91�ȱ�

The twenty-fifth FMQs of 2022 comes to a close.

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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.

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The first minister says "I haven't heard anything from the new prime minister, I haven't had a phone call or an e-mail—nothing at all."

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The first minister says "the NHS continues to have to deal with the Covid impact, with just under 1,000 members of staff not in work today; around 600-700 of them are actually ill with Covid themselves and around 300 or so are not in work because they've been in contact with somebody. All of that happens at short notice, and when you're dealing with 1,000, the sudden inability of people to be in the workplace undoubtedly makes the business of managing the workforce, and the impact on patients that flows from it, a challenge".

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Liberal Democrat Jane Dodds questions the Welsh Government's record on home insulation programmes, stating at the current rate it could take the Welsh Government 135 years to insulate every fuel poor household.

The first minister replies, "It's always been a challenge for the Warm 91�ȱ�s programme to find effective ways in which you can insulate properties that don't have the characteristics that most properties do where you can put insulation between cavity walls and so on. We are redesigning the Warm 91�ȱ�s programme, we will be soon looking for the next round of bids from people who will deliver that programme on the ground."

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Plaid Cymru's Cefin Campbell calls for "adequate support for rural households across mid and west Wales as they face the challenges of the cost-of-living crisis", particularly those dependant on the use of off-grid fuel.

The first minister replies that the Welsh Government "has invested more than £1.6 billion this year on targeted cost-of-living support and universal programmes to put money back in people's pockets and to help alleviate this crisis. This includes, for example, support to those living off the gas grid to purchase LPG or bulk oil."

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Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price calls again on the Welsh Government to implement a rent freeze and a ban on evictions over winter which he says would protect thousands of people from rising housing costs.

The first minister replies he will look carefully at proposals by the Scottish Government, but warns against "unintended consequences" of landlords taking houses for rent off the market.

Figures from Zoopla suggest average rents rose by 12.3% to £750 in the year to last July.

The Scottish Government announced it would freeze "most rents" until the end of march next year, alongside a "six month moratorium on evictions".

Adam Price says: "This winter could be the hardest on record, in the face of rising costs and stagnating wages. Plaid Cymru saw this coming. [The] Scottish Government have already acted - incidentally, following a campaign by Labour in Scotland.

"What further evidence do [the Welsh Government] need to convince them that preventing homelessness during winter is the right course of action?

"The Welsh Government must use all the tools in its power to shield our most vulnerable over winter - by announcing they will freeze all rents and by banning all evictions now."

Mr Drakeford says the Scottish legislation "doesn't cover anybody taking up a tenancy, and for existing tenancies there are a whole series of ways in which their rent will be able to go up anyway".

He says when he was in Scotland to meet Nicola Sturgeon last week he said he was told of "two great anxieties" - the "stampede to evict existing tenants" and the "risk there would be a collapse in the amount of property available in the private rented sector".

Andrew RT Davies, leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd, continues to call for a Wales-specific Covid inquiry.

Mr Davies asks the first minister why he was blocking a Welsh inquiry when Nicola Sturgeon had agreed to such an investigation in Scotland.

The first minister replies that "answers are best secured through Welsh participation in a UK-wide inquiry".

He tells Mr Davies that an inquiry centred only on Wales was "not going to happen" and stresses that "there will be no inquiry of that sort here in Wales".

The first minister welcomes that Welsh families whose relatives died during the Covid-19 pandemic have been told they will be recognised as "core participants" in the UK Covid Inquiry.

The preliminary stages of the hearings began in London on Tuesday, with evidence expected to be heard from next spring.

The first minister warns that "the unfunded tax changes in the fiscal statement will widen inequality across the United Kingdom".

He says the UK government "believes in redistribution; it believes in taking money from the poor and giving it to the rich".

Conservative Natasha Asghar calls on the Welsh Government to "help promote e-cigarettes to encourage existing smokers to quit smoking".

First Minister Mark Drakeford replies that the Welsh Government will commission "an evidenced-based review of the use of e-cigarettes in Wales".

However, he adds, "where e-cigarettes lead to people ceasing the use of tobacco, then, undoubtedly, e-cigarettes are less harmful than conventional cigarettes. Sadly, the evidence is that for most people who use an e-cigarette, it is as well as, not instead of, a conventional cigarette. Eighty-five per cent in recent studies are dual use, and dual use, I'm afraid, does not eliminate the harm that smoking conventional cigarettes brings. In fact, it adds additional harms, particularly in relation to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease."

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

First Minister Mark Drakeford faces questions from MSs for the second time since the summer recess.

Last week, when the Trefnydd (business manager) Lesley Griffiths stood in for Mr Drakeford, she answered 10 questions in 45 minutes. “Da iawn” (very good) responded the Llywydd (presiding officer) Elin Jones, who suggested that the Trefnydd gives the Cabinet “a tutorial on how to give succinct answers in oral questions”.

Will the first minister have taken the hint?

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

Image source, WELSH GOVERNMENT