Cabinet meeting: 24 October 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

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

Officials

• Andrew Goodall, Permanent Secretary
• Des Clifford, Director Office of the First Minister
• Will Whiteley, 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
• Kate Edmunds, Special Adviser
• Sara Faye, Special Adviser
• Sam Hadley, Special Adviser
• Clare Jenkins, Special Adviser
• Owen John, Special Adviser
• Mitch Theaker, 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 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
• Judith Paget, Director General Health and Social Services
• Andrew Slade, Director General, Economy, Treasury and Constitution
• Andrew Granville, Cabinet Office (item 4)

1.1 Cymeradwyodd y Cabinet gofnodion 17 Hydref / Cabinet approved the minutes of 17 October.

2.1 Cabinet noted that there would not be a ballot of Conservative party members to decide a new leader, as only one candidate had reached the required threshold, and Rishi Sunak MP was expected to become Prime Minister.

3.1 Ministers were informed that there had been one change to the Plenary grid, since it had been circulated with the Cabinet papers, the Deputy Minister for Climate Change would be making a statement on Tuesday on the closure of the Menai Bridge.

3.2 The bridge had been closed on the previous week for safety reasons as, following an inspection, there were concerns about the resilience of hangers that support the suspension. There may be a need to undertake some strengthening works, which could take between 14 and 16 weeks. In the meantime, officials were considering what could be done to improve road traffic congestion.

3.3 Returning to Plenary business that week, ministers noted there were no votes planned for Tuesday and voting time was scheduled for around 7:10pm on Wednesday.

4.1 The First Minister introduced the paper, which invited Cabinet to agree the second wave of national milestones for Wales, and that they should be laid before the Senedd on 22nd November.

4.2 The Well-being of Future Generations Act (Wales) 2015 placed a duty on Welsh Ministers to develop national indicators and national milestones for Wales, which measured progress towards the 7 well-being goals. These milestones were effectively long-term targets for Wales and would have implications for all public bodies covered by the legislation including the government and public bodies in Wales.

4.3 Cabinet had previously agreed that the first national milestones for Wales would be published before the end of 2021, with a commitment to publish a second wave in 2022. Following a formal consultation in autumn 2021 the first 9 national milestones had been agreed and laid in the Senedd on 14 December 2021.

4.4 Since December, work had accelerated on the development of the second wave and draft national milestone values had been agreed in May, ahead of the formal consultation launch in June. The consultation, which closed on 12 September, attracted 87 responses that were broadly positive. Following an external analysis, it was proposed there should be no changes.

4.5 Cabinet approved the paper.

Cabinet Secretariat
October 2022