Cabinet meeting: 14 March 2022

• Rt. Hon. Mark Drakeford MS
• 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

Externals

• Ruth Marks, Chief Executive Wales Council for Voluntary Action (item 1)
• Andrew Morgan, Leader Welsh Local Government Association (item 1)

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
• Madeleine Brindley, 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
• 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
• Helen Lentle, Director Legal Services
• Claire Bennett, Director Communities and Tackling Poverty
• Ruth Meadows, Deputy Director Communities Division
• John Howells, Director of Climate Change, Energy and Planning
• Michelle Delafield, Senior Delivery Manager, Climate Change Adaptation

1.1 The First Minister informed Cabinet that the government had been working with partners in preparation for welcoming refugees from Ukraine to Wales. As such, the Chief Executive of the Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA) and the Leader of the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) had been invited to attend the first part of the Cabinet meeting.

1.2 In addition to the £4 million donated to the Disasters Emergency Committee, the Welsh Government had dispatched the first shipment of medical supplies to Ukraine, and more was expected to be sent in the coming days.

1.3 Over the past few days there had been discussions with the UK government about its Humanitarian Sponsorship Scheme. UK ministers envisaged 2 routes by which matches would be made between refugees and offers of accommodation. The first phase would be individual offers, potentially matched through social media, with sponsor families. Once matched the refugees would need to make their own way to the UK and complete biometric identity checks on arrival.

1.4 The second phase would match groups of refugees to places offered by individual sponsors. The First Minister, along with the First Minister of Scotland, had written to the UK government proposing that both governments should be able to act as ‘super-sponsors’ and take responsibility for cohorts of refugees within their own countries.

1.5 Wales was committed to supporting an initial 1,000 people in the first phase of the scheme, based on the experience of the successful Afghan and Syrian resettlement programmes, but Welsh Ministers were committed to building on this and to taking a proportionate share of the Ukrainian refugees who decide to come to the UK.

1.6 Work would continue with the UK government on the development of the scheme to ensure that Wales was ready to receive refugees from the weekend, when the first visas and matches under the new scheme were due to be issued.

1.7 In the meantime, ministers were working closely with local authorities, the WLGA, WCVA and other partners to make preparations to welcome refugees to Wales.

1.8 It was reported that officials were in discussions with the UK Treasury to ascertain how much extra funding would be made available and whether this would be a Barnett share or allocated for a specific purpose.

1.9 Cllr Morgan informed Cabinet that a clearer understanding of the routes of entry, timescales for arrival and numbers of refugees was needed from UK government to avoid any particular areas from being overwhelmed. It was important to ensure that the proposed reception centres were evenly spread across Wales.

1.10 The Chief Executive of WCVA indicated that County Voluntary Councils were available to work with reception centres to provide advice, assistance and establish an emergency support framework.

1.11 The First Minister put on record his thanks to officials and partners for their work over the weekend in responding to the UK government’s plans and developing support for refugees in Wales.

2.1 Cymeradwyodd y Cabinet gofnodion y 7 Mawrth / Cabinet approved the minutes of 7 March.

3.1 Cabinet considered the contents of the Plenary grid and noted voting time was scheduled for 6:50pm on Tuesday and around 6:25pm on Wednesday.