Cabinet meeting: 20 June 2022

• Rt. Hon. Mark Drakeford MS  
• Rebecca Evans MS  
• Vaughan Gething MS
• Lesley Griffiths MS
• Jane Hutt MS
• Julie James MS
• Jeremy Miles MS
• Eluned Morgan MS
• Mick Antoniw MS
   
• Dawn Bowden MS
• Julie Morgan MS
• Lynne Neagle MS

Apologies

• Hannah Blythyn MS
• Lee Waters MS

Officials

• Andrew Goodall, Permanent Secretary
• Des Clifford, Director Office of the First Minister
• Will Whiteley, Deputy Director Cabinet Division
• Toby Mason, Head of Strategic Communications  
• Jane Runeckles, Special Adviser
• Madeleine Brindley, Special Adviser
• Alex Bevan, Special Adviser
• Daniel Butler, Special Adviser
• Ian Butler, Special Adviser
• Kate Edmunds, Special Adviser
• Sara Faye, Special Adviser   
• Clare Jenkins, Special Adviser
• Owen John, Special Adviser
• Andrew Johnson, Special Adviser 
• Mitch Theaker, Special Adviser
• Tom Woodward, Special Adviser
• Damian Roche, Cabinet Secretariat (minutes)
• Catrin Sully, Cabinet Office
• Tracey Burke, Director General, Climate Change and Rural Affairs
• Jo-Anne Daniels, Director General Education, Social Justice and Welsh Language 
• Reg Kilpatrick, Director General, COVID-19 recovery and Local Government 
• Judith Paget, Director General Health 
• Andrew Slade, Director General, Economy, Treasury and Constitution 
• Helen Lentle, Director Legal Services
• Nick Jones, Legislative Programme and Governance Unit
• Jon Oates, Head of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency
• Helen Carey, Cabinet Secretariat

1.1 Cymeradwyodd y Cabinet gofnodion y 13 Mehefin / Cabinet approved the minutes of 13 June.

2.1 Cabinet considered the contents of the Plenary grid and noted voting would take place throughout Stage 3 of the Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Bill on Tuesday afternoon and would take place at around 6:40pm on Wednesday.

2.2 No topical questions had been tabled to date.

3.1 The First Minister introduced the paper, which set out the next iteration of the Government’s planned legislative programme.

3.2 Cabinet agreed the paper.

4.1 The First Minister introduced the paper, which asked Cabinet to agree publication of the Annual Report on the Programme for Government 2021-2022, fulfilling the statutory duty under the Well-being of Future Generations Act (Wales) 2015 to review the well-being objectives and report on progress.

4.2 This was the first annual report of the sixth Senedd term and the report comprised a narrative summary on progress since the May 2021 election, and an annex providing a progress update against each of the 115 commitments collectively owned by Cabinet that directly contributed towards the well-being objectives.

4.3 The Programme for Government was structured around ten well-being objectives, with each objective having a set of commitments or ‘steps’ set out beneath it.  These were the steps that directly contributed to each well-being objective.

4.4 Cabinet approved the paper.

5.1 The Minister for Climate Change introduced the paper, which set out progress to deliver Net Zero Wales and actions to achieve the Welsh Government’s ambitions.

5.2 The Net Zero plan demonstrated how Carbon Budget 2 would be met and an average emission reduction of 37% achieved over the course of 2021-25.

5.3 These were extremely challenging targets for the second half of the decade, nonetheless the goal was to exceed them and the ambition expressed within the plan suggested an average emission reduction of 44% by 2025.

5.4 It was noted there was much evidence of joined up working across the Government, particularly on the costs of living and fuel poverty crises and their policy contributions towards delivering Net Zero. Not disadvantaging the poorest in society and making strong links between Net Zero and social justice were key.

5.5 It was reported that Local Government partners also had a significant delivery role and were fully engaged in the Net Zero agenda.

5.6 It was clear that multiple gains from Government spending could be achieved at every level providing the benefits were accurately assessed.

5.7 Cabinet noted the paper.