Cabinet meeting: 31 January 2022
Minutes of a meeting of the Cabinet on 31 January 2022.
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Present
- 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
- Andrew Goodall, 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
- 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
- Christopher W Morgan, Head of Cabinet Secretariat (minutes)
- Damian Roche, Cabinet Secretariat
- Catrin Sully, Cabinet Office
- Tracey Burke, Director General, Education and Public Services
- Reg Kilpatrick, Director General, COVID-19 Crisis Coordination
- Judith Paget, Director General Health
- Andrew Slade, Director General, Economy, Skills and Natural Resources
- Pier Bisson, Director European Transition, Constitution and Justice
- Helen Lentle, Director Legal Services
- Georgina Mawdsley, Cabinet Office
Item 1: Minutes of previous meetings
1.1 Cymeradwyodd y Cabinet gofnodion y 24 Ionawr / Cabinet approved the minutes of 24 January.
Item 2: First Minister’s items
Cultural Objects (Protection from Seizure) Bill
2.1 Ministers were provided with an update on the progress of the Cultural Objects (Protection from Seizure) Bill through the UK Parliament. A Private Members Bill, which intended to extend the current protection afforded to cultural objects on loan from abroad to UK museums and galleries.
2.2 The Government had been unsuccessful in obtaining the agreement of the Member sponsoring the Bill to support a ‘carve out’ amendment for Wales and, as a result, UK Ministers had removed Wales from the Bill.
EU Exit – Regulatory Reform Announcement
2.3 Cabinet was advised that the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution, along with representatives of the other devolved governments, had attended a meeting on Saturday with the Attorney General, where they were informed of the UK government’s intention to publish a policy document on how the UK was taking advantage of leaving the EU. It was subsequently published on Monday.
2.4 The document outlined proposals on specific regulatory changes and plans to legislate to change the status of EU retained law. It appeared that there would be specific legislation which could encroach further on powers of the Welsh Ministers and yet again have a negative impact on the devolution settlement. This was counter to principles recently agreed as part of the Intergovernmental Relations Review.
2.5 The First Minister was aiming to raise the policy document at the regular meeting between the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Devolved Governments on Wednesday and it would be on the agenda of the next meeting of the Inter Ministerial Group on Rural Affairs.
Item 3: Senedd business
3.1 Cabinet considered the contents of the Plenary grid and noted there would be a return to hybrid sessions in the Siambr that week. Voting time had been scheduled for 6:20pm on Tuesday and around 6:35pm on Wednesday.