Cabinet meeting: 3pm 4 October 2021

• Rt. Hon. Mark Drakeford MS (Chair)
• 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
• Hannah Blythyn MS
• Julie Morgan MS
• Lynne Neagle MS
• Lee Waters MS

Officials

• Shan Morgan, Permanent Secretary
• Will Whiteley, Deputy Director Cabinet Division
• Toby Mason, 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
• Andrew Johnson, Special Adviser
• Tom Woodward, Special Adviser
• Christopher W Morgan, Cabinet Secretariat (minutes)
• Damian Roche, Cabinet Secretariat
• Catrin Sully, Cabinet Office
• Tracey Burke, Director General, Education and Public Services
• Andrew Goodall, Director General, Health
• Reg Kilpatrick, Director General, COVID-19 Crisis Coordination
• Andrew Slade, Director General, Economy, Skills and Natural Resources
• Helen Lentle, Director Legal Services
• Andrew Jeffreys, Director Treasury
• Emma Watkins, Deputy Director Budget and Government Business
• Steve Davies, Deputy Director Infrastructure Strategy and Assurance
• Rachel Garside-Jones, Deputy Director Economic Policy

1.1 Cymeradwyodd y Cabinet gofnodion y 20 Medi / Cabinet approved the minutes of 20 September.

2.1 It was reported that work was continuing to establish the Constitutional Commission. The co-chairs were now in place and the process was underway to finalise the membership of the Commission and the expert panel. The Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution was scheduled to make a statement to the Siambr on 19th October. Once established, the Commission would be independent of government.

3.1 The Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd informed Cabinet that there had been one change to the Plenary grid, the statement by the Minister for Social Justice had been re-titled ‘Well-being of Future Generations national implementation’. Voting time was expected at 6:40pm on Tuesday and around 5.35pm on Wednesday.

4.1 The Minister for Finance and Local Government introduced the paper, which invited Cabinet to approve the draft Wales Infrastructure Investment Strategy (WIIS), which would be published alongside the draft Budget 2022-23 in December.

4.2 Cabinet approved the paper.

5.1 The Minister for Economy introduced the paper, which asked Cabinet to note the recommendations resulting from the peer review of the Economic Resilience and Reconstruction Mission, in response to the Programme for Government commitment.

5.2 The focus should be on investing in and attracting people to live and work in Wales, while building a unique, coherent and compelling narrative for the future of the country.

5.3 The Economic Resilience and Reconstruction Mission, published in February, had established the fundamental recovery principles of the previous administration. Over the summer, Professor Jonathan Portes of Kings College London had been asked to review that direction and advise on opportunities and areas of focus for the next steps. The paper set out proposals to build upon the findings that the review had highlighted.

5.4 A striking observation from the report was the proportion of the population aged 16 to 64 in Wales had been decreasing year-on-year since mid-2008, and this could be as low as 58% of the population by 2043.

5.5 The paper set out the efforts to tackle this issue should be pursued as a complement to a progressive economic policy that focussed on better jobs, narrowing the skills divide and tackling poverty. Analysis highlighted that immigration would bring net benefits to the economy and public services along with additional jobs. Furthermore, a Nation of Sanctuary policy reinforced the fact that welcoming asylum seekers was good for the economy and wider society.

5.6 There would not be a shift away from the original Mission and its five beacons remained the key priorities. Taking this forward would mean building an economy that was driven by fair work and action on the climate and nature emergencies. In addition, action to tackle the demographic issue would not be conflated with a return to a narrow over-reliance on foreign direct investment.

5.7 A key part of the future approach was setting out the narrative of what made Wales an attractive place to live, study, work and invest. This included the commitment to investing in people, through the Young Persons Guarantee and the employability and skills offer, including support for those less likely to be helped by the DWP.

5.8 Cabinet welcomed the paper, particularly the approach to fair work and social partnerships. It was essential to engage with Trades Unions and employers.

5.9 Cabinet approved the paper.