National Assembly for Wales

We will continue to encourage victims of hate crime to report their experiences and will build on the strong partnerships we have developed with the police, the Crown Prosecution Service, Victim Support Cymru and other agencies to reduce offending, hold perpetrators to account and enable victims to receive support and redress. 

The Cabinet Secretary for Education and I have regular discussions about priority matters, including educational support for ethnic minority and Gypsy/Roma/Traveller learners.

Under the Superfast Cymru project we have invested, subject to final verification, £192 million in delivering access to fast broadband to 733,000 premises in Wales. I have also recently announced a further £13 million to provide access to a further 16,000 premises in north and south-west Wales and the Valleys.

The draft budget is aligned with our economic action plan that sets out a vision for inclusive growth, built on strong foundations, investment in industries of the future and productive regions across the whole of Wales.

Our investment proposals for Powys include just under £80 million to deliver band A of the twenty-first century schools and education programme and completion of the Newtown bypass.

Even with the additional £554.8 million for Wales in the UK budget, of which we were already expecting £365 million, the Welsh budget will remain 5 per cent lower in real terms in 2019-20 than it was in 2010-11. This is equivalent to £850 million less to spend on public services.

We have worked hard to protect all sectors from the worst impacts of the UK Government’s failed policy of austerity. We are providing additional funding next year to restore sixth-form budgets to current levels and allocating a further £7 million to further education colleges to support demographic pressures.

Ministers and officials are working closely together across portfolios on a number of issues related to Brexit, including its potential impact on Holyhead port. I, along with the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport, sit on the Cabinet Sub-committee on EU Transition, at which plans for preparedness are discussed. 

In order to deliver the objectives of our groundbreaking Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015 we increased funding this year to £5 million and we are maintaining funding at this level next year despite the continued pressure on public spending.

Decisions on the allocation of additional funding will be made by the Welsh Cabinet in the usual way. We have said that in the event of additional funding, local government will be a key priority.