Cabinet meeting: 19 June 2023

• Rt. Hon. Mark Drakeford MS (Chair - items 4 - 5)
• Lesley Griffiths MS (Chair - items 1-3)
• Rebecca Evans MS
• Jane Hutt MS
• Julie James MS
• Jeremy Miles MS
• Eluned Morgan MS
• Mick Antoniw MS

• Hannah Blythyn MS 
• Dawn Bowden MS 
• Lynne Neagle MS
• Julie Morgan MS 
• Lee Waters MS

Apologies

• Vaughan Gething 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
• David Hooson, Special Adviser
• Clare Jenkins, Special Adviser
• Owen John, Special Adviser
• Phillipa Marsden, Special Adviser
• Tom Woodward, Special Adviser
• Christopher W Morgan, Head of Cabinet Secretariat (minutes)
• Damian Roche, Cabinet Secretariat
• Catrin Sully, Cabinet Office
• Kathryn Hallett, First Minister’s Office
• Helena Bird, Permanent Secretary’s 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
• Andrew Slade, Director General, Economy, Treasury and Constitution
• Nia Lewis, Cabinet Office (item 3)
• Jon Oates, Deputy Director for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency (item 4)
• Claire Chappell, Head of Behaviour Change & Engagement, Climate Emergency (item 4)

The Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales and Trefnydd chaired the first part of the meeting as the First Minister joined the meeting from a vehicle as he was travelling to Cardiff.

1.1 Cymeradwyodd y Cabinet gofnodion y 12 Mehefin / Cabinet approved the minutes of 12 June.

2.1 Cabinet considered the Plenary grid and noted the current plans were for voting time to be around 5.45pm on Tuesday, followed by the Report Stage of the Agriculture (Wales) Bill, which had been scheduled for 30 minutes. Voting time on Wednesday was expected to be around 6:10pm.

3.1 The Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales and Trefnydd introduced the paper, which asked Cabinet to agree to the publication of the Welsh Government Annual Report for 2022-2023, and accompanying annex, thereby fulfilling the duty under the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act, which required a review of the well-being objectives and a report on progress.

3.2 Although the second Annual Report of the Senedd focused on the financial year to March 2023, it included some significant achievements made before the end of May this year.

3.3 Despite the unprecedented crises and challenges, the government had delivered free school meals for an additional 5 million children. The Basic Income Pilot, the NHS app and 111 press 2 for mental health had been rolled out and there had been primary legislation relating to social partnerships, single use plastics and tertiary education.

3.4 Cabinet approved the paper.

4.1 The Minister for Climate Change introduced the paper, which asked Cabinet to endorse the cross-portfolio implications of a new Climate Change Public Engagement Programme.

4.2 The government’s current emissions reduction plan highlighted that achieving net zero would rely on the people of Wales making greener transport, home energy, food and consumption choices. This aligned with the Climate Change Committee advice which stated that the majority, somewhere in the region of 62%, of emissions reductions would require involvement from society. The committee had welcomed the government’s commitment to developing a strategy for citizen engagement within their recent progress report.

4.3 The National Survey of 2021-22 had indicated the people of Wales were also supportive of change, with 94% indicating that individuals had ‘some’ or ‘a lot’ of responsibility to tackle climate change.

4.4 The new ‘Climate Action Wales – Public Engagement Strategy’ was the result of extensive consultation and engagement with other national and regional partners, and people and communities most likely to be affected by climate change. The strategy set out how the programme would be delivered and it provided a springboard for a series of tangible actions and commitments.

4.5 It also set out the scope of the programme, the main focus of which would be on green home energy, transport, food and consumption choices. It extended to related topics such as climate adaptation, tackling biodiversity loss, keeping resources and materials in use for as long as possible.

4.6 An integrated and well-communicated policy was required and the programme included two important components. There would be a need to coordinate evidence-based climate policies and a new national campaign and website would provide essential messages to raise awareness of actions, build public buy-in, and counter the misinformation on climate change circulating in the public domain.

4.7 The focus of the campaign would encourage people to use less, reuse, repair and recycle more, while reducing food waste by buying only what was needed. There would also be messages about the need to reduce home energy use and drive less, while cycling and walking more, and choosing healthier eating and sustainable food choices. It would also be important to highlight the impact Climate Change was having on peoples’ lives, such as the recent wildfires not just in Wales, but across the world, and the need for people to take more responsibility for their actions.

4.8 Therefore, there would be a need to develop a cross-Government timeline for greater coordination of citizen-centred climate policies, while making green choices easier, more convenient and more affordable for the people of Wales. Ministers would also need to encourage national and regional stakeholder networks to connect with the new national campaign to create harmonised messaging around green choices.

4.9 Cabinet welcomed the paper and agreed it was important to continue to target communications at children and young people, given their role as advocates, and encourage them to help inform the choices of their parents. There was also a need to ensure that parents refrained from discouraging their children from pursuing unfamiliar career choices, as such pursuing skills that would be essential for responding to the Climate Emergency. It was noted that children were already engaged in the development of new buildings as part of the Sustainable Schools Challenge.

4.10 Cabinet approved the paper.

The King’s Birthday Honours

5.1 The First Minister, on behalf of Cabinet, congratulated the Minister for Social Justice and Chief Whip on her CBE, which had been announced on the weekend.

British Irish Council

5.2 The First Minister informed Cabinet that he had attended the British Irish Council in Jersey the previous week. In the margins of the council he had met the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Inter-governmental Relations, the Taoiseach and Tánaiste.

New leader of Plaid Cymru

5.3 The First Minister advised Cabinet that he would be meeting the new leader of Plaid Cymru, Rhun ap Iorwerth MS, later that afternoon.

Cardiff Pride 

5.4 The First Minister informed Cabinet that he, and a number of other ministers, had attended Cardiff Pride on the weekend. The events had been well attended and there had been positive feedback on the Welsh Government’s LGBTQ+ Action Plan for Wales.

Joint session with the Youth Parliament

5.5 The First Minister reminded Cabinet that there would be a joint meeting of the Senedd and Welsh Parliament on Wednesday, where there would be questions to a number of ministers.

Cabinet Secretariat 
June 2023