel Monitoring System (iVMS) for under 12m vessels. This complimented the Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) requirements already in place for over 12m vessels, providing full coverage of all vessels, including UK and third country vessels, fishing in Welsh waters.
The system transmits information, including the geographical position, date, time, speed and course of the fishing vessel, to the Welsh Fishing Authority. Having VMS/iVMS on all commercial fishing vessels operating in our waters provides a fuller picture and greater insight into fishing vessel activity. This helps to gain a better understanding of the scale, location and seasonality of fishing activity and aid sustainable fisheries management.
Fishing vessel activity data obtained from the system is being used to inform stock assessment, policy development and management of a range of fisheries in the Welsh Zone.