Cabinet meeting: 22 April 2024

• Rt. Hon. Vaughan Gething MS (Chair) 
• Rebecca Evans MS
• Lesley Griffiths MS 
• Huw Irranca-Davies MS
• Jane Hutt MS 
• Julie James MS 
• Jeremy Miles MS
• Eluned Morgan MS
• Lynne Neagle MS
• Ken Skates MS
• Mick Antoniw MS 
   
• Hannah Blythyn MS 
• Dawn Bowden MS 
• Jane Bryant MS

Officials

• Andrew Goodall, Permanent Secretary 
• Rachel Garside-Jones, Interim Director Office of the First Minister 
• Matthew Hall, Head of Cabinet Division 
• Toby Mason, Head of Strategic Communications 
• Catrin Sully, Cabinet Office 
• Alex Bevan, Special Adviser 
• Madeleine Brindley, Special Adviser
• Sara Faye, Special Adviser
• Sam Hadley, Special Adviser     
• David Hooson, Special Adviser
• Phillipa Marsden, Special Adviser 
• Maddie Rees, Special Adviser
• Tom Woodward, Special Adviser
• Christopher W Morgan, Head of Cabinet Secretariat (minutes) 
• Damian Roche, Cabinet Secretariat 
• Kathryn Hallett, First Minister’s Office
• Helena Bird, Permanent Secretary’s Office
• Diane Dunning, Legal Services 
• Tracey Burke, Director General Climate Change & Rural Affairs
• Sioned Evans, Director General, Public Services and Welsh Language Group
• Tim Moss, Chief Operating Officer
• Judith Paget, Director General Health and Social Services  
• Andrew Slade, Director General, Economy, Treasury and Constitution 
• Reg Kilpatrick, Director Local Government (item 4)
• Clare Blake, Head of Local Government Finance Reform (item 4)
• Dafydd Trystan, Special Adviser (item 4)
• Rebecca Jones, Co-op Agreement Unit (item 4)

1.1 Cymeradwyodd y Cabinet gofnodion y 15 Ebrill / Cabinet approved the minutes of 15 April.  

First Minister’s engagements that week.

2.1 The First Minister informed Cabinet that he would be undertaking a number of visits in Pembrokeshire later that week, which were aligned with his five priorities.  The programme included a school visit focused on Free School Meals, a round table with energy companies at Pembrokeshire college and meetings with students.   The First Minister would also be meeting the leader of the WLGA and on Friday he, alongside the Cabinet Secretary for North Wales and Transport, would be meeting Local Authority leaders from North Wales and other representatives. 

3.1 Cabinet considered the contents of the Plenary Grid and noted that voting time was scheduled for 5:45pm on Tuesday and around 5:35pm on Wednesday. 

3.2 The Trefnydd and Chief Whip reminded Cabinet that Stage 4 of the Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill would be taking place on Wednesday 8^th May.

4.1 The Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office introduced the paper, which asked Cabinet to note the outcome of the Phase 2 consultation on Council Tax reform and, in terms of next steps, decide which timeframe to implement reforms.

4.2 The Phase 1 consultation in 2022 had set expectations for Council Tax reform in Wales and significant progress had been made since then.  The Phase 2 consultation in November proposed a range of approaches along with choices for implementation timelines. 

4.3 A range of systems had been set out in the paper, underpinned by detailed analysis from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).

4.4 Cabinet agreed to implement reforms on 1^st April 2028.   However, it was important to amend the Local Government Finance (Wales) Bill to reflect this implementation date. 

Cabinet Secretariat
April 2024