Cabinet meeting: 11 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
• Des Clifford, Director General Office of the First Minister
• 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
• Mitch Theaker, 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
• Piers Bisson, Director European Transition, Constitution and Justice
• Christopher Warner, Deputy Director Constitutional Affairs & Intergovernmental Relations
• Dianne Dunning, Deputy Director Legal Services
• John Howells, Director Climate Change Energy and Planning
• Christine Wheeler, Deputy Director Decarbonisation and Energy

1.1 Cymeradwyodd y Cabinet gofnodion y 4 Hydref / Cabinet approved the minutes of 4 October.

Permanent Secretary’s retirement

2.1 The First Minister referred to the fact that the Permanent Secretary was attending her final Cabinet meeting and put on record his thanks to Shan for the work she had done over the past 5 years. The Permanent Secretary had provided leadership to the Civil Service during an extraordinary period of government. This included using her diplomatic knowledge and skills during Brexit and managing the organisation’s response to COVID-19, where, amongst other things, the civil service seamlessly transitioned to a virtual working model overnight.

3.1 The Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd informed Cabinet that voting time was expected at 7:10pm on Tuesday and around 5.35pm on Wednesday.

4.1 The Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution introduced the paper, which asked Cabinet to agree a strategic approach to the management of UK Bills.

4.2 It was recognised that UK bills, when developed collaboratively with Welsh Ministers, would help deliver commitments within the Programme for Government and statutory responsibilities. Therefore, pursuing the effective operation of the Sewel Convention was a key part of the Government’s ambition for a successful United Kingdom based on far reaching federalism.

4.3 However, there were a large number of UK bills in the current programme which affected the devolution settlement. The UK government had stated that it remained committed to the Sewel Convention, but recent examples had illustrated that this was not the case.

4.4 Cabinet expressed concern about the UK government continuing to seek concurrent powers and the impact this would have on the Sewel Convention.

4.5 Cabinet approved the recommendations within the paper.

5.1 The Minister for Climate Change introduced the paper, which invited Cabinet to approve the emissions reduction plan to deliver the ‘Carbon Budget 2’.

5.2 Following the climate emergency declaration the government set its 2nd Carbon Budget, to cover 2021 to 2025, at an average of 37% reduction against the baseline. The next Carbon Budget, from 2026 to 2030 had been set at an average 58% reduction. These budgets, alongside the next decadal target of 63% reduction in 2030, would meet the new statutory commitment for Wales to be net-zero in 2050. Given the step change there would be a need to outperform Carbon Budget 2 in order to meet later targets.

5.3 It was recognised the Welsh Government did not have all the powers in relation to certain activity within the plan and that delivery was dependent on the UK government’s anticipated Net Zero Strategy delivering for Wales.

5.4 Wales had achieved a great deal, particularly in relation to action on recycling and the retro-fitting of social housing, but much more needed to be done, which would be reflected in action plans.

5.5 Ministers were encouraged to engage with various activities associated with the forthcoming Climate Change Conference (COP26) to help promote the need for further action by everyone in Wales.

5.6 The paper was welcomed by ministers.

5.7 Cabinet approved the emissions reduction plan for Carbon Budget 2.