23-11-2016
Spokesperson Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government
Janet Finch-Saunders
Cabinet Secretary, the recent Health Foundation report, ‘The path to sustainability: Funding projections for the NHS in Wales to 2019/20 and 2030/31’, highlights the need for an increase of around 60 per cent in funding to £10.4 billion by 2030-31 in order to meet the forthcoming predicted demand. They also identify the need for greater efficiency, and we know that smarter ways of working, particularly in the integration of health and social care, are a must. Based on your forthcoming local government reforms, which, of course, are to include a footprint of seven regional consortia, to include health and social care, what plans are you putting in place now to ensure that greater efficiencies could be made through a fully integrated health and social care model?
Mark Drakeford
Well, I share the Member’s belief that closer integration between health and social care brings benefits both to patients and to users, and can help to drive financial efficiencies. It’s why, in next year’s budget, we maintain the £60 million care fund to drive greater integration between health and social care. It’s why we will have pooled budgets operating on the regional social services footprints, and it is why, in the discussions that I am having with local authorities in Wales, the notion of bringing social services together on a regional basis, facing health boards, helps us to make progress, and rapid progress, in that direction.
Janet Finch-Saunders
Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. The future generations commissioner has warned that public services could fall off a cliff without more being done to prevent people from becoming ill. This includes, obviously, quality housing and leisure services. Further, the Welsh Local Government Association has expressed concerns that NHS budgetary pressures could see non-healthcare services that help people stay healthy losing out. How will you ensure a streamlined approach through local government to promote public health, not just through the NHS, but through all public services provided at local government level, and how will you ensure that, throughout any reform process, this will be a key priority?
Mark Drakeford
Any person with the responsibility of making a budget for the Welsh Government has to face the competing priorities that are there for expenditure. In the budget that I have laid before this Assembly, we seek to do that, with £240 million additional investment in our health service direct, but also, as a result of our budget agreement, are able to provide a no-cash-cuts budget for local authorities as well, with £25 million identified specifically for social services within that. The general point that the Member makes is one that I endorse: the future for the health service depends upon each one of us being willing to take more responsibility for creating the conditions in which we take better care of our own health. So, much of what the health service deals with today are problems that need never have happened had people made different decisions in their own lives. It’s the responsibility of Government to create the conditions in which those decisions can be made, and our local government budgets are key to helping to do that.
Janet Finch-Saunders
Thank you. And, finally, turning to community councils, as part of your local government reform, how do you intend to proceed with a fundamental review of the democratic level of governance that sits at town and community level?
Mark Drakeford
I thank Janet Finch-Saunders for that question. I know she’s got a particular interest in town and community councils. I said in my statement on 4 October that there were a series of immediate things I feel we can do to improve the operation of the system as we have it today, but I also wanted a more root-and-branch and independent look at town and community councils to find the ways in which we can harness the things that they do very well. In many parts of Wales, that sector does some very important things very well, but it doesn’t do it uniformly. There is a democratic deficit in the sector, with over half of town and community council seats uncontested at the last election. I’m grateful to her for the discussions we’ve had on this matter and I look forward to being able to continue with them to design that root-and-branch re-assessment.
Question to the Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs - Japanese Knotweed
Mike Hedges
2. A wnaiff y Gweinidog ddatganiad am ymdrechion i fynd i'r afael â chlymog Japan? OAQ(5)0056(ERA)
2. Will the Minister make a statement on efforts to tackle Japanese knotweed? OAQ(5)0056(ERA)
Lesley Griffiths
Thank you. I’m taking forward a number of initiatives designed to tackle this invasive species. These include the continuation of biocontrol trials to establish a non-native psyllid and the development of a fungus-based herbicide designed specifically to control this plant.
Janet Finch-Saunders
I thank the Member for asking the question, actually. Japanese knotweed is estimated to cost £165 million to the UK economy each year, and the Residential Landlord Association has warned that it can have such a detrimental effect on the value of property it can render it worthless. The previous Minister did say that a natural predator had been found that will help in the control of Japanese knotweed and was being trialled in Swansea. I ask the Minister—the Cabinet Secretary—can you provide an update on the roll-out: how successful it’s been and whether you do have any intention to use a special control order in the future to tackle this issue?
Lesley Griffiths
This is something that I am monitoring and, as I said, we are continuing to fund the trials. We’ve just funded phase 2 this year of the biocontrol trials, so I think we need to evaluate that before making any decisions on the way forward.
Question to the Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs - Polystyrene Food Packaging
Janet Finch-Saunders
9. A wnaiff y Gweinidog ddatganiad am ddefnyddio pecynnau bwyd polystyren yng Nghymru? OAQ(5)0067(ERA)
9. Will the Minister make a statement on the use of polystyrene food packaging in Wales? OAQ(5)0067(ERA)
Lesley Griffiths
Thank you. We are currently evaluating our waste strategy to ensure resources are managed to produce sustainable benefits for Wales. We continue to work in partnership with the packaging industry and organisations such as WRAP to promote the optimisation of packaging and to reduce it where possible, regardless of the material.
Janet Finch-Saunders
Thank you. You might have seen the BBC One programme last night, ‘Keeping a Lid On It’. It was highlighting problems of four-weekly bin collections in Conwy. But one of the issues that came from that is that about 70 per cent of beach litter in Wales is polystyrene/plastic, and everyone is now with these polystyrene cups for coffee and everything. They’re finding their way now significantly into our landfill. Over 100 cities around the world have banned, or are in the process of banning, polystyrene food packaging, and your predecessor did say last year that he would look at whether there is something in Wales that we could do specifically to address some of these issues. Could you outline what you will do to address this? Will you consider a levy on such items, and are you in a position to report on the findings of the joint research project commissioned by your department between Swansea University and the Marine Conservation Society?
Lesley Griffiths
I didn’t see the programme, but I have read about it today, and you'll be aware that Wales is really leading the way in relation to recycling. If we were a single member state in Europe, we would be fourth in Europe, but, certainly, we’re way ahead of the game in the UK.
In relation to your specific questions around polystyrene, I'm not quite sure why you think that, because we have done some data analysis on this, and polystyrene is not thought to be a major contributor to littering in Wales, except on a very local basis, where it's by the premises that are providing fast food, for instance. It tends to be the independent fast food outlets that use this polystyrene packaging—it’s not well used across Wales. However, any litter is not to be welcomed, and I'm very happy to look at other things.
In relation to a levy on polystyrene, again, would people take—it's not like a carrier bag—would people take a container with them to get their food? So, I think we need to look at other interventions before we introduce a levy. But I'm very interested in packaging across—you know, single-use coffee cups. I'm very happy to look at what we can do in relation to this, to look if we need legislation, and, again, in my meeting tomorrow with Andrea Leadsom, it's on the agenda.
Welsh Conservatives Debate on SMEs
Janet Finch-Saunders - Fideo Video
I don’t think I need to tell anyone here that small businesses are indeed the lifeblood of our economy in Wales, making up 99.4 per cent of all businesses in Wales. In 2015-16, the number of SME start-ups rose by 2.1 per cent—that’s 99,860—all small businesses, all out there on their own. Many are sole traders who start off small and they have many competing and conflicting priorities just to be able to keep the shop door open.
We all know of many wonderful examples in our own constituencies, many promoting our local tourism industry—especially our hospitality businesses, our retailers on our high streets and our fantastic services industry. SMEs make up 61 per cent of private-sector employment, providing the equivalent of 673,600 full-time jobs. That’s a colossal amount of people. Many of them do it completely independent of any support from the public sector or, indeed, this Welsh Labour Government.
But, support for SMEs is lacking, particularly in Wales. I’m glad to see that the United Kingdom Government actually do take small businesses very seriously. Here, we’ve seen an increase of just 20 medium-sized businesses since 2014. Yesterday, Barclays published findings showing that the proportion of high-growth SMEs in Wales fell by 2.2 per cent in the last 12 months, the second worst decline in the UK after Scotland and compared to all regions of England, which have seen and witnessed an increase.
The Welsh Government administered just 10 grants a day through Finance Wales—and that’s across the whole of Wales—last year. Professor Dylan Jones-Evans has stated that the funding gap between the finance that Welsh SMEs need and what they can access is £500 million a year. That’s a lot of money, you know, if you’re a small business. The Wales development bank appears to be simply a re-packaged version of Finance Wales. Various proposals for a development bank have been proposed. In fact, we, the Welsh Conservatives, have actually come up with good ideas far better than Finance Wales. Even now, as part of its deal with Plaid Cymru, the Welsh Labour Government is very reluctant to come forward with any detail about the forthcoming Welsh development bank, despite it due to actually be running next year.
For us to make the debate meaningful today, though, the National Assembly for Wales must be able to scrutinise any development bank’s business case in order to ensure that businesses are fully supported through the proposals and that the failings of Finance Wales, which we’re all too familiar with, over many years, are fully addressed. What we are concerned about is that it will be a continuation of Finance Wales, which has long been deemed unfit for purpose and lacking in engagement. Perhaps the Cabinet Secretary might be able to shed more light on this.
The levels of business rate relief in Wales is putting our SMEs at a distinct disadvantage compared to similar business in England and Scotland. The Welsh Government has not supported businesses through the valuation office’s revaluation process, discretionary hardship relief is too often not awarded where needed and a better rate relief is available to SMEs in England and Scotland. For 2017-18, it is estimated that a business with a rateable value of £12,000 will be liable to pay just under £6,000 in business rates in Wales, whilst in England that figure would be zero. A business valued at £10,000 would owe an amount of £3,323. In Scotland, that figure would be zero.
The Federation of Small Businesses has criticised the Welsh Labour Government, and I do too, over their spin on their manifesto pledge for tax cuts to small businesses. Deputy Llywydd, the FSB are correct, making small business rate relief permanent simply does not imply any tax cut whatsoever.
The Welsh Conservatives have long been supporters of our small businesses and we shall continue to be so. We have several proposals to support them: the creation of a small business hub, ensuring our SMEs are truly represented, providing a clear point of contact, improved access to support and easy to navigate; a regional development bank—businesses to access finance on the high street and on their own doorstep; much-improved business rate relief, with rates abolished for all businesses with a rateable value up to £12,000 and tapered for those up to £15,000. Llywydd, I have hoteliers locally paying business rates of around £120,000, retailers paying £70,000 a year far higher than their rents. Llywydd, we welcome a review of business rates, however it’s too little, too late. We call for an immediate cap on the multiplier and take a proactive approach to radically reform our really outdated business rates system in Wales.
Plaid Cymru Debate - Senior Pay
Janet Finch-Saunders - Fideo Video
Now, we welcome this debate from Plaid Cymru, but with some bemusement, really, because many will remember the local democracy (Wales) Act in 2003, to which amendment 2 refers. At Stage 2, it was the Welsh Conservatives who, with the first group of amendments, were calling for the consent of Welsh Ministers to be given prior to a local authority paying a salary to any officer higher than the recommendation of Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales. This was opposed quite clearly by Plaid Cymru, as well as Labour and the Liberal Democrats. Then, at Stage 3, we tabled an amendment calling for the panel to recommend a maximum amount to be paid to any senior officer by a local authority. Again, this was opposed by Plaid Cymru, Labour and the Liberal Democrats, so it’s interesting—
Mike Hedges
Will you take an intervention?
Janet Finch-Saunders
Yes, okay.
Mike Hedges
Well, there used to be the joint negotiating committee, which set the limit. The Conservative Government in Westminster did away with it. Do you regret that?
Janet FInch-Saunders
Yes, but I’m here in the Senedd, and I’m on about what the Welsh Labour Government and Plaid Cymru—how you have failed in this.
In 2015, the chief executive of Gwynedd county council was paid £306,000, and my colleague Neil McEvoy there raised the differential between local chief executives and the Prime Minister. Yet £306,000 was paid here and, to the director of environment at Blaenau Gwent—eye-watering or what—£295,000. Yes, definitely, you were right to compare that with the salary of our hard-working UK Prime Minister. There is no correlation whatsoever. You were very right earlier to make the point about how, in addition to this, some chief executives, including my own in Conwy, actually receive a salary of over £20,000 for being the electoral returning officer. That actually needs to be addressed, I believe, by the Minister.
Performance management and the chief executive appraisal procedures must be better implemented and monitored appropriately. Evidence taken by the Public Accounts Committee, ahead of their report into senior management pay last term, demonstrated cross-stakeholder calls—many of them—for this, alongside the acknowledgement that local authorities need to do much better in terms of performance management. How often have we seen what I call the revolving-door process where a head of service will actually leave an organisation with a really fine redundancy amount and then actually enter the same local authority again under another guise in another role? It’s quite wrong.
In 2014-15, Welsh councils spent over £100 million on redundancy pay-outs for staff. That was up 46 per cent on the previous year. The Westminster Committee on Standards in Public Life recently recommended that policies and procedures should be in place to manage revolving-door situations where individuals come from or go to the regulated sector, and that these should apply to all individuals at any level of any organisation. Regulators should be transparent about post-employment destinations and restrictions on departing board members and senior executives in the public sector. The reason I’m smiling is that we see so much Labour cronyism in Wales with many of the jobs that go to many within our public bodies, and it’s wrong.
In light of moving towards local government reform, and with the potential for voluntary mergers on the table once more, it is pertinent to note that the society of local chief execs and senior managers have highlighted local authorities in England that have started to share chief executives. Cabinet Secretary, now, with local reform on the table, where there seems to be an intention for you to retain all 22 local authorities, is it going to be 22 chief executives and 22 heads of service on extortionate eye-watering salaries? If you could address those, I think many people outside the Senedd will actually be very grateful. Thank you.
