Cabinet meeting: 16 January 2023

• Rt. Hon. Mark Drakeford MS (Chair)
• Rebecca Evans MS
• Vaughan Gething MS
• Lesley Griffiths MS
• Jane Hutt MS (items 1-3)
• Julie James MS
• Jeremy Miles MS
• Eluned Morgan MS
• Mick Antoniw MS

• Hannah Blythyn MS (items 1-3)
• Dawn Bowden MS
• Lynne Neagle MS
• Julie Morgan MS
• Lee Waters MS

Officials

• Andrew Goodall, Permanent Secretary
• Des Clifford, Director Office of the First Minister
• Rebecca Dunn, Head of 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
• David Davies, Special Adviser
• Kate Edmunds, Special Adviser
• Sara Faye, Special Adviser
• Sam Hadley, Special Adviser
• Clare Jenkins, Special Adviser
• Owen John, Special Adviser
• Phillipa Marsden, 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 Climate Change & Rural Affairs
• Jo-Anne Daniels, Director General Education, Social Justice and Welsh Language
• Reg Kilpatrick, Director General, COVID-19 recovery and Local Government
• Tim Moss, Chief Operating Officer
• Judith Paget, Director General Health and Social Services
• Andrew Slade, Director General, Economy, Treasury and Constitution
• Helen Lentle, Director Legal Services
• Helen Arthur, Director Workforce and Corporate Business NHS (item 3)

1.1 Cymeradwyodd y Cabinet gofnodion 9 Ionawr / Cabinet approved the minutes of 9 January.

2.1 Cabinet considered the Plenary Grid and noted that a further statement had been added to the agenda for Tuesday, the Minister for Health and Social Services would update Members on her recent meeting with the NHS Trade Unions. To accommodate this, the statement on Ukraine had been postponed for a week. Voting time was now scheduled for 7.15pm on Tuesday with voting time on Wednesday expected around 6.25pm.

3.1 The Minister for Health and Social Services informed Cabinet of her recent meeting with the NHS Trade Unions to discuss health workers pay and the ongoing industrial action.

3.2 The Minister for Education and Welsh Language provided Cabinet with an update on recent ballots for industrial action within the teaching profession.

Update on recent flooding

4.1 The Minister for Climate Change informed Cabinet that the continuous heavy rain the previous week had caused increased surface water and very high river levels and had led to 50 flood warnings and 95 alerts across Wales. This had resulted in 82 properties, across 10 local authority areas, being flooded along with damage to infrastructure.

4.2 There were still 14 alerts and one warning, on the river Wye, still in place. The risk of further flooding was reducing, but this had been replaced by yellow weather warnings for snow and ice, with winter storms forecast for many parts of Wales.

4.3 It was reported that local authorities were continuing to inspect coal tips for slippage arising from the recent heavy rain.

4.4 Cabinet put on record its thanks to all those involved in responding to the recent flooding.

Cabinet Secretariat
January 2023