Meeting Venue:
Y Siambr - Y Senedd
Meeting date:
Wednesday, 20 September 2023
Meeting time: 13.30
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This meeting will be held in a hybrid format, with some Members in the Senedd Chamber and others joining by video-conference.
Questions to the Minister for Economy
(45 mins)
The Presiding Officer will call party spokespeople to ask questions without notice to the Minister after Question 2.
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
(45 mins)
The Presiding Officer will call party spokespeople to ask questions without notice to the Minister after Question 2.
Topical Questions
(20 mins)
To ask the Deputy Minister for Social Partnership
Altaf Hussain (South Wales West): Will the Minister make a statement on the closure of Chwarae Teg?
90 Second Statements
(5 mins)
Motion to note the annual report on the Senedd Commission's Official Languages Scheme for 2022-23
(30 mins)
NDM8354 Elin Jones (Ceredigion)
To propose that the Senedd:
Notes the Annual Report on the Senedd Commission's Official Languages Scheme for the period 2022-23, in accordance with paragraph 8(8) of Schedule 2 of the Government of Wales Act 2006, laid before the Senedd on 29 June 2023.
Plaid Cymru Debate - Green energy
(60 mins)
NDM8355 Heledd Fychan (South Wales Central)
To propose that the Senedd:
1. Notes that the outcome of the latest UK auction for offshore wind means there will be no new offshore wind farms developed in Wales for the foreseeable future.
2. Notes that the independent UK-wide Climate Change Committee’s latest report on the progress of the Welsh Government’s decarbonisation agenda concludes that Wales is currently not on track to meet its Net Zero goals by 2050.
3. Notes that a UN report on the Paris Agreement stresses the need for fossil fuel emissions to peak by no later than 2025 to ensure that global warming is limited to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.
4. Believes that Wales has the potential to be a powerhouse for clean and renewable energy.
5. Believes that this potential is currently being squandered as a result of the policy approaches of the UK and Welsh Governments.
6. Calls on the Welsh Government to develop a new green industrial strategy for Wales to realise its economic potential in green energy and to ensure that progress towards its Net Zero goals is accelerated.
Progress report: Reducing emissions in Wales
United Nations: Technical dialogue of the first global stocktake
The following amendments were tabled:
Amendment 1 Lesley Griffiths (Wrexham)
Delete all and replace with:
To propose that the Senedd:
1. Congratulates public bodies and businesses in North Wales for their success in securing funding for the largest ever deployment of tidal stream energy technology in Wales through the most recent Contract for Difference Allocation Round 5.
2. Calls on the Welsh Government and UK Government to work together to accelerate deployment of floating offshore wind, including by fully implementing the recommendations of the Offshore Wind Acceleration Taskforce.
3. Acknowledges the establishment of Net Zero Industry Wales and calls on the Welsh Government and the UK Government to work together to support the development of industrial decarbonisation pathways.
4. Calls on the Welsh Government to:
a) respond urgently to the recommendations in the Climate Change Committee's latest Wales progress report, including to produce plans to deliver a 10% reduction in car-km per person by 2030, to set out a decarbonisation pathway for agriculture, and to accelerate rates of tree planting by removing non-financial barriers.
b) ensure that Ynni Cymru enables communities to play a pivotal role in making Wales a powerhouse for clean and renewable energy.
c) ensure that Trydan Gwyrdd Cymru helps to maximise the economic benefits to Wales of the energy transition by delivering income to the public purse and stimulating Welsh supply chains.
5. Agrees with the findings of the recent UN report on the Technical Dialogue of the first Global Stocktake on the implementation of the Paris Agreement that the worst impacts of climate change can be avoided if all nations follow bold targets with tough action to deliver them.
Offshore Wind Acceleration Taskforce
Climate Change Committee Progress Report: Reducing Emissions in Wales
If amendment 1 is agreed, amendments 2 and 3 will be de-selected.
Amendment 2 Darren Millar (Clwyd West)
Delete point 1 and replace with:
Notes that the latest UK auction for renewable energy contracts resulted in 3.7GW from solar power, onshore wind and tidal power projects UK-wide.
Amendment 3 Darren Millar (Clwyd West)
Delete point 5 and replace with:
Regrets the withdrawal of business rates grants for small-scale hydroelectric projects by the Welsh Government.
Welsh Conservatives Debate - The health budget
(60 mins)
NDM8356 Darren Millar (Clwyd West)
To propose that the Senedd:
1. Notes the First Minister’s claims that Welsh public services must make cuts due to a £900m shortfall during this financial year.
2. Recognises that the Welsh Government has received record levels of funding from the UK Government in recent years.
3. Regrets that despite the Welsh Government receiving 20 per cent more to spend per person on health in Wales than spending per person on health in England, not all of that funding is being currently being allocated to the Welsh NHS.
4. Calls on the Welsh Government to ensure the health budget is protected from any further cuts during the current financial year.
The following amendments were tabled:
Amendment 1 Heledd Fychan (South Wales Central)
Delete all and replace with:
To propose that the Senedd:
1. Notes the First Minister’s claims that Welsh public services must make cuts due to a real terms £900m inflationary shortfall since the spending review in 2021.
2. Believes that Westminster Governments have failed to provide Wales with fair and adequate funding since the dawn of devolution.
3. Regrets the Welsh Government’s failure to foresee and prepare for these financial difficulties.
4. Regrets the lack of opportunities provided to the Senedd by the Welsh Government to scrutinise any proposed cuts.
5. Calls on the Welsh Government to protect funding for all front line services, including the NHS.
If amendment 1 is agreed, amendment 2 will be de-selected.
Amendment 2 Lesley Griffiths (Wrexham)
Delete all and replace with:
To propose that the Senedd:
1. Notes that at the UK Spring Budget, the Welsh Government Budget for 23/24 was worth £900m less than expected at the time of the UK Spending Review in 2021.
2. Regrets the impact on Wales of the mismanagement of the UK economy and public finances by successive UK Conservative governments.
3. Calls on the Chancellor of the Exchequer to invest in public services, including the NHS, and public infrastructure in the Autumn Statement, ensuring Wales receives its fair share of consequential funding.
Emergency Question
To ask the Minister for Climate Change
Delyth Jewell (South Wales East): Will the Minister make a statement on how Wales’ net-zero commitments will be impacted by the recent announcement from the UK Government that they are considering delaying the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars until 2035?
Voting Time
Short Debate - Withdrawn
(0 mins)
NDM8353 Laura Anne Jones (South Wales East)
No more devolution: Wales has gone into reverse under Welsh Labour, the impact of the Welsh Government has been woefully unimpressive, and there should be no further powers devolved.
The Senedd will sit again in Plenary at 13.30, Tuesday, 26 September 2023