Speeches by Jones.

“Lord Timpson, thank you for being with us. I will start by asking a question about the relationship with the Welsh Government. Could you describe your working relationship with Welsh Government colleagues in the justice area?”

“I want to ask a question about the connection between the reserved and the devolved areas. Obviously, prisons and probation are reserved, and services such as education and healthcare are devolved. Do you feel that that helps or hinders the experience of Welsh offenders? I am not advocating for any further devolution o…”

“Thank you, Chair. Lord Timpson, youth justice seems to be an area that is working particularly well, with good examples of partnership working. What do you put that success down to? Is there scope to replicate that in other areas of the justice system?”

“I have one final question. Are there any examples that you can think of where UK Government justice policy is particularly out of step with that of the Welsh Government?”

“Since you have been in your role, have you ensured that the Ministry of Justice’s policies take the specific impact in Wales into account?”

“Minister, it is good to see you. One of the questions that I had was around the local growth fund. You will be aware that local government has had a role in the shared prosperity fund in recent years. The consultation is under way, though I appreciate that it does not end for another week or two yet. Has there been dia…”

“I will move on to coal tips. In 2021, the Welsh Government estimated that the remediation cost around disused coal tips was in the region of between £500 million and £600 million. Could you set out the current position? Is that estimate still the case or has it been reassessed? In particular, could you give a breakdown…”

“As you say, it is two Governments sharing responsibility. That is positive. £220 million has been allocated for coal tip safety. Working with the UK Government, are you confident that the required level of funding will be secured to remediate all the coal tips within Wales?”

“In terms of moving forward and completing all the coal tips, even if the funding was available to do it all, there are contractors that will need to programme that work and there is a timescale involved. I appreciate that this is a little bit outside your portfolio, but do you have any views on that and whether the fun…”

“Minister, it is good to see you. One of the questions that I had was around the local growth fund. You will be aware that local government has had a role in the shared prosperity fund in recent years. The consultation is under way, though I appreciate that it does not end for another week or two yet. Has there been dia…”

“I will move on to coal tips. In 2021, the Welsh Government estimated that the remediation cost around disused coal tips was in the region of between £500 million and £600 million. Could you set out the current position? Is that estimate still the case or has it been reassessed? In particular, could you give a breakdown…”

“As you say, it is two Governments sharing responsibility. That is positive. £220 million has been allocated for coal tip safety. Working with the UK Government, are you confident that the required level of funding will be secured to remediate all the coal tips within Wales?”

“In terms of moving forward and completing all the coal tips, even if the funding was available to do it all, there are contractors that will need to programme that work and there is a timescale involved. I appreciate that this is a little bit outside your portfolio, but do you have any views on that and whether the fun…”

“I fully recognise the seriousness of the situation and the need to fully investigate, which must be the priority, and I fully agree with the Minister’s comments about the need to keep our personnel safe. As he knows, Ajax are assembled at General Dynamics in my constituency, where more than 700 dedicated employees are …”

“I very much welcome the additional £505 million of investment that the Chancellor announced in last week’s Budget through the Barnett formula, building on the biggest settlement since devolution. Does my right hon. Friend agree that this is another example of two Labour Governments working together for the benefit of t…”

“9. What recent progress he has made on improving the relationship between the Government and the devolved Administrations.”

“I have a follow-up question. You talked about family connections. Both those facilities are in Wales, but the population of young people is not necessarily from Wales. How important is the proximity of children to family and home connections? Building on that, would you like to see additional YOI capacity to enable tha…”

“I have a question for Mr Fraser on the specifics of the young offender institution at Parc and the Hillside secure children’s home. How would you assess the performance of those in comparison with other young offender institutions across England and Wales?”

“I thank my hon. Friend and could not agree more. All I can say is, we see that every day in our constituencies, so they must be walking around with their eyes closed and their ears shut. Action needed to be taken, and I am so glad that this Labour Government have taken that action. In addition, freezing fuel duty, incr…”

“I rise to welcome the Budget. We know that we have experienced difficult economic times of late, but despite that we have a Budget that is both solid and fair. Wages have grown more since the start of this Parliament than since 2010, and interest rates have gone down five times since the general election. I particularl…”