The First 100 Days Plan: May to August 2026

The people of Wales voted for a government committed to delivering change. Our first 100 days provide an opportunity to establish momentum, begin delivery of our key priorities and lay the foundations for the longer-term reforms needed to improve lives across Wales.

This Government has hit the ground running. Ministers are already working at pace to deliver on the mandate given to us by the people of Wales. Our focus is on practical action, measurable outcomes and a relentless commitment to improving the lives of people and communities across the country.

The commitments set out in this plan cover every part of government. They include action to tackle NHS waiting lists, raise educational standards, expand childcare, reduce child poverty, strengthen local communities, support economic growth, improve transport, address the climate and nature emergencies, and ensure Wales has the powers and resources it needs to succeed.

Many of the actions outlined in this document are designed to create the foundations for lasting change. They establish new delivery structures, partnerships, reviews and programmes that will enable government to work more effectively, make better use of evidence and data, and focus resources on what matters most. Others begin the implementation of specific commitments that will deliver tangible benefits for people across Wales.

This plan is also a commitment to transparency and accountability. We are clear about what we want to achieve and the steps we will take to get there. Progress will be monitored through a disciplined and evidence-led approach, focused on outcomes and real-world impact.

This document represents the first phase of our programme for government. It reflects our determination to govern effectively, work collaboratively with partners, and deliver meaningful change for the people of Wales.

Rhun ap Iorwerth
First Minister of Wales

The new Welsh Government is providing new leadership for Wales, delivering decisive change for the key issues facing us today - the cost-of-living crisis, our NHS, schools and jobs.

We will now work at pace to tackle the things that matter to people in their everyday lives, delivering change that everyone can feel and restoring trust in government.

This is a government of action. A government for all. A government of new energy and new ideas, ready and able to stand up for Wales as a strong and equal partner in the United Kingdom.

The new Welsh Government will be the most open since the start of devolution, building trust by driving visible delivery on the real priorities of the people of Wales:

• cutting waiting lists, and building a health and care service fit for the future
• helping families with the cost of living through affordable, quality childcare
• unleashing the potential of the Welsh economy, and creating good, well-paid jobs
• raising standards in our schools and ensuring the best conditions for learning
• tackling child poverty
• standing up for Wales and demanding fairness from Westminster.

Our First 100 Days Plan sets out the first steps we will take to deliver these priorities.

Cabinet ministers

• Rhun ap Iorwerth MS, First Minister of Wales
• Sioned Williams MS, Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice and Equality
• Rt Hon Elin Jones MS, Cabinet Minister for Finance
• Heledd Fychan MS, Trefnydd, Chief Whip and Cabinet Minister for Culture and Sport
• Dafydd Trystan Davies MS, Cabinet Minister for Government Effectiveness and the Constitution
• Mabon ap Gwynfor MS, Cabinet Minister for Health and Care
• Adam Price MS, Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy
• Anna Brychan MS, Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
• Llyr Gruffydd MS, Cabinet Minister for Rural Resilience and Sustainability
• Siân Gwenllian MS, Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning

Deputy ministers

• Nerys Evans MS, Deputy Minister for Public and Preventative Health
• Delyth Jewell MS, Deputy Minister for Social Care, Mental Health and Women’s Health
• Mark Hooper MS, Deputy Minister for Transport
• Cefin Campbell MS, Deputy Minister for Skills and Tertiary Education
• Rt Hon Elfyn Llwyd, Counsel General

Cabinet Minister for Government Effectiveness and the Constitution

• Create a digitally enabled Welsh ‘Cabinet Office’ to drive our priorities forward including – policy,
  delivery and data specialists.
• Appoint a dedicated minister, working alongside a core team of ministers, to ensure progress
  on our key priorities and to report on a regular basis to cabinet.
• Agree a set of measurable outcomes and progress milestones – widely shared – where we
  can measure the success of our initiatives in changing people’s lives for the better.
• Adopt a test and learn approach to delivering on our key priorities, enabling action at pace
  and flexibility.
• Begin the work of introducing enhanced training and development programme across the
  Welsh public sector to develop skills and foster a unity of purpose and vision while developing
  a National School of Government.

Cabinet Minister for Government Effectiveness and the Constitution

• Press the UK government for a new Wales Bill and when agreed, work with the UK government to ensure this is fit for purpose and implemented as soon as possible.
• Begin the work to establish a standing National Commission on the Constitution.

Cabinet Minister for Government Effectiveness and the Constitution and Cabinet Minister for Finance

• Press the UK government to devise and implement a new needs-based funding formula to address
  our historic underfunding.

Deputy Minister for Public and Preventative Health

• Create a role within government with responsibility for Public Health, with strategic oversight of all government activity on creating a healthier population.
• Instruct Welsh Treasury officials to explore the feasibility of establishing a designated Preventative Departmental Expenditure Line (PDEL) within the Welsh budget for 2027-2028.
• Begin the rollout of preventative health programmes such as our new national School Swimming and Water Safety programme and the Daily Mile initiative in Welsh schools.

Cabinet Minister for Health and Care

• Commission an independent review on the performance of the NHS in Wales – with a particular emphasis on the impact of waiting lists on population health.
• Convene an Elective Care Task and Finish Group, comprised of relevant experts, which will be responsible for developing a delivery plan, to be published by the end of 2026, on establishing up to ten new elective care hubs across Wales.
• Consult on the design of a telehealth implementation plan for Wales.
• Establish a health finance efficiency team within the Welsh Government, which will be responsible for monitoring and evaluating the fiscal performance of health services, and for developing clear incentives for prudent budget management.
• Develop a roadmap for eliminating spending on private agency staff in the NHS by 2030.
• Commission a comprehensive audit of health data sources in Wales.
• Commission a joint review with Audit Wales and Healthcare Inspectorate Wales on the effectiveness
  of the current Escalation and Intervention Framework.
• Begin the development of a 10-year delivery programme for Digital Health and Care Wales, based on the overarching ambition of making Wales a world leader in digital health innovation.
• Draft legislation to place Regional Partnership Boards on a statutory footing to foster systematic collaboration and resource sharing between health boards and local authorities.
• Commission a review of health based inequalities in Wales.
• Consult with the European Commission to learn best practice from the development of their SmartCare App, with the aim of replicating its functions in the NHS Wales App.
• Begin preparing a new Cancer Plan for Wales.
• Draft legislation on the ‘Right to be Forgotten’ for cancer survivors to protect them from discrimination in the form of higher insurance premiums or difficulties accessing a mortgage.
• Commission a feasibility study for establishing a new Rapid Diagnostic Centre (RDC) in Powys.
• Begin preparations for a Wales Cancer Conference in 2027, with the aim of bringing together healthcare professionals and stakeholders to share best practice and latest innovation on
  cancer care.
• Request a visit from the European Cancer Pulse initiative for 2027 to assess regional and social disparities in the quality of cancer care in Wales.
• Draft plans for a designated funding stream to support the travel and accommodation costs of patients travelling outside of Wales for specialist cancer treatment.
• Convene a summit of all health board chief executives to develop a roadmap for a sustainable shift of NHS resources towards primary care.
• Secure agreement with the health boards that the proportion of their budgets devoted to primary care will increase by 0.5% each year from 2027-2028.
• Commission research on reforming the formula for distributing GP funding.

Deputy Minister for Social Care, Mental Health and Women’s Health

• Open recruitment for a pan-Wales director for out of hospital care arrangements.
• Instruct Llais to appoint a ‘Social Care Champion’ who will have regular quarterly meetings with the Cabinet Minister for Health and Care.

Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice and Equality

• Establish an expert steering group and a childcare taskforce in the Welsh civil service – to firmly establish phased delivery of the new offer, workforce planning, improving access and streamlining application as clear priorities.
• Work with local authorities and childcare providers on plans to urgently complete the rollout of 12.5 hours of funded childcare for all 2-year olds – begun under the Co-operation Agreement between Plaid Cymru and the outgoing Labour Welsh Government.
• Where this rollout is already complete or nearing completion, develop local plans to expand to 20 hours for all 2-year-olds, and to extend 20 hours of care to 3- and 4-year-olds not currently eligible for the existing Childcare Offer for Wales – accounting for workforce planning and development, and expanding the number and capacity of childcare settings.
• Bring forward plans to progressively expand funded care hours to children aged 9-months to 2-years.
• Immediately commence work to develop specific, ambitious and deliverable poverty reduction targets to inform a new, targeted plan to tackle child poverty.
• Prepare to implement the pilot for Cynnal – the Welsh Child Payment – commissioning an expert team to help lead on design, delivery, monitoring and evaluation.

Cabinet Minister for Education and Welsh Language

• Commit to expanding free school meals to all secondary school pupils in households claiming Universal Credit, with no income limit, from September 2026.

Cabinet Minister for Education and Welsh Language

• Progress the development of a new Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Plan and agree a timeline for implementation.
• Plan for the rollout of the new Libraries in Primary Schools programme.
• Increase Initial Teacher Education (ITE) incentives in shortage subjects by £5,000 for the forthcoming academic year.
• Implement recommendations from the Strategic Workload Co-ordination Group to begin to reduce the bureaucratic burden on teachers.
• Work with teachers, local authorities and health and social care services to develop a framework to address the overlapping issues of poor attendance and behaviour, and to improve conditions and outcomes related to mental health and student wellbeing.
• Begin the work to pilot a new wrap-around ‘Community Schools Plus’ programme, exploring how different funding streams can be consolidated to better embed specialist and trauma-informed support to address mental health, well-being and behavioural challenges in our schools.
• Commission a national school building conditions survey to get a clearer picture of the state of the school estate in Wales and identify the most urgent repairs and upgrades.
• Bring forward plans to empower local authorities to promote students’ safety, learning and well‑being through restricting the use of smartphones in schools for under-16s.

Deputy Minister for Skills and Tertiary Education

• Commission a cross-party and comprehensive review of how universities in Wales are funded, with clear terms of reference that includes ensuring that more of the value of Welsh Government investment in Higher Education stays in Wales, and that more Welsh students are supported to study in Wales.
• Examine options for reforming the Seren programme, so that instead of sending students over the border, it focusses instead on addressing the participation gap, and supporting students from disadvantaged backgrounds to pursue higher education.

Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy

• Establish a panel of business and economic experts to refine the remit, governance, and operating model for a new National Development Agency.
• Establish a new Economic and Fiscal Commission to support the collection and analysis of Welsh economic data, and the setting of clear targets on the economy.
• Prioritise finalising a National Energy Strategy that will include: a Renewable Energy Sector Deal – building new partnerships between government, industry, communities, further and higher education, and social partners; targets on generation by technology; greater support for community owned energy projects; and reforms to the planning system that will set firmer deadlines for responses to planning applications.
• Bring forward plans to develop Trydan Gwyrdd Cymru into a single, consolidated energy company owned by the people of Wales for the people of Wales, and with a clear remit to help reduce energy bills over the medium to long term.

Deputy Minister for Skills and Tertiary Education

• Launch a Wales wide skills audit to identify future skills needs in the Welsh economy and inform our policy decisions.
• Prepare to convene a Future Skills Summit – to include representatives of the FE/HE sector, businesses and other relevant stakeholders to create one vision and strategy for the future of our skills system and its funding.

Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning

• Set up a town centres taskforce to explore the options for reformed business rates that better support high street regeneration, alongside other policy changes that will support our town centres – including reforms to the planning system to streamline the process of converting commercial to residential.
• Develop a Community Right to Buy Bill for introduction in the Senedd.

Cabinet Minister for Finance and Deputy Minister for Transport

• Begin negotiations with the UK government on consequentials from HS2 and other England‑only rail projects, a fairer share of overall UK rail funding, and a pathway to devolving rail in full.

Deputy Minister for Transport

• Work with Transport for Wales on progressing full integration of our transport network – including on smart ticketing, fairer fares and fare capping.
• Prepare to launch an express coach service linking the north and the south of Wales as the first step in improving North-South transport links.

Cabinet Minister for Rural Resilience and Sustainability

• Commence work on an updated Climate and Nature Action Plan for Wales, focused on charting a practical pathway to net zero by 2040 and substantive nature recovery by 2050.
• Outline the terms of reference for a new Flood Resilience and Preparedness Forum for Wales that will bring together local authorities, Natural Resources Wales, emergency services, and community organisations to coordinate national strategy on flooding.
• Confirm a multi-year funding cycle instead of the current one-year Sustainable Farming Scheme payment.
• Commission an independent review of the bureaucratic burden on family farms in Wales to reduce duplication and unnecessary paperwork for farmers.
• Begin work on a new and comprehensive National Food Strategy that will build food security and literacy, strengthen food supply chains, and use the Welsh public plate to support our food and drink industry.
• Bring forward proposals for a new statutory duty on rural proofing, to ensure that Welsh Government programmes and funding models are fully responsive to the needs of rural communities.

Cabinet Minister for Finance

• Press the UK government on environmental justice for coalfield communities through providing funding for restoring coal tips and contaminated land.

Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning

• Establish Unnos – a new national development body and social housing enabler that will work closely with local authorities and housing associations to assemble land and secure finance for social housing.
• Begin the work of legislating for a Right to Adequate Housing.
• Outline proposals on making renting in Wales fairer.
• Review the existing Warm Homes Programme, and work to introduce changes so that we can go further and faster on improving home energy efficiency – raising living standards, tackling fuel poverty, and reducing carbon emissions for more households, more quickly.
• Commission a review of the funding formula for local government, to bring forward recommendations for reform it so that it better reflects the real cost of delivering services in different parts of Wales.
• Establish positive working relationships with local authorities throughout Wales, agreeing on joint
  priorities and ways of working, on the basis of a renewed Strategic Partnership Agreement.
• Examine options for reducing the complexity and bureaucracy of planning processes and extending permitted development rights, including for community-led housing and household renewables.
• Work with local authorities and other regional partners to develop a new National Development Framework that meets Wales’s needs, empowers local government and reduces costs, bureaucracy and duplication.

Trefnydd, Chief Whip and Cabinet Minister for Culture and Sport

• Launch a consultation on our priorities for a new Culture Strategy, including formal engagement with partners across the arts, sport, culture, and heritage as well as the creative industries.
• Commission a review of opportunities for investment in culture, the arts and sport, to inform a progressive increase in arts, culture and sport spending, tied to a wider shift to preventative health and wellbeing activity across government.
• Establish a cross-sector Creative and Culture Forum with an initial remit to collect evidence and identify actions to ensure fair pay and improved working conditions in the sector.
• Publish plans and a timeline to establish a Shadow Broadcasting and Communications Authority for Wales, to protect and strengthen local and national public service media platforms in Wales.
• Establish a dedicated workstream within government to identify opportunities for increased levels of engagement in sport and physical activity, and consult on how to strengthen partnership working between health services and sports organisations.
• Commission an audit of community and regional sporting facilities and engage with key partners, including national governing bodies, to inform targeted capital investment over the government term.
• Publish an implementation plan for a new national School Swimming and Water Safety programme.

Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language and Deputy Minister for Transport

• Undertake a rapid review of Welsh in Education Strategic Plans and Welsh in Education Delivery Plans to inform local targets to ensure the steady growth of Welsh-medium education in all schools, progressively moving schools along the language continuum. We will also take immediate steps to improve accessibility to Welsh medium education, beginning with a review of the Learner Travel Measure and commission an assessment of ALN provision in Welsh medium education, to include the structure of current support and training for teachers and school support staff.

Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language

• Work with tertiary education providers to identify opportunities to increase the proportion of funding provided for Welsh medium education and training, with particular attention to apprenticeships.
• Commence work to extend Welsh Language Standards to UK government bodies and services operating in Wales, to include communications, utilities, banks, car parks and supermarkets.
• Work with partners, including Mudiad Meithrin, the childcare expert group and childcare taskforce, to identify opportunities for the expansion of Welsh medium childcare across Wales, as a key part of the delivery of our universal childcare offer.
• Begin the process of legislating for new protections for areas of higher linguistic density, as recommended by the Commission for Welsh Speaking Communities, working with local authorities to determine how and where these areas should be designated. We will also engage with work of the Commission on areas with medium and lower densities of Welsh speakers.

Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice and Equality

• Take forward proposals to incorporate key United Nations human rights conventions into Welsh law, building on existing rights protections and embedding international standards in the design and delivery of devolved public services.
• Work to end violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence (VAWDASV) across all areas of government, through a whole system, prevention-led approach.
• Bring forwards plans for a new National Crime Prevention Agency for Wales to coordinate crime prevention and diversion across police forces, the NHS, local authorities, schools, and third-sector partners.
• Press the UK government on devolving welfare powers to Wales, on a par with Scotland, so that we can build a social security system in Wales, for Wales.
• Review existing Welsh benefits and associated schemes like the Discretionary Assistance Fund (DAF), to maximise impact and guarantee value for money.
• Begin the work of incorporating Cynnal as a new Welsh benefit.
• Protect funding for specialist, survivor centred VAWDASV services.

Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice and Equality and Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning

• Immediately exempt refuges from the Renting Homes Act to ensure access to safe accommodation for survivors.