91�ȱ�

The ninth FMQs of 2022 comes to a close.

Thanks for following - join us again next week.

The Senedd will once again be lit tonight in the blue and yellow colours of Ukraine’s flag as a sign of solidarity with Ukraine and its people.

Image source, Senedd Cymru

The first minister claims "a decade of austerity, supported week in, week out on the floor of this Senedd by members of the Conservative group here. That's what lies behind the cost of living crisis—a decade in which benefits were held down, in which wages were held down and people are not in a position that they would otherwise have been had it not been for the cost of living crisis made by the Conservative Party; they would not have been in the position that they are in today."

Labour Rhondda MS Buffy Williams says "the Tory Westminster Government are either too incompetent to use the levers available to them to support families, or are completely heartless and have deliberately plunged our communities into poverty, or both".

Plaid Cymru's Luke Fletcher refers to a presentation in the Senedd last week by End Youth 91�ȱ�lessness Cymru.

He says "their message to us: youth homelessness is everyone's business and a society wide issue, not just a housing issue."

The first minister replies, "I very much agree with the point that the young people made that youth homelessness is everybody's business and that it's not a housing issue by itself. A number of the projects that we fund as a result of our work with the coalition—20 projects operational across Wales—aim to do exactly that, to make housing the centre of a much wider range of services and joint work with young people to address those wider issues in their lives."

Image source, Getty Images

The first minister says Urdd Gobaith Cymru will be part of discussions on how to welcome refugees from Ukraine, after they helped to provide accommodation for Afghan refugees last year.

The Urdd youth organisation provided initial accommodation before other properties were found.

The first minister says the Welsh Government is "urgently" working with local government "to create a way in which people coming to Wales will receive an initial period of support and reorientation, where we can make sure that those public services are aligned to their needs, where they themselves can simply regroup for a short while."

"It's impossible to imagine, isn't it, really, what it must be like to find yourself transported across a continent, and finding yourself, no matter how welcoming the context will be—only a few short weeks ago, you were living absolutely peaceful lives and couldn't imagine that this was about to happen to you."

Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price refers to reports that the UK government is to hold discussions with Saudi officials regarding energy supply following disruption caused by the war in Ukraine.

He says "we should not swap dependence on one murderous regime for another".

First Minister Mark Drakeford agrees, explaining "the solution to energy security in the United Kingdom is to have a really rapid and dedicated focus on the development of renewable energy, in which we are so rich."

"That would mean that we would not need to see the Prime Minister getting on a plane to Riyadh, because we would have created sufficient energy from our own resources to be dependent neither upon the regime in Russia, or unsavoury regimes in other parts of the world," the first minister says.

Adam Price also points out differences between the first minister and UK Labour leader Keir Starmer on visas for Ukraine refugees.

The refugees should be allowed into the UK without visas, the first minister has said, whereas UK Labour has called for emergency protection visas, rather than ditching the documentation.

In response to the Plaid Cymru leader, the first minister also expresses fears that a UK-wide scheme for people to host Ukrainian refugees in their homes will not offer the support that is needed. Households taking part in the 91�ȱ�s for Ukraine scheme will be offered £350 a month, tax-free, the UK government has said.

But Mark Drakeford warns: "My anxiety for the UK scheme is that it relies entirely on individuals to find one another.

"As I understand it, should somebody in Wales with a generosity we know that people are displaying, find themselves matched up by somebody on the Polish border, the UK government will issue them a visa and then it's up to them how they get from where they are to where that offer of help has been provided.

"It will be a matter for that individual, in all the circumstances they face, to navigate for themselves."

Andrew RT Davies, leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd, refers to the fact that the deaths of two patients have sparked damning reports into the failings of mental health services in north Wales.

They died at two separate units run by Betsi Cadwaladr health board - patient D killed herself and patient A died after suffering abdominal distress.

The reports flagged mixed cohort units, and observations not being carried out often enough which led to "catastrophic" outcomes.

Mr Davies asks whether the first minister agrees with him that the families are owed an apology from both Betsi Cadwaladr health board and the Welsh Government.

"Absolutely, of course," replies the first minister. He acknowledges that improvement in mental health service in north Wales “has not been as fast as it ought to have been”.

Conservative MSs don’t like the first minister's comment that staff tell him that making progress, as they want to, isn’t easy “when they feel constantly that their efforts are scrutinised in a hostile way”.

Mixed cohorting is where frail, elderly patients are cared for on the same wards as younger patients.

Mr Davies called for Donna Ockenden, who had undertaken previous reports on mental health services, to undertake a fresh piece of work to identify failures to implement previous recommendations made by her reports.

Mr Drakeford says "there are clearly further actions that need to be taken to make sure that in all aspects of mental health services, people in north Wales get the service they deserve".

He added it was an open question whether a further review is needed.

Asked what the Welsh Government is doing to promote large-scale renewable energy projects in Wales, the first minister says "our aim for Wales is to produce renewable energy to at least fully meet our own energy needs".

"There is more that could and should be done," he acknowledges.

He adds, "I've revisited the Charles Hendry review report in recent days. I can tell you it makes for very sobering reading, because, amongst the case that it made for the Swansea bay tidal lagoon, energy security was one of the cases that that review focused on.

"Had that scheme been given the go-ahead, we would be very close now to it being able to supply energy here in Wales, and we would have learnt a tremendous amount, as the Hendry review said, from that demonstration project."

Image source, TLP

The Llywydd (presiding officer) Elin Jones conducts a ballot to determine the names of members who may table questions to the first minister and Welsh ministers. Each member may enter their name into a ballot.

Seven of the 12 today are from Labour backbenchers.

Blaenau Gwent MS Alun Davies seeks a statement on the future of the Tech Valleys programme.

First Minister Mark Drakeford replies that it is a 10-year programme which is focusing on the area of Blaenau Gwent.

The £100m programme was announced by the Welsh Government in 2017, and the programme has already created 100,000 sq ft of new and refurbished commercial, start-up and industrial floor-space.

The first minister tells Conservative Laura Anne Jones that "between 2011 and 2021, the employment rate in Blaenau Gwent increased by 8.1 percentage points, and that exceeded the increase in employment across Wales, and the increase at the United Kingdom level as well".

Alun Davies was the minister in charge when the Welsh Government published an in 2017 to create 7,000 jobs and revitalise the south Wales valleys. The taskforce he created aimed to close the employment gap between the valleys and the rest of Wales by getting an extra 7,000 people into work by 2021 and creating "thousands of new, fair, secure and sustainable jobs".

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the ninth session of First Minister's Questions in 2022.

The meeting is held in a hybrid format, with some members in the Siambr (Senedd chamber) and others joining by video-conference.