I'm really glad to have that question; it's a chance for me to share my views on this as a matter of principle and to lay out the practical.
It was a belief of the former First Minister Rhodri Morgan that there needed to be a bonfire of the quangos because of the lack of democratic accountability. That was before our Senedd, or Assembly as it was then, was set up. Once we had our Assembly, we had that accountability. So, that's why I believe it was a mistake to bin the Welsh Development Agency at that time. I mean, it needed fixing, but I think it was a mistake to bin it. We have that accountability now. We have many arms-length bodies doing very, very good work. There's very good reason why we need things at arm's length from Government. The reason business has really strongly supported the idea of having a development agency is because it is able to be more fleet of foot than a Government ever can, because I see the limitations that Government has. I believe the accountability is there within our systems, within our committee structures. And it is up to the Government to say, 'We are setting these targets.' It is up to the Government to own those targets. The bodies, within their remits—. And you're right, the remit has to be right, the remit has to make it clear that the buck stops with Government; that's what we would expect always.
Contributions
675 contributions on record. Newest first, by sitting day. Page 12 of 19. Counted by Siambr
· part 2 of 2
- on the clip
- on the clip
Diolch yn fawr iawn am y sylwadau a'r cwestiynau yna, ac ydw, dwi'n falch o allu sefyll yn fan hyn a gwneud datganiad ein bod ni yn blaenoriaethu'r meysydd yma. Rydym ni wedi siarad amdanyn nhw dros y blynyddoedd a rŵan rydym ni'n gallu bwrw ymlaen â nhw. Beth sydd gennym ni yn ei hanfod yn fan hyn ydy rhaglen dim ond ar gyfer y flwyddyn a hanner, efallai, gyntaf. Felly mae'r hawl i brynu cymunedol yn un sydd yn rhywbeth fydd yn digwydd o fewn y cyfnod hwnnw er mwyn i ni allu dangos ein bod ni yn symud yn gyflym. Mae yna elfennau, fel dwi wedi crybwyll, y rhan gyntaf, os liciwch chi, o ddeddfwriaeth i warchod rhentwyr sydd eto yn digwydd yn y cyfnod cyntaf yma. Ond mae angen wedyn datblygu o fewn gweddill oes y Llywodraeth yma y ddeddfwriaeth bellach sydd yn gallu symud ymlaen at warchod yr hawl i gartref a rhoi gwarchodaeth bellach i rentwyr. Felly, mae yna raglen sydd yn datblygu yma. Cofiwch hefyd, eto yn cyfeirio'n ôl at y cydweithio traws-seneddol dwi'n gobeithio ei weld, mi fydd yna gyfle i ddeddfwriaeth newydd gael ei chyflwyno i mewn i'r rhaglen yma. Mi fydd pwyllgorau seneddol yn gallu cynnig deddfwriaeth. Mi fydd unigolion ar y meinciau cefn yn cael cyfleon o bryd i'w gilydd. Felly, mae yna raglen ddynamig yma mewn difrif, ond y peth pwysig dwi'n falch o glywed cefnogaeth gan yr Aelod arno fo ydy ein bod ni'n dechrau ar y materion yma rŵan rydym ni'n gwybod sy'n golygu gymaint i'r bobl rydyn ni'n eu cynrychioli.
Official English translation
Thank you very much for those comments and questions, and, yes, it's good to be able to stand here and make a statement that we are prioritising these areas. We've been talking about them for many years and now we can make progress. What we have here, essentially, is a programme just for the first 18 months, perhaps. So, the community right to buy is something that will happen within that period so that we can demonstrate that we are moving quickly. There are elements, as I've mentioned, in terms of the first part of legislation to protect the rights of renters, which again will happen in this first phase. But we then need to develop within the rest of the time of this Government the further legislation that can actually move on to protect the right to an adequate home and further protection for renters. So, there is a developing programme here. Bear in mind too, and I would again refer to the cross-Senedd co-operation that I hope to see, there'll be an opportunity for new legislation to be introduced into this programme. Parliamentary committees may propose legislation. Individuals on the backbenches will have opportunities from time to time. So, there is a dynamic programme here, but the important thing, and I'm pleased to hear support from the Member on this, is that we are starting to address these issues that we know mean so much to the people that we represent.
- on the clip
Diolch yn fawr iawn. Thank you for those questions. Again, some of those last elements on funding are not necessarily relevant to legislation. On water, yes, I do believe absolutely in the principle of public ownership of water. That's my starting point always. We have now quite an exciting process that we are following with positive engagement from the UK Government currently, on handing us the ability to control and regulate our water in future. Legislating on water isn't necessary to be part of this, if you like, first 18 months of legislative programme, because we are involved in those negotiations with the UK Government now on empowering ourselves in Wales. But, legislation, we will look at how we can use law to protect Welsh water in future because it is so, so important to us. And on community right to buy, I appreciate the support there for that principle. There's a lot of work to be done in defining what exactly, for example, should be included. Some of the work has begun already, but we will get down to that work in earnest. I should have answered the question earlier on the question of funding. There is already a range of grant and loan funding arrangements available that community groups can access. I'm always interested in seeing how those can be developed further, but I think the important thing here is laying down the legal framework within which we can identify who can be the responsible bodies locally; which community assets need to be protected; and how we put those protections in place. Let's get that work done first.
- on the clip
To all intents and purposes, the exact form and scope of the statutory duty is not decided yet, and that's very common, of course, if we think of legislation that we're collectively proud of here on the well-being of future generations, as that started its journey in a very different form to the one it ended up in, but the principle stayed true throughout, so we're setting an important principle. We'll need to develop, as I said earlier, the policy to define 'rural', to actually define 'rural-proofing', that technical aspect of what it is legally that we're setting out to do; the exact form of the duty and what it requires someone to do, and the discretion it provides them to do it. We'll need to propose which public authorities it should apply to and why, and a couple have been mentioned already here today. Health has been mentioned; there are other aspects too that we need to consider. So, it's a tool. Rural-proofing is a tool that decision takers can apply when designing or delivering a policy—that's the idea—when designing or delivering a programme, a service. Welsh Government already uses a template and guidance for internal integrated impact assessments. Those templates are already in place. Other nations in the UK have comprehensive guidance and toolkits to support specifically rural-proofing. Well, we want to have that too, so we'll be developing proposals for supporting mechanisms as part of the Bill's development, so it can be, I trust, implemented effectively.
- on the clip
Yes, absolutely. I mean, we've been talking about this across rural stakeholders for a long time, and in fact, the fact is that we can see it in action and working effectively; Northern Ireland, for example, have a system that works and is really interesting to us. I'll end on a positive note, as I always try to do, and say that I think that the Member is correct in stating that we can't afford this to be a meaningless tick-box exercise. Some of the criticisms levelled, sometimes, at legislation passed in previous Senedds have been maybe that they have lacked a focus on actually what they were trying to achieve; 'They've sounded good, but have they done what we need them to do?' That is why I said at the outset of my statement today that we shouldn't be legislating for legislating's sake. We should be legislating where we can see a need for it. We have done that work in recognising, 'You know what, we think that this needs to be done.' A lot of that work was done in the previous Senedd actually. Cefin Campbell, in his constituency role, published a report on rural-proofing, which was very, very useful in guiding us, as a prospective Government and now a Government, to a place where we have been convinced. But every single Member in this Senedd will have a contribution to make and to amend and to improve and strengthen. The Welsh word for amendment is 'gwelliant', literally meaning 'an improvement'. So, we will be bringing forward legislation that you will be able to improve and strengthen. We are legislators—that's our job.
How this page is made
Counted by Siambr from the Record's rows. Chaired contributions, spoken under the Record's title for the chair, are counted apart and never added in.
Each page holds 50 contributions at most and keeps a sitting day whole, unless the day alone is over 50.
Sources
The Record of Proceedings for each sitting day, quoted verbatim.